Welding and fabricating plastic cheaply or free

Remember the "cheaply or free" part before replying. I have a vinyl gutter and need to somehow bring the downspout down at an angle other than is possible with the store bought product. Its going to be something i fabricate. I'm thinking plastic because of the weight. I can and will fabricate something out of as thin a metal as i can get if i have to. Where can i get cheap plastic sheets and rod? I didn't try it yet but could i heat the vinyl downspout and just form it that way. I'm after function here not Aesthetics. Now that i've though of this for a while it seems that this is an area of repair i've overlooked in the past. So any ideas on where to get materal, rods, ect. I live hundreds of miles from a city so the plastics companies scrap bins will have to wait till i make a trip in the future. Rosco the cheapskate Butter

Reply to
Butter
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I'd use aluminum flashing and Pop rivets. It's easy to cut with snips and unlike plastic it stays where it's bent.

There are flexible downspout plastic adapters available. I couldn't use them because they jam from tree debris. Instead I ran the gutter around the corners to where the wall is vertical and dropped straight downspouts that are attached only at the lower end and are easy to remove for cleaning. The downspout tee has no end cap so when it clogs the water pours out the end, and I can drag the leaves out with a scoop on a long pole.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Vinyl can be solvent bonded. Use PVC cement for plastic pipe.

For the down spout itself rather than bending it you can use PVC pipe and fittings.

For the connection to the gutter itself I would try to make a flange on the end of the PVC pipe by forming it with a little local heat, then make a rung flange from a fitting by cutting off the ring from the female end of a fitting. This will give you good mechanical strength.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

This will work out fine. i was going to "borrow" some PVC cement tomorrow at work to bond some PVC electrical conduit. I'll just try this on my problem and this hopefully will solve it. Thanks for both replys Rosco

Reply to
Butter

If a standard downspout is close you can try heating and reshaping it. Either a heatgun or submerge in boiling water should soften it enough for you to bend it to shape.

----- Regards, Carl Ijames

Reply to
Carl Ijames

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