Bending Clear Perspex Tubing

Hi all,
I'm far too cheap to buy glassware for my tank (and a bit too scared of my wife to blow £40 on a lily pipe! ). Following very helpful links provided on this forum i've found this supplier
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/12mm-x-2mm-Clear- ... 45f182f7d4

I've scoured the "Hardware and DIY" section of the forum but i've not found anyone detailing any experiences with bending this tube. I hope to make a filter inlet and also a spray bar, and the rig it all with clear tubing from here
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Clear-PVC-Tubing- ... 2558e0616f

By my estimation i should be able to fabricate the whole lot for about £6 ... if i can bend the tubing successfully. The only other option would be to simply use clear suction cups and bend the flexible tubing over the edge of the tank and hope it doesn't kink.

I think bending the perspex tube will provide the most elegant solution, but it depends if i can do it.
I'd be massively endebted if any members could share any experiences they've had with this, and thoughts in general on this plan.
Many thanks,
Matt

Great stuff chaps! Many thanks. Think i'll try packing the tube with Salt, then i can wash out any that stays behind.
Luis - the first link in the original posting is a company that supplies tubing of various diameters. They also sell acrylic rod to form the end plugs if needed. I feel a rash of homemade dropcheckers coming on amidst UKAPS members! If i have any luck bending (so to speak...) i'll make a batch then knock 'em out (so to speak again...) at about £3 (can't imagine posting being expensive) just to cover costs if members would be interested. Any ideas where i should post them if it works?
Thanks again for your help
Matt

Done it! 😀 😀 😀
Tube arrived this morning and i spent a very satisfying afternoon fettling in the garage!
I'm really pleased (and pretty smug about!) the results - look fantastic, less delicate than glass and for about £4 and 20 mins of work i've got a custom filter inlet for the height of my tank/substrate and a custom spraybar! I'll hopefully have chance to post pics over the weekend .
Couple of things
- If anyone is going to try the lily pipe you'd be best with piping with a 1mm wall (rather than the 2mm i used). Tried blowing a bubble in it and i nearly gave myself a hernia!
- The silicon tubing idea works much better than packing the tube with salt. I actually found some round electrical cable in the garage and that worked fantastically in maintaining the tube aperture with no probs
Can't recommend it highly enough. If anyone would like me to make anything for their tanks i'd be more than happy to do it for the cost of the materials/p&p (and perhaps a small consideration for my time.. 😉 ) - just PM me!
Cheers for everyones help - i'll post pictures as soon as i can!
Matt

End of the spraybar - made so it runs into the tank from the back

Spraybar and filter intake side by side

Spraybar and filter intake in place in tank (Wot - no Eheim logo!) And also no plants! I'm halfway through rescaping and waiting for a delivery!

Hope these images come up alright - first time i've posted pics.
You'll see there are a couple of imperfections - the drilling on the the intake is a bit wonky (much better on the spraybar) and the pinched ends of the tubing aren't perfect. Future upgrades (tubing already on order!) will use a plug in the end made from acrylic bar glued in place. The massively reassuring thing is that the imperfections disappear when the kit is in the tank! Hurray!

zig said:

Great guides brilliant really, I wonder how it would work with larger diameter acrylic tubing, 15-20 mm sort of range, 12mm is only really good for smaller filters what size tubing did you use Matt, look forward to the pics as well when you get a chance.

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Hi zig - the guides are great, aren't they! I would have had so much trial and error without them! I used 12mm outside diameter (OD) tubing with an internal diameter (ID) of 8mm just for ease to plug into standard filter tubing. This is largely because these spraybars are made to fit in a 2x1x1 tank with an Eheim 2234 so the filter is WAAAAYYYYY overrated ! I still get fantastic flow with this lower diameter tubing. If i was making them for a larger tank i'd use 16mmOD/12mmID tubing for the spraybar and glue in a 12/8 shoulder just to link it with the filter tubing (as per Garuf's suggestion). Having said that i think the larger diameter tube might be harder to work with as it'll be more difficult to heat evenly (but this is only a guess

Lisa_Perry75 said:

How did you heat the tube? Electrical cable would give a nice firmness inside, interesting. I would have thought that electrical cable, presumably coated in plastic, might bond with the acrylic once heated.

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).
Hi Lisa
I heated the tube over a blowtorch - to be honest it was a bit fierce and a hot air gun would probably be better. Whatever you use it needs to be freestanding so you have both hands free to work the plastic.
The cable i used came from a pond pump and is coated in either silicon or a really flexible plastic to waterproof it - if you're looking for something similar i think B&Q or the like might stock something similar for garden or aquatic applications. Had no probs with it sticking at all, even through two bends!

I'm clearly really pleased with the results - it also struck me today (as i took them off the tank to take pics) just how tough they are. I'm sure i'd be panicking about breaking expensive glassware!
Cheers!
Matt