# DIY stainless steel inlets / outlets?



## greenink (17 Dec 2013)

Have made quite a few acrylic inlets / outlets using a pains tripping gun and a pipe bending spring (is in my journal somewhere!)

But am really taken with the ADA jet pipes and was wondering how hard it would be to make these in a DIY style.








After a bit of googling, it seems bending stainless steel is easier than I'd expected. 



And the bits and pieces are quite cheap...

A pipe bender is £30 

15mm o/d, 12mm i/d is about £9 a metre on ebay. This is the same size as Amano's steel flow, and a bit smaller than the Natural Aquario ones.

So for £70 you could make two inlets and two outlets. Think you'd have to cut the holes with a hacksaw in the inlet, to get a similar design to the NA one.

Not sure how you'd do the ADA mesh stuff.

Has anyone tried this? Am particularly tempted as need a slightly unusual shaped pipe for my next 'hole in the wall' project...


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## sa80mark (17 Dec 2013)

Its on my todo list but works been to busy for me to get round to it, the only issue is the pipe benders everyone of the cheap ones ive found dont bend to 180 degree and the ones that do have a large radius which would make the pipes stand out to much,  proper stainless steel pipe benders with a small radius are around £130 and rare as hens teeth in the uk


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## tim (17 Dec 2013)

You could leave the inlet open ended and use a shrimp guard as the mesh, I've done this with a couple of my acrylic inlets, works a treat.


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## kirk (17 Dec 2013)

Yes broke the pipe bender strait Off. So if you have the strong tube I'd advise heat but them it will discolor which could look cool. I looked on the tube and saw people making benders from flywheel alternator pulleys and box section that's what I'd make. do you know a tig welder to tig the bits for the suckers that would finish them nice.


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## greenink (17 Dec 2013)

sa80mark said:


> the cheap ones ive found dont bend to 180 degree



Could you just do two bends joining?


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## sa80mark (17 Dec 2013)

Yes but you would have the same issue of a larger than desirable radius


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## Andy Thurston (17 Dec 2013)

look at the tool-marks in that second pic it would appear they cant do a good job of bending stainless pipe properly. Amateur's. bring back british standard


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## Samuran (18 Dec 2013)

couldnt you just make it from Aluminium and bend it by hand...


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## idris (18 Dec 2013)

If you use aluminium tube and stainless steel mesh strainer, you might be effectively making a battery. The voltage won't be high enough to mess with fish, but it might lead to corrosion. 
(I know this can be an issue with car bodywork, but it don't know to what extent it will translate to aquaria.)


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## Andy Thurston (18 Dec 2013)

Samuran said:


> couldnt you just make it from Aluminium and bend it by hand...


 You could but then you get a different problem ally goes dull white and wouldn't look good for long unless you lacquer or anodise it


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