I thought I'd ask before I try because it's too expensive to waste!
Can chrome plated 15mm copper pipe be bent, either with a spring or a
proper bender or does something terrible happen to the chrome plate?
If I have off cuts and take them to the scrap yard, does the chrome
plating carry a premium or is it just bundled with "plain" copper?
TIA
> Hello,
>
> I thought I'd ask before I try because it's too expensive to waste!
> Can chrome plated 15mm copper pipe be bent, either with a spring or a
> proper bender or does something terrible happen to the chrome plate?
I asked this last year and people said it bent fine. I'll find out in due
course. They also said the appearance of the chrome might change on the
bend, but it shouldn't flake off.
If you want the fanciness of chrome, you probably want to use a pipe bender
rather than a spring - the latter would leave ripples, unless the bend is
hidden.
> If I have off cuts and take them to the scrap yard, does the chrome
> plating carry a premium or is it just bundled with "plain" copper?
--
Tim Watts
This space intentionally left blank...
It bends in a pipe bender just fine.
> If I have off cuts and take them to the scrap yard, does the chrome
> plating carry a premium or is it just bundled with "plain" copper?
No idea...
--
Cheers,
John.
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>If I have off cuts and take them to the scrap yard, does the chrome
>plating carry a premium or is it just bundled with "plain" copper?
I know that copper with brassware on it gets a lower price than plain
copper so I'd expect chromed copper to be treated the same .
> I thought I'd ask before I try because it's too expensive to waste!
> Can chrome plated 15mm copper pipe be bent, either with a spring or a
> proper bender
Both work fine, provided you can bend copper tube using either method
you'll have no trouble with chromed tube.
> I thought I'd ask before I try because it's too expensive to waste!
> Can chrome plated 15mm copper pipe be bent, either with a spring or a
> proper bender or does something terrible happen to the chrome plate?
It is fine, so long as you do it slowly, and dont make the bend radius
too tight. A better solution is to bend copper pipe to shape, then take
it to be chrome plated.
> If I have off cuts and take them to the scrap yard, does the chrome
> plating carry a premium or is it just bundled with "plain" copper?
It'll be classed as mixed copper or brazier copper. This is 30% or so
cheaper than plain copper. I've dealt with 3 scrap dealers, they all
only pay for mixed copper. It has to be brand new, or look brand new to
get plain copper prices. One joint, or a bit of solder on it, and it is
mixed. I thought about sorting out all my copper last time I weighed in,
but it was just not worth the extra �30ish I may have got.
Alan.
--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.
The chrome plated stuff I got from Screwfix a few years ago was hopeless
any bend over about 10 degrees and the pipe just snapped. The stuff from
wickes I have never had a problem with.
>It'll be classed as mixed copper or brazier copper. This is 30% or so
>cheaper than plain copper. I've dealt with 3 scrap dealers, they all
>only pay for mixed copper. It has to be brand new, or look brand new to
>get plain copper prices. One joint, or a bit of solder on it, and it is
>mixed. I thought about sorting out all my copper last time I weighed in,
>but it was just not worth the extra �30ish I may have got.
>Alan.
What actually happens to scrap copper plain and mixed .I guess it gets
melted down but does melted down plain get put to a different use than
melted down mixed ..I'd have thought the impurities would rise to the
surface and get skimmed off but probably doesn't work that way ...any
experts on melted copper in today? :-)
The complete pipe just snapped ???
No, the mixed copper does not have 'impurities' float up (well, it does
in small amounts, the various oxides will float), the zinc, lead and
other elements in brazier copper will mix with the pure copper giving a
different alloy.
This resulting alloy, will, in most cases, result in a poorer quality,
and can only then be reused in a copper alloy such as brass, gunmetal or
other Cu based alloys. It can never be reused for copper pipe.
=================================================
This happened to me with some standard plain copper pipe so it's almost
certainly not the fault of the chrome layer.
I have some dog-legged chrome pipe in use and there's no sign of the
chrome cracking but I think there might be a limit to the size of bend
possible before the chrome separates or cracks.
Cic.
--
=================================================
Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
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I put some mild S bends in a pair chrome plated pipes a few years back
using a spring. The plating is still doing fine... The pipes were from
BES I think...
Gordon
It will not leave ripples.
A better solution is buy quality chrome pipe and bend it.
> What actually happens to scrap copper plain and mixed
Copper is used because it's ductile and electrically conductive.It's
alloys are less so.
So in practice, mixed copper scrap won't re-enter the food chain for
copper, but it will go for use in casting alloys (various grades of
brass) instead.
>It is fine, so long as you do it slowly, and dont make the bend radius
>too tight. A better solution is to bend copper pipe to shape, then take
>it to be chrome plated.
Thanks. I wanted to fit a new radiator but SWMBO would prefer visible
horizontal runs of chrome rather than boxing out the skirting board to
hide copper. I wanted the pipe to continue into the other room, which
means the tee from the bottom pipe needs to go up and over the top
pipe; the only way I can see to do this is with a bend, hence my
question. Unless anyone can think of a better way to do this?
>It'll be classed as mixed copper or brazier copper. This is 30% or so
>cheaper than plain copper. I've dealt with 3 scrap dealers, they all
>only pay for mixed copper. It has to be brand new, or look brand new to
>get plain copper prices. One joint, or a bit of solder on it, and it is
>mixed.
I never knew that. I wasn't sure whether the chrome was more expensive
than the copper and hence would have got a better price; obviously
not. I once took a bag of copper pipe to the scrap yard; all the pipes
were bare except one had a stuck lock shield valve on the end. They
told me the whole lot was mixed copper because of this. Next time,
I'll cut it off before I go! I don't know why they couldn't have
weighed the other pipes separately.
I was interested in the other reply that mixed copper gets melted down
and used in alloys. I naively thought there was a production line
where men with angle grinders cut off all the joints before the pipe
was melted.
Thanks again.
>
>The chrome plated stuff I got from Screwfix a few years ago was hopeless
>any bend over about 10 degrees and the pipe just snapped. The stuff from
>wickes I have never had a problem with.
Beware of Focus, who used to sell (and may still do) something that
looked like chrome but was in fact steel, which quickly blunted my
cutters. Now I always check the inside of the tube before I buy ;)
Are you sure it wasn't a clothes rail someone put back in the
wrong place?
--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]
>Are you sure it wasn't a clothes rail someone put back in the
>wrong place?
IIRC I bought two, so unless someone put two clothes rails... hold on,
I suppose a Focus employee could have filled up the wrong space with
the wrong item. There's a thought!