Soldering of polypropylene pipes
Soldering polypropylene pipes Soldering polypropylene pipes Posted on 03/17/2013 in Polypropylene pipes, Plumbing, Pipes
In the material about polypropylene pipes, I briefly explained what these pipes are.
Now let's talk a little about soldering these pipes.
It’s correct, of course, to say: “welding” or even “diffusion welding of pipes,” but we usually use simpler words: Dictionary diffusion welding, we call soldering Welding machine, we call it a soldering iron or even an iron
We call polypropylene “polycom” or “PPR”
We call the colors this way:
White - Turk.
(Although Valtek also makes white and the quality of the pipes is at a high level) Gray - Czech
Green - German
Tool
To “solder” pipes you will need: Soldering iron - “Welding machine” Pipe cutter or scissors Stripper or trimmer
A “soldering iron” is the very tool without which the installation of polypropylene pipes is impossible in principle. As for scissors, the pipe can be cut with a hacksaw or even a grinder. Only the edges will need to be cleaned of excess “fringe”.
Regarding the stripping tool, if you don’t have one, you can choose a pipe with glass fiber reinforcement.
Installation:
In order to assemble a system of such pipes, there are many different fittings and connectors.
You can assemble absolutely any system:
Solder ball valve:
Soldering
The average temperature of the welding machine should be set to 260 degrees.
Of course, for each diameter there are more subtle temperature settings and on expensive machines, the required temperature is inserted automatically if you specify the diameter of the pipe being welded.
We set the temperature to 260 degrees, put on the desired nozzle, and now all we have to do is remember the time during which we need to heat the pipe.
16th heat for 5 seconds. after which it must be fixed for 6-7 seconds so that the soldering is of high quality.
We heat the 20th for 5 seconds.
25th - 7 sec.
32nd - 8 sec.
40th - 12 sec.
Now more details.
We take the pipe with the coupling in our hands and try to connect them without heating. If this is possible, then there will not be a high-quality connection, replace the components and, if possible, use connectors from the same manufacturer in the same system.
After we have found out that you hold in your hands what you need and can be soldered, we first put the fitting on the nozzle of the welding machine (it is thicker) and then the pipe.
But this is a book example and it is very difficult to attach a fitting and a pipe separately to a soldering iron. Push in at the same time, but you can take out the pipe first, and then the connector.
This is what the heated fittings look like:
Now they need to be connected.
When heating, it is important to insert the pipe completely into the nozzle. To be sure, before soldering, you can make a mark on the pipe how long the pipe should go into the nozzle.
When heating, the elements cannot be twisted on a soldering iron . Although the manufacturer prohibits turns, I still do it, but the turns are very small, I would even say they are some kind of movements to make it easier to put on the pipe with the fitting. It happens that the corner fits very tightly onto the nozzle. This often happens with large diameters, for example 40 mm. In this case, the soldering iron can be moved back and forth a couple of degrees relative to the parts.
If you twist the parts or the soldering iron more than about 5 degrees, then parts of the plastic will remain on the nozzle which will then smoke, and the soldering may be of poor quality. So, if possible, it is better not to turn, and especially not to twist or turn .
After installing the elements completely, we begin the countdown at 5 seconds in the case of a 20 mm pipe. or 8 seconds in the case of the 32nd pipe.
After this time, we first remove the pipe, and then the fitting.
Quickly, but without fuss, we connect these two elements. After connection, you still have a couple of seconds to correct the alignment. After 2-3 seconds. Alignment adjustment must be stopped. Otherwise, the joint will leak.
After the joint, allow the product to cool for about 20 seconds, fixing the joint firmly.
If you are soldering the first joints, then strictly observe the heating and fixation time.
In subsequent joints, take into account drafts and ambient temperature. If you are working in a draft and the temperature, for example, is below +10, then the heating time should be slightly increased by 1-3 seconds. depending on diameter. Otherwise, you risk not having time to dock the heated elements, or there is not a second left to correct the alignment.
Underheating
If you underheat the pipes, you will either not be able to connect them, or the joint will subsequently leak.
Overheat
If it overheats, you risk melting the passage hole.
If the soldering is done correctly, but the through hole is not narrowed.
You can cut a pipe not only with scissors:
And sometimes, with the help of scissors, it is not possible to make an even cut, for example, if you need to cut off just a centimeter.
In this case, you can resort to the help of an angle grinder.
This is what a glass fiber reinforced pipe looks like in cross section. There is no need to strip and trim such a pipe, which cannot be said about the aluminum layer.
Now let's cut the soldered elements and see if these connections can be disconnected.
At the top, the gray pipe is soldered to a white coupling, and in the picture below it is gray to gray.
In both cases, you can see the welded elements fused into a single whole. Even white and gray. The only differences are visual - color. This immediately answers the question whether it is possible to solder white and gray. Can.
Now let's look at the cross-section of the adapter coupling:
In this case, the pipe was without reinforcement. It can be seen that the differences are only in color, although the manufacturer is the same. The connection itself cannot be disconnected and proper soldering will never cause a leak. For this reason, such connections can be safely hidden in walls and floors.
These seem to be all the key points associated with soldering polypropylene pipes.
Please leave any questions regarding the material in the comments.
Well, in conclusion, a few photos of welded pipes:
To fix pipes horizontally, I use clips
For a vertical pipe, where the pipe must be fixed rigidly, a special pipe clamp is used
Source: http://dretun.ru/hardworking/ppr-paika/
What is the difference between soldering stations and soldering irons? educational program for beginners
At a time when integrated circuits seemed to be the rarest sacred artifacts, and there was no trace of SMD components, the main and universal equipment of most repair bureaus was a couple of ordinary soldering irons.
No one doubted their versatility and reliability; they were true friends, always ready to help and never let you down under any circumstances. But the development of production technologies, miniaturization and optimization of energy efficiency gradually did their job.
The components became smaller and smaller, it became increasingly difficult to look at them without a magnifying glass, and so the soldering irons began to fail.
Not only has it become much more difficult to use a soldering iron to get to the desired point on the board (and if you suddenly have to solder sizes like 0603 with it, or - it’s scary to imagine - even smaller, it generally looks like a brutal mockery, and the worldwide conspiracy begins to seem not so crazy) Moreover, small parts tolerate sudden heating much worse. If you held the soldering iron on for a second longer than expected, change the microcircuit, but it hasn’t even had time to get tinned yet!
It is this kind of difficulty and reflection that prompted outstanding minds to collect a huge variety of all kinds of soldering stations for every taste. At some point, there were so many of them that the process of choosing a suitable soldering station became dangerously complex and incomprehensible.
But the threatening complexity and incomprehensibility are leveled out if you are savvy in the types of soldering stations, their characteristics, features and areas of application. So, what is the difference between soldering stations?
Firstly, all soldering stations are divided into contact, hot-air and infrared
A contact soldering station is essentially a soldering iron with temperature control. Accordingly, the tasks of this soldering station include the entire range of soldering iron operations, but with the ability to select the appropriate temperature regime for a particular task.
In unregulated soldering irons, the temperature can reach up to 500 degrees and higher, while small components can (and should) be soldered at relatively low temperatures, about 250-300 degrees. The contact station makes it possible to comply with such regimes.
In addition, controlled temperature significantly reduces wear on the tip, heating element and the entire structure of the soldering iron, so that it will last longer and the quality of work done with its help will significantly improve.
A hot air soldering station is a station that includes a hot air gun. Most often it comes complete with a soldering iron, but there are exceptions. It’s worth paying attention to whether the station includes a soldering iron.
A hot air gun makes working with miniature components even easier (and in the case of the smallest parts, it is the only tool with which you can desolder and solder them). If you need to desolder, for example, a microcircuit with 40 pins, a hot air gun can handle it in literally a minute.
There are a large number of attachments for hot air guns that make it easier to work with a certain type of part on the board. If you frequently work with specific products of the same type, it doesn’t hurt to buy the right attachment.
An infrared station is usually purchased by service centers and other specialized enterprises. Its main working element is an infrared lamp that heats a certain area of the board.
The action is similar to a hot air gun, only there is no air flow that can blow away small parts, and the components themselves do not heat up as much (solder heats up much faster) due to the fact that infrared rays affect different materials differently.
As a rule, these stations also include a preheater that heats the boards from below, and a familiar soldering iron. And all this together is very, very expensive. And the more different settings and software automation capabilities a station has, the more expensive it is.
Now let's look at our stations piece by piece. First in line - soldering iron
The main way they differ from each other (except for power) is the type of heating element. In the simplest soldering irons it is nichrome. A soldering iron with a nichrome heater takes a long time to heat up, does not retain heat very well and is not very economical - but it can even be used to hammer into walls.
Soldering irons that are a little more expensive are the so-called “pseudo-ceramic” ones: nichrome is enclosed in a ceramic shell. Slightly faster heating and slightly better temperature retention are balanced by the inherent fragility of ceramic—these soldering irons must be handled with care.
In real ceramic soldering irons, the heater is made in the form of special semiconductor tubes filled with a ceramic casing. They can increase temperature almost instantly, and temperature stability is also excellent.
The exotic of the soldering world is the induction heater. The principle of its operation is similar to an induction cooker. The tip is placed inside the coil. A high alternating frequency passing through the coil creates a magnetic field that heats the tip.
Another feature of soldering irons is the type of tip used. The vast majority of soldering stations work with tip type 900-M (900-MT). The advantages of this type are the availability of replaceable tips, their low cost, and ease of replacement. Disadvantages - not very good heat transfer from the heater to the tip of the tip, difficulty in controlling the temperature and quickly responding to its changes, since the thermocouple is located in the heater, with which the tip may well have a significant temperature difference.
A relatively new type, but actively taking root on the market, is T12. The original feature of these tips is that the heater and thermocouple are built right into the tip. This allows for a noticeably faster response to temperature changes. The downside is that the built-in heating element significantly increases their price.
What is the difference between hot air guns?
The main difference in their structure is the compressor or turbine (membrane) type of air injection.
In the first version, a special compressor is located inside the soldering station housing. He pumps air into the hair dryer through an air hose. This type of heat gun itself is smaller in size and more convenient, but its performance also suffers, and the station, due to the bulky compressor, weighs significantly more than turbine models.
The second type is called so because directly inside the handle of the hair dryer, a fan (turbine) pumps air and drives it through the heating element. In this version, only the control wire goes from the station to the hair dryer. Advantages: smaller station size, greater productivity. Disadvantages - the shape is not so comfortable to hold.
According to the station temperature maintenance scheme, three categories can be distinguished, in order of increasing quality: triac regulation, regulation using a PWM controller with error reading, PID regulation, which independently predicts temperature changes.
The first adjustment does not have temperature sensors; its change occurs by reducing the total power. The obvious disadvantage is that if you need a low temperature, you will have to put up with significantly longer heating times and reduced heating capacity.
The second type (PWM control) is used in most soldering stations on the market. The controller monitors the temperature change, and if it is less than the set value, it turns on the heater at full power until it heats up to the desired value.
The latter type can be found in stations of a higher price category. PID control monitors not only the temperature, but also the rate of its change - this allows such power to be supplied to the output so that the temperature remains at the same level even taking into account the rapid cooling of the tip.
In addition to the above, there are also stations with additional gadgets: smoke absorbers, built-in laboratory power supplies and other devices. It is better to choose specific features specifically for your tasks.
Knowing how one soldering station is fundamentally different from another, it’s much easier to choose, isn’t it?
Source: https://www.sq.com.ua/rus/news/novosti_partnerov/09/07/2018/v_chem_otlichie_payalnyh_stantsiy_ot_payalnikov_likbez_dlya_nachinayuschih/
