ROTHENBERGER's expanders

[bishbosh77]

Hi
Has anybody got or used the Rothenberger expanders?

Cheers

Richard

 

[ProffesorPlumb]

Yes, used them plenty. Superb peice of kit, very expensive and like rocking horse shlt!!

Monument also do a great socket former too:

Monument 139U Socket Forming/Pipe Jointing Tool Kit for 15, 22 & 28mm Copper Tube at Toolbay Direct

 

[bishbosh77]

Hi

Used one today on our course, i was impresed but it did seem to leave a bit to much of a gap so dident solder as with other joints. But i must say looking at the pipe as it could look & using all the of cuts for pre formed bends it would be a great bit of kit in the tool box. Very profesional looking finish.

 

[ProffesorPlumb]

I use one at the plumbing school I teach at....

Enables old offcut pipes to be re used and students can practice cutting, deburring and soldering all day long

 

[SteveO]

I use one at the plumbing school I teach at....

Enables old offcut pipes to be re used and students can practice cutting, deburring and soldering all day long

Very true.

Personally though in the real world when you are working as a plumber for a living you never use them. I always cut the tube with a clip-on pipe slice, use wire wool, small amount of flux in the fitting, then solder.

I have noticed that my local college is now teaching the pipe expander method mainly due to trying to keep materails costs down.

Yes they work, but not for me IMO.

Its a personal choice

 

[Mark H]

Very true.

Personally though in the real world when you are working as a plumber for a living you never use them. I always cut the tube with a clip-on pipe slice, use wire wool, small amount of flux in the fitting, then solder.

I have noticed that my local college is now teaching the pipe expander method mainly due to trying to keep materails costs down.

Yes they work, but not for me IMO.

Its a personal choice

The way steveO mentions is the way i am learning on my course. They have expanders but i have not seen many people using them.

 

[wiggikins]

Very true.

Personally though in the real world when you are working as a plumber for a living you never use them. I always cut the tube with a clip-on pipe slice, use wire wool, small amount of flux in the fitting, then solder.

I have noticed that my local college is now teaching the pipe expander method mainly due to trying to keep materails costs down.

Yes they work, but not for me IMO.

Its a personal choice

In the real world of plumbing we flux the spigot of the pipe ONLY ,NEVER the fitting!!

 

[obseen16]

In the real world of plumbing we flux the spigot of the pipe ONLY ,NEVER the fitting!!

i was taught that way to. only flux the pipe not the fitting, but my gaffa fluxes both the pipe end and the inside of the fitting before soldering, i guess everyone has their own methods. i still prefer to flux the pipe end and not the fitting.

 

[Mike Jackson]

I use my expander a few times a month. It's too time consuming to use it too make every joint but it's excellent to get you out of trouble. Recent uses have been :-

3/4 pipe emerging from wall, needed to convert to 22 but wanted to keep the bend as tight into the wall as possible. I formed a socket on the 3/4 and used a street elbow.

22 pipe emerging from floor. To get a fitting on the pipe would have meant taking the floor up so I formed a socket and carefully sweated the joint.

1/2 thick wall copper needed conversion to 15mm. Would have meant messing around for ages with a file to get a compression fitting on so the pipe expender came into use again.

In all the above cases I annealed the tube first as it was critical that the socket formed correctly to avoid a lot of extra work.

Mike

 

[stevetheplumber]

Not something i would buy again we had a set about 20 years ago and found them more trouble than there worth quite often splitting the pipe and as someone else said they oversize the joint if your not carefull
for what end feed couplings cost i cant see any saving with the work involved i do use the monument ones which are hammered in especially the 22 mm ones as the can be used to make a long socket allowing them to be used like a slip coupling