DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF MULTI FUNCTIONAL PIPE FITTING TOOL
Due to population growth and urbanization, plumbing has been systematically evolving over the decades. As a result, the plumbing industry overgrew. Due to the advanced plumbing industry, its simple operations were transformed into more complex operations. This complexity was primarily due to innovations in plumbing industry-related equipment. The main reason for this is that although all navigable tools are modernized, their work is limited to one task. Therefore, the plumbing industry has become a complex, time-consuming, non-sustainable field with separate equipment for each different function. The primary purpose of this study was to develop a new tool that would simplify the complex plumbing field again. The solution is to create an efficient, easy-to-use, portable multi-purpose tool that can perform the essential functions of cutting, heating, and burr removal for PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipes, as PVC pipes are primarily used in the plumbing industry day-to-day life. This study innovated a tool consisting of three parts: the front part, the middle part, and the back part. The front and back parts are made of steel, and the middle part is made of steel and nylon. Also, the front part of the tool consists of a stable part, a moving part, and a screw adjuster. The middle part of the tool consists of a tool handle. The back of the tool includes a cutting body part, a cutting tooth and a wheel. Measurements were taken on a vernier scale to prepare an accurate sketch. The layout of the tool was constructed by SOLIDWORK software, and the fabrication was performed by a CNC machine and a Lathe machine. Experiments were carried out for PVC pipes of different sizes manufactured in Sri Lanka. Cutting, heating and burr removal operations were carried out using the tool developed in this study for different sizes of PVC pipes to investigate the consumption time to implement the above operations. Also, the same procedures were implemented using traditional methods instead of applying the developed tool to identify the tool’s effectiveness. Finally, the ANOVA test was used as a statistical analysis using MINITAB 16 software to ensure the difference in the average time consumption for each PVC pipe size, and for two different brands also. According to the test results, the tool operated well for cutting, heating and burr removal. The average time consumption of both brands for cutting performance varied between 13, 15, 18, 22 and 28 seconds for ½, ¾, 1, 1½, and 2 inches of pipe sizes, respectively. The heating operation was spent 24, 23, 22, 19 and 16 seconds for the sizes of ½, ¾, 1, 1½, and 2 inches of PVC pipes. Further, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 seconds were used for burr removal operations, for the same sizes, respectively. With respect to the three operations, the tool revealed a higher performance than conventional methods. According to the ANNOVA test, it has improved the overall functionality of the tool by 67.96% for cutting, 18.89% for heating and 56.03% for burr removal compared to traditional techniques, via reducing the average consumed time. Therefore, the tool developed showed multi-functionality for three primary operations of cutting, heating, and burr removal for PVC pipe. Furthermore, the tool has proven to be highly effective. Therefore, the project successfully solved problems of cutting, heating and burr removal PVC pipes, and it is user-friendly, cost-effective, has less damage caused to pipes, is high durability, and is easy to handle with a lightweight and straightforward portable device for the plumbing sector.
Due to population growth and urbanization, plumbing has been systematically evolving over the decades. As a result, the plumbing industry overgrew. Due to the advanced plumbing industry, its simple operations were transformed into more complex operations. This complexity was primarily due to innovations in plumbing industry-related equipment. The main reason for this is that although all navigable tools are modernized, their work is limited to one task. Therefore, the plumbing industry has become a complex, time-consuming, non-sustainable field with separate equipment for each different function. The primary purpose of this study was to develop a new tool that would simplify the complex plumbing field again. The solution is to create an efficient, easy-to-use, portable multi-purpose tool that can perform the essential functions of cutting, heating, and burr removal for PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipes, as PVC pipes are primarily used in the plumbing industry day-to-day life. This study innovated a tool consisting of three parts: the front part, the middle part, and the back part. The front and back parts are made of steel, and the middle part is made of steel and nylon. Also, the front part of the tool consists of a stable part, a moving part, and a screw adjuster. The middle part of the tool consists of a tool handle. The back of the tool includes a cutting body part, a cutting tooth and a wheel. Measurements were taken on a vernier scale to prepare an accurate sketch. The layout of the tool was constructed by SOLIDWORK software, and the fabrication was performed by a CNC machine and a Lathe machine. Experiments were carried out for PVC pipes of different sizes manufactured in Sri Lanka. Cutting, heating and burr removal operations were carried out using the tool developed in this study for different sizes of PVC pipes to investigate the consumption time to implement the above operations. Also, the same procedures were implemented using traditional methods instead of applying the developed tool to identify the tool’s effectiveness. Finally, the ANOVA test was used as a statistical analysis using MINITAB 16 software to ensure the difference in the average time consumption for each PVC pipe size, and for two different brands also. According to the test results, the tool operated well for cutting, heating and burr removal. The average time consumption of both brands for cutting performance varied between 13, 15, 18, 22 and 28 seconds for ½, ¾, 1, 1½, and 2 inches of pipe sizes, respectively. The heating operation was spent 24, 23, 22, 19 and 16 seconds for the sizes of ½, ¾, 1, 1½, and 2 inches of PVC pipes. Further, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 seconds were used for burr removal operations, for the same sizes, respectively. With respect to the three operations, the tool revealed a higher performance than conventional methods. According to the ANNOVA test, it has improved the overall functionality of the tool by 67.96% for cutting, 18.89% for heating and 56.03% for burr removal compared to traditional techniques, via reducing the average consumed time. Therefore, the tool developed showed multi-functionality for three primary operations of cutting, heating, and burr removal for PVC pipe. Furthermore, the tool has proven to be highly effective. Therefore, the project successfully solved problems of cutting, heating and burr removal PVC pipes, and it is user-friendly, cost-effective, has less damage caused to pipes, is high durability, and is easy to handle with a lightweight and straightforward portable device for the plumbing sector.