I am trying to cut some 20mm mdpe pipe square in practice for joining with some imperial 21.5mm alkathene with some phillmac fittings. This will be buried and I want to make sure this is pretty darn leak proof.
I have tried (and none of these are cheeaap!):
- non brand ratcheting 0-40mm cutters. These cleanly cut but there's so much play in the blade that getting a square cut is merely luck.
- a rotary 15-22mm plastic rothenburger cutter, this failed miserably. These don't actually get through the material, but even using them as a starting point it's not square!!!!!
- a 0-22mm rocut 28 rothenburger pipe pex shears. There's no play in the blade ... But these squash the pipe more than the ratchet ones and it's still not square!!!!
What am I doing wrong? Any tips would be massively appreciated. Do I have to straighten out the mdpe with boiling water before I cut it to get it square?
I have tried (and none of these are cheeaap!):
- non brand ratcheting 0-40mm cutters. These cleanly cut but there's so much play in the blade that getting a square cut is merely luck.
- a rotary 15-22mm plastic rothenburger cutter, this failed miserably. These don't actually get through the material, but even using them as a starting point it's not square!!!!!
- a 0-22mm rocut 28 rothenburger pipe pex shears. There's no play in the blade ... But these squash the pipe more than the ratchet ones and it's still not square!!!!
What am I doing wrong? Any tips would be massively appreciated. Do I have to straighten out the mdpe with boiling water before I cut it to get it square?