Machine shop to cut chrome flange

banchang

I'm putting in a new shower with & the 2 water connectors come through the plasterboard wall - just realised that the plumber hasn't left enough length on the connectors coming through the wall, & so I need to cut the width of the chrome flange which sits on top of each of the 2 shower water connectors.

The other option is take down the wall again & redo the original plumbing setup, which I dont want to do.

Can anyone recommend a machine shop in Dublin who would do that kind of cutting job ?

This isn't it but its the best likeness I can find - I need to cut this to make it shallower

Spannerman7

There is a good chance it is made of stamped or pressed steel and then chromed, it will be very dificult to hold it and skim without wrecking it and where it will be cut the steel, if that is the base material will be exposed and rust. Would a polished stainless disc do the job but cut from flat plate. Have a look for laser cutting/profile cutting, might turn out expensive little job with minimum charges etc, something off the shelf if you could find it may be the best solution. Let us know how you get on.

antiskeptic

banchang wrote: »

I'm putting in a new shower with & the 2 water connectors come through the plasterboard wall - just realised that the plumber hasn't left enough length on the connectors coming through the wall, & so I need to cut the width of the chrome flange which sits on top of each of the 2 shower water connectors.

The other option is take down the wall again & redo the original plumbing setup, which I dont want to do.

Can anyone recommend a machine shop in Dublin who would do that kind of cutting job ?

This isn't it but its the best likeness I can find - I need to cut this to make it shallower

If the connections are that short it might be that the few mm you'll gain by facing off (the machining term) these items won't suffice. As the poster above says - the base material might prove problematic in wet conditions. And you're talking perhaps an hour of machining time which means 50-70 quid depending on where you go.



What kind of 'connections' are coming through the wall? If they're threaded pipes, there's a chance you could unscrew them and fit longer items in their place.

A pic of the situation would assist in any case..

mazthespark

could u get a new plate made maybe 1 for each pipe or 1 to cover the both maybe polished stainless steel? would only be about 3 mm or so.

Joey the lips

You will not get enough width by doing anything to that flange. I am sorry.Nor will you be able to trim those "tin" pcs you have. I have seen this problem to many times.

Is there a cance that the shower backs into the hotpress then you can re do the pipes from the back.

banchang

[IMG][/img]

Thanks for great answers - heres the picture of the problem

Unfortunately does not back into hotpress - its a downstairs shower.

astrofool

Could you cut into the tile directly? Could make it look very neat.

antiskeptic

banchang wrote: »

[IMG][/img]

Thanks for great answers - heres the picture of the problem

Unfortunately does not back into hotpress - its a downstairs shower.

Hmm - tricky all right. You could turn down the cylindrical spacer in a lathe as you say. Perhaps the base material is brass in which case you won't get corrosion issues. But it looks like you've to remove so much material you end up with a glorified washer..

There's a good chance that that thread stump is standard pipe fit work, in which case you could extend the existing pipe by connecting a new piece of threaded pipe onto the old using a straight female connector (which looks like a short length of plain tube - slightly larger in diameter than your thread section - with an internal thread all the way through. You'd have to minimize the length (cutting it down with a hacksaw) of this straight connector, and perhaps trim back the existing thread to ensure things fit within the space you've got. Assuming you use a decent pipe sealer (not just ptfe) there appears to be enough distance to get a decent seal between connector/existing thread and new threaded tube/connector.

After that, it's a matter of cutting down the new threaded tube to suit your tap (bearing in mind what kind of sealing it uses)

Spannerman7

Can I ask you just to take one more photo, for the back side of the unit, to gauge the thickness of the cover, ie, can it be machined, the nut on it is probably braized on meaning it could indeed be brass, you will still get corosion after time but not as bad as rusting.It looks like you would need 15mm taken off. The extension fitting discussed above is called a socket, normally available in BSP, you can get them in stainless if required, straight or hex.

Joey the lips

I guarantee you this cannot be shaved trimed or changed in any way without distorting it and destroying the overall look. However if the op is determined to shave that much off it a far cheaper and easier way would be to buy radiator covercaps. They are plastic and they cost about 3 euro a pair. Buy 10 pairs and change them once a year. They will last about 10 years.

However an additional problem that may occur with machining or the cover caps is the valve will actualy become loose in the wall.

This really is the plumbers responsabity to sort correctly.

That looks like sheeting on the wall. Surly it comes off easy.

martin46585

hi there, have you looked at extending your threaded ends, check out a brass 312 compression fitting without the nut anring or if i remember correctly a 381 is a similiar job these fitting should take you out around a 15/20mm failing this maybe try a parallel nipple and fi/fi adaptor.
try your local builders providers for these fitting it may trial and error but as said already turning the cover plate will be hard to keep from distorting.
hope this helps

banchang

Firstly, thanks for all your replies - really constructive, thanks. Hopefully we'll get there.

This is a pic of the back of the flange. The sheeting at the back is a Mermaid shower panel

http://www.mermaidpanels.com/. This was the source of my problem, as we misjudged the fact that we'd have Mermaid on top of moisture resistant plasterboard, hence we are shy some mm. The Mermaid comes in a 900x900 pack, & its all sealed up, & really don't want to take that down.
[IMG][/img]

Joey the lips

martin46585 wrote: »

hi there, have you looked at extending your threaded ends, check out a brass 312 compression fitting without the nut anring or if i remember correctly a 381 is a similiar job these fitting should take you out around a 15/20mm failing this maybe try a parallel nipple and fi/fi adaptor.
try your local builders providers for these fitting it may trial and error but as said already turning the cover plate will be hard to keep from distorting.
hope this helps

It wont work... actually does the opposite and brings them out tooo far..

Joey the lips

If you take the mermaid panel down you can cut a hole in the pasterboard to lengthen the pipe. It will not interfere with the seal. If your worried fill the back of the flange with silicone when you screw it back down.

Job is oxo cheap fix and guaranteed to last... promise...

del88

I'm sure your local metal fabricator would cut it down for you...would be easy enough to cut with a electric band saw ....where are you living??

banchang

del88 wrote: »

I'm sure your local metal fabricator would cut it down for you...would be easy enough to cut with a electric band saw ....where are you living??

Living in Dublin 9 - can you recommend anyone ?

del88

banchang wrote: »

Living in Dublin 9 - can you recommend anyone ?

I've got stuff made from N.E. Fabrication & Powder Coating Ltd in brittas.....not to close to dublin 9 i'm afraid.
If you are getting them cut ,fix them into the end of a piece of timber so it's easy enough to hold in a vice tight while been cut...saves time and the guy doing it will be more willing to help ..
you could do this by putting a large washer on the inside and screwing it in to the end grian of a piece of 3/2.

martin46585

Joey the lips wrote: »

It wont work... actually does the opposite and brings them out tooo far..

its either shorten the flange or lengthen the threaded ends end result is the same

Spannerman7

I reckon thats stainless, going by the variation in colour and polished on the front, if it were chromed it would be the same through out and it is poss to skim it to size, there is plenty of meat on it, not so sure on the bandsaw, very dificult to get a straight cut and a lot of cleaning up after.
Well you've got a few solutions, the choice at the end of the day is up to you. If it were me I'd get it skimmed to size, my original fear was that it would be too thin but that appears not to be the case.
Just to let you know I'm in the metalwork buisness and any of your local shops should have no bother doing this for you, hope thats helped you out somewhat. Oh yeah if they do skim it tell them to mount it on a mandrel rather than straight to chuck, that will prevent it getting marked.

martin46585

just had a look at the flange and it looks like it is a "pewter" type material chromed, but it has plenty on it to turn,
get yourself a 1/2" parallel brass nipple 2/3" long and grip it in chuck thread on a back nut than your part and turn in lath.
any cheap fix will look just that

maybe try your old metalwork teacher (small toolmaker type machine shop)

banchang

martin46585 wrote: »

just had a look at the flange and it looks like it is a "pewter" type material chromed, but it has plenty on it to turn,
get yourself a 1/2" parallel brass nipple 2/3" long and grip it in chuck thread on a back nut than your part and turn in lath.
any cheap fix will look just that

maybe try your old metalwork teacher (small toolmaker type machine shop)

Thanks guys great response.

Any recommendations for machine shop/toolmaker in Dublin ?