Good evening Nancy, They make a variety of tube cutters. These have a sort of sharp edged disk on the fixed jaw of what looks something like a small pipe wrench. There are a pair of rollers on the other moveable jaw with a knob at the other end which turns a screw to tighten the rollers up against one side of the pipe while the cutting disk snugs up on the other side. You just snug it up, turn the cutter around the pipe a couple of times then tighten the screw a little bit, continue turning it around the pipe closing the rollers down on the pipe at intervals until it cuts through. Makes a fine clean cut. There is a sort of pointed device which can be extended out of the cutter to clean away any burr left by the cutter or you could use a little sand paper or even a small round file.
If there isn't room for a standard pipe cutter they do make modified ones some which allow you to make partial turns. As you say, copper is soft and easily cut with a hack saw as well provided you cut reasonably straight. These are always in difficult places of course so patience is truly a virtue. Hope this is helpful. ----- Original Message ----- From: Nancy Hill To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 7:44 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Help with kitchen plumbing needed Dale, What tool do you use to cut copper pipe since it is softer than most metals....don't want to put a crimp in the works... Thanks, Nancy ----- Original Message ----- From: Dale Leavens To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 4:03 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Help with kitchen plumbing needed Hi Nancy. There is no good reason to go to plastic plumbing in this situation. First thing to discover is if there is a shut-off valve for the hot and another for the cold water lines to the taps. If so you should be able to simply disconnect the tails from the under side of the tap. If you are replacing the taps the new ones may not use the same sized fitting but if they do you are all set. If there is no shut-off or if it is then soldered directly to the taps which used to be common then I would shut off the water to the house, cut the copper pipes off just below the old shut-offs and terminate the pipes with shut-off valves also known as stop cocks with compression fittings. You then buy tails, I like the braded hose style, one end threads onto the end of the stop cock and the other has a nut arrangement to thread over the fitting at the stem of the tap. Because the tails are flexible life is very easy. The other advantage is much fewer joins. Hope this is helpful. ----- Original Message ----- From: Nancy Hill To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 1:31 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Help with kitchen plumbing needed Hi All, We need to replace the kitchen sink fixture. My husband has done that before when pvc pipe was involved. Under this sink is copper pipe for the hot and cold water. How do you attach pvc pipe to copper pipe to make a good seal and the pvc will be what actually attaches to the fixture? Many thanks for your suggestions and help. Nancy [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
