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teflon substitute?

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:13 pm
by singularity
well it appears as though i have ran out of Teflon (i really don't know how this happened i manged to go through 2 rolls in a week) and i was wondering if there was any form of cheap readily available alternative that may or may not be lying in my basement. loctite perhaps? maybe masking tape? some weak glue? got any ideas i really dont feel like going all the way to the store to buy a 75 cent roll of Teflon

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:30 pm
by MisterSteve124
Try saran wrap that might work.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:34 pm
by potatoflinger
I think someone on here said that you can use strips of plastic shopping bags as a substitute.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:38 pm
by MisterSteve124
Yeah that would probably work too.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:42 pm
by DYI
I can get 400' of Teflon tape for $4... Although I can go through over 200' in an average build, so buying in bulk is a necessity. I also found recently that one of my hardware stores sells pink teflon tape, which could look interesting on black iron cannons, so I bought 150' of that too. I like to keep lots of it in stock.

As for a substitute, I have heard of the use of shopping bags instead of PTFE tape. Any kind of pipe dope would be a more orthodox solution. Unless you intend on using low pressure, couldn't you just wait for teflon tape?

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:10 pm
by c19o
I once used tape before, suprisingly it worked quite well.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:12 pm
by Zen///
I can get 400' of Teflon tape for $4... Although I can go through over 200' in an average build, so buying in bulk is a necessity. I also found recently that one of my hardware stores sells pink teflon tape, which could look interesting on black iron cannons, so I bought 150' of that too. I like to keep lots of it in stock.

As for a substitute, I have heard of the use of shopping bags instead of PTFE tape. Any kind of pipe dope would be a more orthodox solution. Unless you intend on using low pressure, couldn't you just wait for teflon tape?
400 feet?!??!!?

200' for one build?!??!
REALLY?

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:17 pm
by JDP12
i often go through 2 rolls, just because of leak testing, and stripping all the old off and putting on new tape... so i can see that

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:25 pm
by Fnord
You can use electrical tape, but it takes some practice to get a good seal. You should buy a can of pipe dope, as it seems to last a lot longer for the same price.

I'm sure you could probably find a homebrew pipe dope recipe out there too.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:06 pm
by DYI
I often use up to 10' or so for a 2" fitting. My threaded joints don't leak...
Isn't a lot of pipe dope just PTFE paste now? I know that it hasn't always been, but that's about all I can find now.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:08 pm
by BC Pneumatics
You could have been back from the store by now :(

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:32 pm
by singularity
its more that i don't have a ride to the store and the seal would only need to be good up to about 60psi, i think i will try the bag idea

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 1:28 am
by POLAND_SPUD
an insulating tape ( aka electrical tape ) works great for metal fittings - even better than PTFE

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:56 am
by rna_duelers
The pink Teflon tape is actually designed for gaslines and high pressure air lines :wink: .So it should be used really,but I don't know anyone that does.

You can buy a small roll off teflon tape for 45cents at Bunnings or 5 rolls for about $2 or you can get 50 meter rolls or could be 40meter rolls for about $8 or so.The smaller ones usually only have about 5 meters on them.

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:47 pm
by Orpackrat
Thin plastic bags work. Because I found myself buying alot of Teflon tape myself, I just bought 1833' of teflon tape on Ebay for about $17.00, it might just last 2 months :lol: .