About to lose my trying to assemble Snap Loc pipe

[Alex Gauthier]

Has anyone encountered any tricks for snapping 24g Snap-loc straight pipe together? I purchased mine from Oneida and I've tried a few pieces. I can't get a single one to snap together. I've tried using a screw driver to pry the female side open a little more. I've tried securing one end with zip ties so it can't pop loose while I work my way down. I've tried brute force and ignorance. I've tried a lot of profanity. Nothing. I can't get these damned things to work. Any bright ideas?

[Peter Kelly]

[Alex Gauthier]

I tried his method. That video doesn't help at all. I've pried the female end open like he suggests and it still just flies apart.

[Dan McGonigle]

I put mine together a few months ago, took me a few minutes to snap the first one. Mine was 26ga so not as heavy as yours. I just grabbed it with both hands and curled it together until the two ends overlapped, then used hand pressure to snap it together a few inches at a time. Definitely a pain to do while keeping the entire pipe curled while you snap it together. This probably doesn’t help, just my experience. Maybe recruit an extra set of hands to hold the pipe together while you work on snapping it?

[David Helm]

Get it started, the lay the pipe down with the seam up.Push the seams down like you are trying to flatten it. They should snap together. It has worked well for me.

[Peter Kelly]

(2) 6"-8" hose clamps to keep everything together? Can use a nut setter in a drill to close them.

[Jim Finn]

24 ga snap-lock pipe is hard to assemble, even for us sheet metal workers. Do it like David suggested only, also put a vice-grip on the crimped end to hold the two ends together, after starting it there , work your way to the other end. As though you are trying to flatten the pipe.

[Jim Becker]

Get it started, the lay the pipe down with the seam up.Push the seams down like you are trying to flatten it. They should snap together. It has worked well for me.

This is exactly what I was going to say...works every time. The joint is designed to slip together this way.

[Ole Anderson]

Must vary with the manufacturer, I don't remember that problem when snapping together mine. Yes you use the flattening trick. I do remember pinching the ends with a set of pliers after they snapped.

[Roy Petersen]

(2) 6"-8" hose clamps to keep everything together? Can use a nut setter in a drill to close them.

This is how I finally managed to get these snapped together without a huge struggle. Squashing flat(ish) wasn't working, so I pried the female end open slightly along the length of the 4' section, then started it at one end. Immediately stuck a hose clamp on it and snugged that down. Slipped a second one on about a foot further down, and gently guided the parts together while tightening the 2nd clamp. Once that was begun, the rest popped in pretty easily.
snaplock.jpg

This was the heavy stuff from Oneida, the 5" x 48" 24Ga, so it resisted.

[Alex Gauthier]

Managed to conquer it the other day. A tip someone gave me to secure one end with vice grips did the trick. Also, I had to cut a couple into shorter sections which meant they went together a lot easier as well. Ended up using an air nibbler to cut them worked extremely well!

This is how I finally managed to get these snapped together without a huge struggle. Squashing flat(ish) wasn't working, so I pried the female end open slightly along the length of the 4' section, then started it at one end. Immediately stuck a hose clamp on it and snugged that down. Slipped a second one on about a foot further down, and gently guided the parts together while tightening the 2nd clamp. Once that was begun, the rest popped in pretty easily.
snaplock.jpg

This was the heavy stuff from Oneida, the 5" x 48" 24Ga, so it resisted.

[Roy Petersen]

Loads of ways to do it I suppose. I only wish I'd come up with this sooner, as this was literally the next to last section after redoing the whole shop (20 lengths, not including cuts and splices, etc).
Cursing helped some. Kinda.

[Jim Finn]

Rather unusual to see 24 ga. pipe in anything longer than two foot lengths. We only could get it in this shorter length. Now I know why. We used this heavy pipe to connect coal furnaces to brick chimneys...long ago.

[Mike Cutler]

Rather unusual to see 24 ga. pipe in anything longer than two foot lengths. We only could get it in this shorter length. Now I know why. We used this heavy pipe to connect coal furnaces to brick chimneys...long ago.

I still use it to connect my wood stove to the flue.
I never thought about using flue pipe for a DC system. . I got some work to do now.

To the Op. It is a pain to snap that stuff together, but after you do it a few times it will snap right in.
We used to use something very similar to these to make "trash cans" on a submarine, that were then subsequently ejected out of the ship when full, under water.

[Larry Edgerton]

I use a great big zip tie. I get the crimped end started and slip the zip tie over the end, and then just work it down on a flat bench. I do not tighten the zip tie so tight that it can not be used on the next one. Have no issues with this method.