Internal cutter for ABS?

[Bob Powell]

Helping a friend finish out a bathroom, new construction roughed in long ago and then left alone. There is a rough toilet drain stub sticking up out of the concrete floor, still capped with the test plug. This is a 3" ABS pipe that was wrapped with sill sealer (foam sheet) before the slab was poured, so there is about 1/2" clearance for the o.d. of a flange to be installed around the pipe. A ceramic tile floor is set up to the edge of the foam.

I have been told that there is a tool called an internal pipe cutter that will cut off the ABS clean at the right depth below the tile to install a standard toilet flange. No luck finding such a tool at the local hardware or my familiar industrial suppliers MSC, McMaster, Grainger... nobody knows what I am talking about.

If someone can describe the tool for this and/or how this is ordinarily done, I'll be eternally grateful. thanks

Bob

[NedFlanders]

You need a 3" cutting wheel for a grinder. Look for it in the grinder wheel section. The small one is not as common but its perfect. It just fits inside 3" so it makes it easier to make an even cut. This goes on your cordless drill with a mandrell. bring a little piece of 3" pipe or a tape measure with you to confirm size. Works great! much better than cheesy dremmel tool or other small wheels.

[Blackbeard]

Go to Fergusons on one of your local plumbing supply houses. A regular hardware store won't carry this item. It's a fairly simple design. It's basically a drill bit with a small (about 1" diameter) blade on the end. You put this thing on your drill and you can easily cut the pipe from the inside. Make sure you take good measurements before you go hacking away though. You only get one chance at this before you have to break concrete.

[jim donovan]

hmm,sawzall .cut pipe flush with the floor,pull foam out , glue on flange.done

[Mark Monson]

That don't work on 3".

[Mike Grooms]

"Mark Monson"

It'll work with the right kind of collar. There's a make that you can slide over a 3" pipe like a tuba that would allow for a good fit even if the pipe terminates flush with the floor.

The internal cutter I've use before fits inside the pipe and expands as you ratchet it with a cutting wheel on one side and a roller on the other.

[Mark Monson]

Doesn't matter what kind of flange you use. If you don't cut the 3" pipe off below floor level it will interfere with the bowl horn on many W.C.'s. The way to go is use a 4x3 closet bend, whack the 4" pipe off flush with the floor, and then use a

4x3 flush fit flange.

MM

[jim donovan]

ok lets start over. sawzall with a long blade cut 3'' pipe FLUSH with floor ,tile ,vinyl whatever then pull out foam crap. then go somewhere you have never been before ( like a plumbing supply house) and ask for a abs toilet flange that will glue over 3" abs. you will make many new friends there and they will ask you to even come back. don't forget wax ring.bolts. supply tube while your there.

[Mike Grooms]

"jim donovan"

You use ABS where you are?

[Mike Grooms]

"Mark Monson"

What you describe is a normal way I do it, but I've not had a problem running 3" flush with the floor. If what you say it true, then the bowl horn would have to hit the floor before the rim of the bowl. Are there toilets that are like that these days? With a sawsall, you can actually cut the pipe about 3/16ths below the floor if you cut at the right angle.

The only trouble I've run into is using wax rings with those plastic horns. Only rarely though.

[jim donovan]

no i have seen it in some modular homes,and also at the yard of a couple supply houses.just pvc and cast iron for me for waste, pex and copper for water.i think that 90 that comes with g/d might be abs.why is abs out in the market?

[NedFlanders]

My way is still the best. The bits they talk about are a rip off. They serve only one pourpos and you need a bit for every size pipe on the other flavor. (there a couple of diff. styles)

I am a real plumber unlike some of these other guys. I have had to do this a few times.

[Mike Grooms]

"NedFlanders"

Well gee, just open yourself up for potshots & insults. Of course, I'd never do it myself.

The real Ned Flanders would never talk like that.

[jim donovan]

at what point in ones life do they decide they have become a REAL plumber?

[Bob Powell]

That's one heck of a setup line!

REAL plumbers, thanks for the advice. When I feel the need to add a suggestion of my own, will preface with "WARNING: Homeowner Alert".