"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
...
Daughter's basement has a bathroom with rough plumbing only, done about 20
years ago. The closet flange is 90 degrees in the wrong direction. I tried
prying it up with the hope that it was not glued (ABS Plastic) in place.
Destroyed flange, and yes, it is glued. Flange is glued to the outside of a
3 inch 'street el'.

My only option is to chip out an inch or two of concrete and hack attempt to
hack, carve away at the fitting leaving a reasonably round 3 inch (inside
diameter) stub onto which I can properly glue an new flange.

Note that ABS gluing is a full weld and cannot be heated and pealed out
unlike PVC. Also note that no tool exists for cutting off the excess from
outside of a 3" pipe. They do make reamers to remove an internal glue job.
They cost close to $ 300.

Anyway, I need ideas on how to make a tool that I can spin in my heavy duty
drill that would "circumsise" this pipe. I am thinking of a piston-like
guide that would fit inside the 3" bore with a 'fly-cutter' type tool
mounted thereon that would shave off the material on the outside of this
pipe.

Any ideas on what I could cobble together real fast would be appreciated. I
do have a lathe and a vertical mill. By fast, I mean less than 4-6 hours in
tool making because any longer and I could saw cut the concrete, cut off the
elbow, glue on ABS fittings and re-patch the floor.

I do own a boring head and am wondering how to machine/attach a guide that
would keep the whole assembly honest (concentric).

BTW, plumbing supply stores tell me that no one makes a closet flange that
will fit inside a 3" pipe. Only options are 'outside a 3" pipe', or,
'inside a 4" pipe'. Gluing inside a 3" pipe would constrict the turds to
2-1/2" clearance, which does not meet code, ergo nobody makes such a
fitting.

Thanks for all advice!



Ivan Vegvary

First, you screwed up when you pried on the flange. The fastest solution
would have been to drill holes at the proper positions, into the concrete,
through the flange and mount a couple of 1/4-20 studs in redheads.

If you have enough vertical pipe under the flange, the pushtite flange Steve
suggested will work just fine.

If not, realize that the flange just gives the wax ring some place to
squish. Attaching the mounting bolt to the flange is important on a wood
floor where vibration allows the floor to move differently from the stack ,
but on a concrete floor they can just go into the concrete.

I would make a guide for a hole saw that fits the center and use a holesaw
to cut off the fitting.

I would bore out a replacement fitting to slip over whatever the holesaw
left. Glue on the fitting. Double seal any gaps with the pipe with silicone.
Screw the flange to the concrete and use the previously mentioned redheads
to mount the toilet (this way, the home fitted flange is not relied on
structurally).


Paul K. Dickman