How to make a chain from PVC pipe

Some crafts seem, at first glance, to be useless, since the practical outline of their application is not immediately visible. For example, for what purpose is a PVC chain needed? But sometimes the process of making a homemade product itself or the skills, knowledge and experience gained during this process is valuable. By the way, a plastic chain can become costume jewelry, an element of an installation; you can play with it, perform exercises, or demonstrate tricks. It's not at all difficult to do.

Will need

To make this craft, you will only need affordable materials and universal tools:

• a piece of PVC pipe;
  
• pendulum, jigsaw, hand saw or mini-drill with cutting disc;
  
• ring holder, for example, round nose pliers;
  
• building hair dryer or any other suitable heat source;
  
• template for forming oblong chain links;
  
• a nozzle for a hair dryer in the form of a thin metal plate or knife blade.

The process of making a plastic chain from a pipe

The technology for making a plastic chain is quite simple and obvious. We start by sawing a section of the selected PVC pipe into rings of equal height.This is done using a mini drill and cutting disc, as well as a saw (pendulum, jigsaw or hand saw). You can also use any device that automatically cuts rings of equal height.

Having made the required number of blanks for future links, we proceed to removing saw marks and grinding their ends. To do this, we use suitable tool equipment suitable for such an operation (emery wheel, grinding disc, grinder, etc.).

We string several rings onto a suitable object, for example, pliers, and blow them with hot air from a hair dryer until the material softens and begins to deform plastically.

Without delay, place the heated rings on the template to obtain an oblong shape and keep them there until the links harden in their new form. To do this, lightly press them with your gloved fingers.


We make a cross-section in all elements with a thin disk mounted on the spindle of a mini-drill.

Using cuts, we connect individual links into a common chain.

We weld the cuts by preheating the joint using a thin blade or scalpel, which receive thermal energy from a suitable source (hair dryer, open flame, etc.).

To do this, place the heated blade into the cut until the surfaces to be joined soften and come together when squeezed. We maintain the compressive force for some time.


The process of heating and welding plastic chain links proceeds quite quickly. It lasts literally a few seconds due to the small contact area (heating) and the large one – heat dissipation (cooling).

Watch the video