Replies

1. 
   Shep | Jun 19, 2008 01:37am | #1

   The glue does fuse the Azek together, but the edge of the board looks a little different than the face.

   I've done Azek columns by routing the edge with a lock miter bit, and clamping and gluing the whole thing together. I assemble the whole column, but only glue 3 pieces together. Thn, when I wrap it around the post, I just have to glue and clamp the last side on.

   You could also just cut a 45 deg. miter on the long edge, and use tape as a clamp to pull everything together. You do have to work fairly quickly, before the glue sets, but its not that bad.

   Whatever method you decide to use, leave a little space around the post, to allow for some movement. Both butt joints and miter joints will be plenty strong.

1. 
   woodpecker47 | Jun 19, 2008 03:25am | #2

   thanks for your reply, i have heard about lock miter bits. how difficult are they to use and set up. do you need a router table or just a router? on a different note last year i used pvc glue from hd. fast drying time and it's clear. azek glue looks red what do you do to remove dried glue or could you just paint over it? thanks again for all your help.

1. 
   Shep | Jun 19, 2008 11:25pm | #4

   You MUST use a lock miter bit in a router table. Its waay to big, and dangerous, to try freehand. It does take a while to get it set up properly ( it took me over an hour to get everything adjusted properly the first time ), but once set up, you just run the pieces thru. One edge gets run thru with the board flat on the table, and then the other edge gets run thru with the board verticle.

   Its great once you start gluing, since the joint is self-aligning.

   The Azek glue I get at my regular yard is sort of a light greenish-yellow, not red. Not a very appealing color, but it pretty much disappears when dry. Plus I try to keep a wet rag around to clean up the squeeze out. The advantage of the Azek glue I use is that it's water clean up, and has a pretty long open time when assembling joints. I've used regular PVC glue, and you gotta move pretty fast with that stuff. Plus there's not much margin for error if you don't get things lined up right the first time.

2. 
   McDesign | Jun 19, 2008 04:53am | #3

   I do it.  Here are some ones I made from 1x6 and 1x6 PVC lumber.  The corners are just an applied PVC molding.

   You can see where I butted some pieces on the back surfaces to make a 1x6 into a 1x7.

   All done with 1-1/2" 15-gauge nails, yellow CPVC glue, and trim-head screws to assemble the last face around the column on site.

   View Image

   View Image

   Ignore the diagonal sticks - it was a visual mock-up for the client

   Forrest

   
   

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   Edited 6/18/2008 9:55 pm ET by McDesign

3. 
   Whitewood_Millwork | Mar 22, 2021 01:18pm | #5

   Locking miter joint is a good idea, but we like to miter all four boards lay them out next to each other. Then tape them together (still face up). Once aligned and secure, flip it and apply pvc cement to the joints and fold it up using tape again to secure the last joint. I like to use clear packing tape you would get at an office supply store. The wider the boards and the taller the columns the more difficulty you add, but it's still do-able. We even do tapered columns just as I described.