Clear Styrene tubing

[Madhatter]

hi all

Any ideas where I can get small diameter clear styrene tubing from? I've done a Google search but no one does it except if I custom order some and they come in 6ft lengths which is way more than I need.

Be nice if Evergreen or Plastrut did their tubes in clear. What could be a good alternative?

[Black Knight]

I haven't come across clear styrene tubing, but small diameter vinyl tubing is available in fishing tackle shops. Minimum inside diameter available is less than 1mm, costs about 99p for 1m.

Might this do your job?

For other lengths or diameters I drill out clear sprue and sometimes heat stretch it - done carefully one can get a hollow tube. But this is only good for short lengths.

[Oddball]

By small, how small are we talking? Certain kiddies drinks cartons have straws which are fairly clear, and they're usually only a couple of millimeters wide.

[andym]

As others say what diameter/size are we talking about? And remember larger sizes of styrene tube can be heat stretched to make smaller tubes. I needed some really small diameter opaque tube a couple of weeks ago and I heated the plastic handle of a cotton bud over a tea light and stretched it as you would when making stretched sprue and it worked brilliantly.

HTH
Andy

[Madhatter]

thanks for the suggestions guys - I'll look into that piping you get from fish shops

The problem I have is I don't know the exact diameter because that part I want to replace is molded in there and I can't get my calipers in there to measure it. If I was to guess, I'd say 7-10 mm or so with a length of about 4cm

MH