[Shop-talk] The road goes on forever, the plumbing never ends

[Donald H Locker]

Have you considered just "unwinding" the tip of the corkscrew end a bit?
Changing it from a 3/8" to [say] a 3/4"?

With a pointy tip sticking out wide of the rest of the coils, I would
expect it to pull itself outwards as it rotates, thereby increasing the
swept diameter.

As far as brazing a new fitting to the end of you current snake, that
should work just fine, especially if you brazing skills are better than
my rusty skills. And if something breaks off, it should be gnarly enough
to be snagged by a corkscrew, yes?

HTH,
Donald.
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On 2020-05-16 4:57 p.m., Mark J Bradakis via Shop-talk wrote:
> I may not be that handsome, but I'm fairly handy around the house. 
> Kitchen sink drain clogged up again.  It has been a continual problem. 
> Basically it involves about 15 feet of drain pipe that has about a
> quarter inch drop over the run.  Well, maybe more than that, but not
> much more.  I made it a lot easier many years ago by putting in a T
> fitting in a spot easy to get to, so I no longer need to snake the
> entire length by taking apart the pipes at the sink.
> 
> The drain pipe is 2" internal diameter.  The corkscrew on the end of the
> snake might be 3/8" in diameter. It bores a pretty small hole in the
> gunk clogging the pipe, so it doesn't take long to clog again.  I don't
> think there are any small, handhelp drain snakes with really big tips on
> them, capable of cleaning the entire inside diameter of the pipe.  I
> have seen these at the hardware stores made for bigger, heavier
> machines.  Not something I want to hold head high while working on the
> drain.
> 
> I was thinking maybe I could fab up a steel rod.  One end would have a
> hole the size of the snake coil, the other end a slot with a grub screw
> to fit the Brass Craft ends.  Seems simple.  I wonder it the snake coil
> is weldable, or at least brazable?  I'd hate to have it fail by breaking
> off as soon as any force is applied, i. e. the cutter hits the clog. 
> Having a chunk of steel lodged a few feet into the pipe would make
> subsequent snaking problematic. Would my plan work?
> 
> Such fun having to clean drains right after the falling tree mess and
> the muffler blowing out on my Blazer.  Does May, or for that matter 2020
> have a reset - do over button?
> 
> mjb.