Any way to cut 1/2" type M copper from the INSIDE?

[skintdigit]

Hello!
I hope someone has some advice to help me remedy a bonehead plumbing mistake. We're remodeling our bathroom and added a custom shower with 3 body sprays as part of the project. We finished setting the tile in the shower on Wednesday and grouted the porcelain-over-backerboard installation on Thursday. The body sprays arrived from the plumbing supply house on...Friday. During the plumbing rough in I set the 1/2" male adapters for the body sprays at 1/2" outside of the finished wall surface...the same as the spec for the wall union for the hand shower(also installed) that the plumbing supplier had for us weeks ago. Unfortunately(here's the bonehead part), the spec for the body spray heads require the male adapters in the wall to be more or less flush with the finished wall surface . As it its now, the body spray escutcheons cannot slide back to the wall. I'm afraid if I heat the adapters off with a torch I may compromise the sweat joints on the tees in the pressure loop. I installed the adapters on 1 1/2" bullets from the tees, so there's only 1/2" of pipe between the sockets on the existing male adapters and pressure loop tees. Is there a way to cut the male adapters and a bit of pipe off from the inside? Then I could sweat new adapters on(if I'm careful and clean) and cool them quickly to salvage the operation without going into the wall. Any suggestions?.....anyone? Yep, next time I'll wait 'til I have all the parts in hand before rough in or call the manufacturer and ask for specs first! (Insert bonehead or goofball icon here).

[LazyPup]

Cutting copper tubing, especially type M by any means other than a tubing cutter will often result in leaving the tubing slightly out of round or excessive burrs that will make getting a good solder joint nearly impossible.

Is there a possibility of accessing these fitting from behind through an adjacent wall?

[skintdigit]

The plumbing is in an exterior wall with brick facing...tough to get at from that angle, too.

[skintdigit]

Wonder if I might cut the adapters off from the inside with a dremel tool and small cutoff wheel. Guess there's nothing to lose in trying. Once cut, I should be able to reach the stubs through the 1 1/4" hole in the backerboard to deburr the pipe before soldering...just didn't know if the dremel idea was doable.

[mrcaptainbob]

Use the Dremel. Just make sure to keep the end as square to the tube c/L as possible and, as LazyPup says, make sure to keep it burr free. Dry fit the fitting to make sure it can be slipped on without too much forcing. You can use that Dremel cutoff wheel to to deburr the copper as well. Since it's in such a difficult area, though, how do you plan to polish it to get the flux on?

[skintdigit]

I cut 1 1/4" holes in the backerboard for the plumbing valves and spray head locations. After I cut the male adapters off, there should be enough room to get mesh abrasive cloth inside to deburr and polish the pipe end. Will try it tomorrow after I get home from work...I'll let you folks know how it turns out. Thank you all for your time and thoughts.

[skintdigit]

The high speed cutter worked great for cutting the adapters off. Difficult at first to hold the Dremel steady, but I got the hang of it. Burrs weren't too bad. Mesh cloth and elbow grease cleaned and polished the pipe ends. Barely had enough room to get the the solder "L" into the holes in the backerboard, but it worked. I capped the new adapters with iron pipe caps for a pressure test, and all seems well. Now we just need to get the glass in place.