Bending CPVC

For a recent play we did The Mystery of the Yellow Room it was adapted a book just for our stage. Great play with a lot of thought. We needed a railing to go all the way around the second story and we did not have the money for spindles. I have bent solid PVC rods before but even that would have been over $400. We had to do it for under $40. I knew I could bend CPVC a bit, but I needed a very tight curve. At one point in needs to have a 1.5" radius. With just heating it the CPVC would kink and look horrible. I have filled pipes with sand to stop the kinking but it took forever to heat with the heat gun. Each one would take me 30 minutes, and I needed to make over 50. I had looked at making a furnace to heat them as I was laying them, but I had to heat a 4' long pipe. There are not many ovens that would fit that. I looked at making one out of heating duct and charcoal lighters, but could not get the balance right. The big problem with CPVC is the flexibility point and the melting points are very close. So here is my final solution.
              I desecrated the shop coffee pot with silica sand. The coffee pot would heat it up to around 120 degrees, and it would hold enough for 10 pipes at a time. I then capped the ends of the pipe and puored in the sand. With the sand heated, I only had to heat the pipe a bit to make it mold into the form I made. now I could do one every 5 minutes. Paint them a bit of gold and there you go, a quick, cheap, and unique railing.