Everyday Uses For PVC Water Pipe
What cannot you do with PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipe? The ubiquitous blue PVC water pipe can be seen alongside most streets right here and appears to be one in every of Thailand's most plentiful un-natural sources. All kinds of different connectors are available and other than carrying water additionally it is used as an inexpensive construction materials that can be utilized to make every thing from clothes dryers to Wheel chairs (PDF), Crutches, flagpoles and store signs. Of course on the internet you may as well discover some other very cool and inventive things made from (non-blue) PVC pipe including: Halloween costumes like Ben Hallert's Matrix APU and Aliens Exo-skeleton Power Loader, another power loader costume, single and multi-guitar Guitar Hero stands, a laptop computer stand, flutes, and even a shaving stand. Below you can find, in chronological order, some of my very own (principally original) creations made from PVC water pipe including: - a Marshmallow Shooter, Plumbing, Soccer Goals, - a Cricket Wicket, - a Basketball Hoop, Bookshelf Supports, - a Water Pipe Tron Controller, Racing Cars, Pinball Table Leg Extensions, Data Projector Mounts, - a Laptop Stand, - a Wiimote Holder, - a DIY Wii Zapper, - a Workbench, Real-Tron Controllers - a Music Stand Puzzle Bobble Coffee Grinder Controllers, - a Netbook Treadmill Hook, CD/DVD Holders, - a Nightstand/shelves, - Push Up Bar/Handles, Fake Legs, - a Hilbert Cube, - a Mario Kart steering wheel, - a Guitar Stand, Hockey Sticks, - a Tank-recreation (BZFlag) controller, - a Train Whistle, and - a Trident.
This was the project that began my love affair with blue PVC pipe. I had seen the blueprints for this marshmallow shooter whereas I was in Australia however the fittings had been prohibitively costly (see the picture proper). Fortunately they are very reasonably priced here in Thailand. 2 x T-Pieces and 6 x elbows. Cricket (not to be confused with Brockian Ultra-Cricket) is Australia's national sport performed with a bat, Zap Zone Defender USA a ball, and two wickets. 6 x T-pieces, and 12 x 45-degree elbows. The backboard is a non-regulation dimension piece of plywood that we discovered mendacity around and we used inexperienced duct tape for the markings. Although the ring isn't robust sufficient to grasp off, the aspect supports make it strong sufficient for regular play. In addition they give it a really Star Trek really feel and I believe the ring appears to be like not unlike the NCC-31911 Saratoga. This is probably the most straight forward use for PVC pipe on this page. 2 x 25mm to 18mm (1" to 1/2") reducers, 2 x customized motorbike hand-grips, four x push-buttons, and a mercury switch which are related to a pc by way of a hacked USB joystick.
You could find more particulars about how I made the controller on this mission web page and i've additionally extended the same concept to play GL-Tron utilizing actual motorbikes. A college scholar who performed with the PVC Water Pipe Tron Controller, described above, stated "That's Ok but I prefer to play driving games". It acquired me thinking and over the next week I spent my evenings constructing a PVC racing car controller - primarily a wheel-less, PVC go-kart frame connected to the computer by way of a hacked USB joystick. Some Thai college college students who noticed the primary automotive wished to know how all of it labored and six of them came round one Saturday and we spent the whole day hacking joysticks and constructing a second automobile. By connecting them both to a laptop and a data projector we were able to play split-display Daytona Zap Zone Defender USA. You could find more particulars about the design and development of the cars on this project page. The white workplace desk I used for the virtual pinball machine wasn't high enough to be performed comfortably.
1 x T-piece, and a couple of x elbows - partially to assist air flow but largely to hold my screen up because the spring in the hinge has damaged. As simple as this stand appears to be like, the "L"-shaped upright part is actually part of an air-conditioner mount for a data projector that I made for one of the digital pinball table installations. The T-piece is not glued and so in a small means (a very, very small approach) I prefer to assume that if the air-conditioning mount were ever needed again then the elements may re-mix in a Voltron or Captain Planet and the Planeteers or Power Rangers MegaZord-like way. In fact if that happened my laptop computer display would fall down. I do not own a Nintendo Wii but I did handle to get my fingers on a Wiimote so that I might check out some of Johnny Chung Lee's cool initiatives. It is a Wiimote mount I built using a size of 35mm (1 and 1/4") pipe, some 18mm (1/2") pipe, 3 x T-pieces, and 4 x elbows.
The 35mm pipe has been lower in order that it fits nicely into the ridges down the side of the Wiimote which holds it securely. That is screwed onto a T-Piece which has also had its high cut off. The joint between the two topmost elbows is not glued so the angle of the highest section will be adjusted. These sections are merely cable-tied onto the entrance of the motorbike handlebars and the gamers squeeze the buttons with their index fingers to show left or proper. A mercury switch is also mounted on the right handlebar so the accelerator can be used to offer boost within the game and up to four bikes could be related to the pc by way of a single hacked USB joystick. The centerstands keep the bikes upright during play and a half-spherical of bamboo is wedged underneath the back tires to stop them from rocking. It is a music stand made from three completely different sizes of pipe.
