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Curtis
Curtis GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
7/15/18 7:32 p.m.

I built a confetti cannon from some 2".  I used about 3 feet of 2" with a cap and a schrader valve, necked down to 1-1/2" through a PVC 1/4 turn valve, then back up to 2" for the "barrel".  Overall length was about 8' and it would throw confetti about 20 feet in the air at 100 psi.

I also built a vomit machine for the theater.  I built a canister with 4" PVC.  Cap on the bottom, about 18" of 4" PVC, then a threaded clean-out on top.  In the bottom I drilled and tapped for a 3/8" barb that went to clear vinyl tubing.  In the top I put a air fitting so I could attach a regular air hose to it.  Then in the air line I put a 1/2" solenoid valve.  At the right time, the light board operator flipped a switch which sent 50 psi of air into the top of the tank forcing the liquid out of the bottom, up the vinyl hose hidden in the sleeve of the actor, and whammo... projectile vomit.

I'll try to link videos, but my internet at the lake is terrible.

kazoospec
kazoospec SuperDork
7/15/18 7:39 p.m.

Made an RC Airplane rack for Kazoo Jr. out of PVC.  Managed to get our whole "air force" hanging on the wall . . . before we added 3 more planes and a heli.  

fasted58
fasted58 MegaDork
7/15/18 7:47 p.m.

Range quiver

Fishing rod carriers. Pipe and tubing carriers for ladder racks. no pics

etifosi
etifosi SuperDork
7/16/18 1:47 a.m.
ultraclyde said:

How are bread ties more permanent than zip ties?

Zip ties are used to hold the net to the pipes, bread ties are to attach roof net to wall net. The bird netting comes down after harvesting the berries and the bread ties are both reusable and easier to remove.

Next, I'm making a raised-bed strawberry box from cedar fencing and will build a PVC & net "lid" to create Strawberrya 51®.

slefain
slefain PowerDork
7/16/18 9:47 a.m.

Add me to the tater gun crowd. I destroyed it after it cracked during a salvo. Afterward I learned that when PVC shatters and sprays you with shrapnel, it doesn't show up on an X-ray. I was firing mine with shaped potato rounds and a mixture of PAM cooking spray and ether.

I may build another....

Curtis
Curtis GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
7/16/18 10:00 a.m.

Let me try a sharable link or two of the vomit can.  Let me know if you can see them.

Here is a link showing the vomit can and the hose sticking up through the couch

Here is one of the inaugural vomit test.

Then here is one during an open dress rehearsal showing how the actor hooks up the hose behind a pillow

*also, just a note... please be discrete with the last link.  Since it is longer than 30 seconds, it is technically a violation of copyright law.  Feel free to watch it, but I'll have to take the link down in a few days

bigdaddylee82
bigdaddylee82 UltraDork
7/16/18 11:23 a.m.

My high school friends and I had ample experience with Aqua Net/Butane/Ether/Propane powered PVC 'tater cannons.

As a senior in high school, I was on our schools' State Physics Competition team.  The challenge of the competition was to launch a ping pong ball the farthest, no incendiary devices allowed.  Ninety percent of the teams, ours included, built a pneumatic ping pong gun out of PVC.  Work with what ya know right?

We came in 3rd, we should have won, since the only 2 teams that beat us didn't follow the rules.  The rules explicitly stated that the ball couldn't have anything on/attached to it.  The teams that beat us, and a few of the others poured various lubricants down their barrels, mostly vegetable oil, after loading the ping pong ball, so the ball came out covered in oil.  That was almost 20 years ago, but I'm not still bitter, no really. laugh

There was a lot of math involved, for the ideal barrel length, psi, etc. to satisfy our physics teacher, but we did all of the construction, and most of the testing at my grandpa's shop/barn.  We destroyed and/or dented a lot of ping pong balls in testing.  Grandpa had a cattle farm, and his own vet cabinet with various things you'd need for maintaining a healthy herd of cattle, including some large syringes.  I got the bright idea, of using a syringe to fix our dented ping pong balls, which worked great.  Then I thought, "hey, if I can put air in these, I can put something liquid in them too."  I then proceeded to fill ping pong balls with water.  devil

No exaggeration, or hyperbole, somewhere, way out in the woods, at least 1/3 mile away, due North of the sliding doors of grandpa's shop are a pile of water filled ping pong balls.  Based on their trajectory when we lost site of them (orange ones were easier to track) I wouldn't be surprised if they're even further out. 

After the competition, I became the custodian for the ping pong cannon, and all kinds of stuff were launched out of it.  We discovered that Key limes are roughly ping pong sized, and proceeded to splatter green citrus everywhere.  Then one of us got the idea to freeze some limes...  120 PSI frozen Key lime out of a "ping pong gun" will go right through a cinder block wall.  surprise

There's plenty more stories, but I don't need to incriminate myself any further.

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/16/18 10:56 p.m.

We mad cannons but used Rosinthol lighter fluid as the propellant and tennis balls as the projectile.  

One intresting part was that the tennis ball would absorb the lighter fluid resulting in a flaming tennis ball. It was quite spectacular especially at night.  

Hungary Bill
Hungary Bill GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
7/17/18 2:05 a.m.

Hardware store bow and arrow for the kid (we used a wooden dowel with an eraser for a tip for the arrow)

It sounded like a good idea at the time...

Antihero
Antihero GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
7/17/18 7:40 a.m.

Im considering building octabons out of pvc soon

Brotus7
Brotus7 HalfDork
7/17/18 10:19 a.m.

Here's my spud gun. Giant air chamber around the barrel for concentric awesomeness.  I think it's around 4.5' long.

slantvaliant
slantvaliant UltraDork
7/17/18 3:05 p.m.

Case for my extra-long cleaning rod.  Cleaning rods are pretty fragile.  My target rifle at the time (6.5x55) had a 29" barrel, and to make it last I wasn't about to use a jointed rod.  So, figure 29" for the barrel, 7" or soto clear the action (cleaning from the breech), and a nice handle ...   So, a couple of caps and four feet or so of pipe sized to accept the handle, some foam to cushion the ends, and I had a case.

stanger_missle
stanger_missle GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/17/18 3:46 p.m.

Bolo golf set (not my pic):

 

Make sure you paint the golf balls a really bright color so you can find them after playing drunk wink

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/17/18 4:27 p.m.

In reply to dean1484 :

I need to try that.

Trans_Maro
Trans_Maro PowerDork
7/17/18 5:12 p.m.

We built spud guns with ABS.

Shop teacher at school advised us that PVC was bad.

Cheap hairspray seemed to work best for us.

Ian F
Ian F MegaDork
7/17/18 5:16 p.m.

After all of the PVC drainage and vent piping I installed in the ex's house, I still get a twitch when I walk past the plumbing section at Lowes Depot...  Calculating inverts is so much fun for someone who mainly designs electrical systems for a living... and the homeowner is a registered PE in Mechanical Engineering... 

So I haven't built anything "fun" out of PVC pipe. 

californiamilleghia
californiamilleghia Reader
7/17/18 5:54 p.m.

any interesting solar water heaters out of PVC.......

or an automatic plant watering system that opens a valve when the ground is still dry ?

I have a peach tree in the back corner of the yard that never gets watered  but if I could fill a barrel once and have it "water" itself  I might get better peaches :)

RevRico
RevRico GRM+ Memberand UberDork
7/17/18 5:58 p.m.

Several greenhouses, a terrarium for my water dragon, more than a few variants of potato guns through the years. 

I like working with pvc, although I have a Hell of a time finding the right fittings to make ideas work sometimes, but that's what I bought a 3d printer for. It's cheap enough and easy enough to dry fit together to test theories versus using up wood too. 

JamesMcD
JamesMcD SuperDork
7/17/18 6:21 p.m.

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/18/18 5:25 a.m.

I made an arrangement of pipe that, when connected up, would transfer water from one place to another.

 

 

Ashyukun (Robert)
Ashyukun (Robert) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
7/18/18 9:48 a.m.

Most of what I've build with it lately has been for the Dancer's shows. I built the frame for the very shallow 'pool' her show last year used out of PVC as well as (of course) all of the piping for the overhead water curtain itself. This year the only PVC was for the two overhead Edison bulb rigs she wanted for lighting effect.

gearheadmb
gearheadmb SuperDork
7/18/18 10:05 a.m.
Curtis said:

I also built a vomit machine

 

whammo... projectile vomit.

I just wanted to quote this to make sure anybody skimming the thread doesn't miss it.

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