What can't you do with PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipe? The ubiquitous blue PVC water pipe will be seen alongside most streets right here and seems to be certainly one of Thailand's most plentiful un-natural sources. All kinds of various connectors can be found and apart from carrying water it is usually used as an inexpensive construction materials that can be used to make every part from clothes dryers to Wheel chairs (PDF), Crutches, flagpoles and store indicators. After all on the web you can too discover some other very cool and inventive issues made from (non-blue) PVC pipe together with: Halloween costumes like Ben Hallert's Matrix APU and Aliens Exo-skeleton Power Loader, one other energy loader costume, single and Zap Zone Defender multi-guitar Guitar Hero stands, a laptop stand, flutes, and even a shaving stand. Below you'll discover, in chronological order, a few of my very own (mostly unique) creations made from PVC water pipe together with: - a Marshmallow Shooter, Plumbing, Soccer Goals, - a Cricket Wicket, Zap Zone Defender - 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, Zap Zone Defender - Push Up Bar/Handles, Fake Legs, - a Hilbert Cube, - a Mario Kart steering wheel, - a Guitar Stand, Hockey Sticks, - a Tank-game (BZFlag) controller, - a Train Whistle, and - a Trident.

This was the undertaking that started my love affair with blue PVC pipe. I had seen the blueprints for this marshmallow shooter whereas I used to be in Australia however the fittings were prohibitively costly (see the picture proper). Fortunately they're very affordable right here in Thailand. 2 x T-Pieces and 6 x elbows. Cricket (to not be confused with Brockian Ultra-Cricket) is Australia's nationwide sport played with a bat, a ball, and two wickets. 6 x T-items, and 12 x 45-diploma elbows. The backboard is a non-regulation measurement piece of plywood that we discovered mendacity round and we used inexperienced duct tape for the markings. Although the ring isn't sturdy sufficient to dangle off, the facet helps make it robust sufficient for regular play. Additionally they give it a very Star Trek feel and I think the ring appears to be like not not like the NCC-31911 Saratoga. This is probably probably the most straight forward use for PVC pipe on this page. 2 x 25mm to 18mm (1" to 1/2") reducers, 2 x custom motorbike hand-grips, four x push-buttons, and a mercury swap which are connected to a pc via a hacked USB joystick.

You can find more details about how I made the controller on this mission web page and that i've also prolonged the same thought to play GL-Tron utilizing real motorbikes. A college pupil who played with the PVC Water Pipe Tron Controller, Zap Zone Defender described above, said "That's Ok however I prefer to play driving video games". It bought me thinking and over the subsequent week I spent my evenings constructing a PVC racing car controller - primarily a wheel-much less, PVC go-kart body connected to the pc through a hacked USB joystick. Some Thai university students who saw the first car wanted to understand how it all labored and 6 of them got here around one Saturday and we spent the entire day hacking joysticks and building a second car. By connecting them both to a laptop and an information projector we had been capable of play cut up-screen Daytona USA. You can find more details in regards to the design and building of the cars on this challenge web page. The white office desk I used for the digital pinball machine wasn't excessive enough to be played comfortably.

1 x T-piece, and a couple of x elbows - partially to assist air circulation but mostly to hold my display screen up because the spring in the hinge has broken. As simple as this stand seems, the "L"-formed upright part is actually a part of an air-conditioner mount for a data projector that I made for one of the virtual pinball desk installations. The T-piece is not glued and so in a small method (a very, very small means) I wish to assume that if the air-conditioning mount were ever wanted again then the parts could re-combine in a Voltron or Captain Planet and the Planeteers or Power Rangers MegaZord-like method. In fact if that happened my laptop display screen would fall down. I do not own a Nintendo Wii however I did handle to get my hands on a Wiimote so that I may try out some of Johnny Chung Lee's cool tasks. It is a Wiimote mount I constructed utilizing a size of 35mm (1 and 1/4") pipe, some 18mm (1/2") pipe, 3 x T-items, and four 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 top minimize off. The joint between the 2 topmost elbows just isn't glued so the angle of the highest part could be adjusted. These sections are merely cable-tied onto the front of the motorbike handlebars and the players squeeze the buttons with their index fingers to turn left or proper. A mercury swap is also mounted on the fitting handlebar so the accelerator can be used to provide increase within the game and as much as four bikes can be connected to the computer by way of a single hacked USB joystick. The centerstands keep the bikes upright during play and a half-round of bamboo is wedged beneath the back tires to cease them from rocking. It is a music stand made from three completely different sizes of pipe.