I know, I know, I've already posted one of these. Sorry, but this one's cooler than the last, so I had to put it up. This also has a great in-depth tutorial that shows exactly what to do and why you do it. There are photos for every step of the process, so you can actually make this one without too much head scratching.
This shows how to collect rain water for future use from the roof of your house. Very cool setup, but be careful not to break the law while you're doing it. I know that here in Colorado, it is actually illegal to collect rain water without a permit. Scary, huh?
It's a chair, but I love the name. It's also called the PP chair, so take your pick, they're both great. Either way, this is awesome, and it'd be fairly easy to make.
This is very similar to the PVC picture frame, but it's interesting enough to post it as well. I like circley [sic] patterns, and this little idea fits into that beautifully. This one also contains a better how-to than the picture frame article, so if you liked that concept but found her instructions a little hard to follow, this one is right up your alley.
This video shows how to make a camera setup for filming what you're doing on a table. It's a great video even if you don't intend to make one, but if you're trying to teach someone how to do something, this is an awesome setup. Either way, it's entertaining to watch.
PVC can literally be a life saver in the developing world, as well as in the wake of a disaster. This little article is a picture of innovation after a disaster in the developing world, and it is a perfect example of the simple ways we can do good for each other.
This project is intended to reuse PVC that makes up the images on billboards and make them into houses for disaster and poverty stricken people. While the images are definitely cg mockups, the concept is awesome. I've personally been working on disaster relief shelters, but my concepts all involve using fresh PVC pipe. These guys have taken it a step further by taking vinyl sign material that is headed for landfills and recycling it into homes.
This guy has figured out a really cool way to make a personal combination safe from PVC pipe. This is the ultimate stash box, and it can be scaled up or down to a variety of sizes.
Halloween is getting close. I'll try not to be too gratuitous with this, but I love it. This article shows how to set up an animated framework that you can drape with your own costume to make a unique lawn ornament.
Waste not, want not. As we approach global peak water, now is a good time to learn to use less where we can and to re-use whenever possible. These guys show a cool way to avoid water wast in an air conditioning system.
This is an in-depth tutorial page that teaches flute making theory and shows how to make several different (they have freakin' tables of information and dimensions) flutes from ordinary PVC pipe.
I am completely fascinated with pedal transportation. Many of us have pedalable commutes that we end up driving just because we don't like bikes. There's a whole wave of do-it-yourself pedal vehicles, from the Hennepin Crawler down to vehicles like this one.
OK, most of us remember the Super Soaker series of squirt guns. Probably all of us. What I didn't really know is that there are hardcore enthusiasts out there who have taken the whole thing to another level.
This is what happens when grad students start playing with PVC pipe. This stuff is really cool for prototype robotics applications. This article is a how-we-did-it as opposed to a how-to, but if you've got all of the crazy instrumentation and software that they do, you can start to play on levels that a lot of us (myself included) can't even imagine.
This is a cool thing that shows how to make a remote controlled submarine with a camera attached. If you live near a large body of water, you should make one of these.
This is more of an op-ed piece that is only loosely tied to this world in the sense that what he built involved PVC. What I like about it is it sheds light on what I call the New Poverty. That is, the fact that the plastic and fully automatic world of developed nations impoverishes our creative spirit. It impoverishes the human spirit in a way that you find the New Wealth in places like drought starved Africa.
Not all of these are PVC, but there is some serious design action going on here. This is not your average. A lot of the projects out there, mine included, have a childish, do it yourself-ish feel to them. These eleven designs are slick, beautiful and professional.
Strange as it may seem to super urban people, certain animals, like coyotes, have high reproduction rates and can be a true menace to ranching. Even in the county where I live, which is home to Colorado Springs, there is a $30 bounty on coyotes. All you have to do is bring in both ears to the game warden, and you will be paid.
This is the first part in a pretty long series called 'My Quad Project' where this dude shows you in exacting detail how to make a very nice antenna. There are a lot of these out there, but this guy uses heavy pipe and he has a great understanding of how it all works. If you're an amateur radio junkie, this just may be for you.
This video shows how the maker of that Monster Tubulum actually put it together. Between this, the FAQ on his blog, and a whole lot of intelligence, you'll have all the information and insight you need to put together your own super awesome PVC instruments.
This is the personal blog for the maker of the Monster Tubulum. The section this link is pointing to is the FAQ's for people who want to build their own PVC instruments.
I'm new here, but wanted to add formufit to the list of links on your cork board. They are solely sellers of structural PVC items, used to build greenhouses and such. I am currently building some outdoor PVC furniture as the weather here in Missouri has destroyed our previous 'durable store bought' furniture. I saw some other resources on here, but I just bought a slew of products from formufit.com and I thought I would share. I will post some photos of the completed furniture soon.
I feel like it's time to raise awareness about bioplastics and let people know that oil is outdated. I feel like the more we demand this, the more we're gonna see it, and that can actually help us, as a species, head more in the direction we should be. There is nothing more important than the balance between organism and environment.
There'll be about a million of these here, but i can't stress enough how cool it is to grow your own food in a greenhouse that you've built for yourself. This guy has a cool looking design.
There's been a proliferation of pitched PVC xylophones in recent times, but a lot of them end up being somewhat cumbersome when it comes to actually get good sound quality. This guy has come up with the solution by making strange drum skins over the ends of the pipes. The result is a super cool sound coming out of a ridiculously cool-looking instrument.
I am anti-oil, anti-gas, and just anti-fossil fuel in general, which causes me some serious vaccilation of the mind when it comes to my enthusiasm for the do it yourself wonder material known as PVC. Even though I love this stuff for its properties, I really do not like the processes that go into making and disposing of it. That means I get happy when I see news like this.
One of the things that has always bugged me while working with PVC is that it is, as it is presently produced, a poison. Well, OK, it's not, but it contains a lot of poisons. Phthalates are plasticizing agents that are super toxic, and these people are working to phase them out. PVC also, in its present form, contains lead. Certain chemists are learning how to use stabilized zinc and calcium instead. Also, chemists are learning how to synthesize the vinyl chloride monomer from HEMP! That...
PVC isn't something you want to send to the landfill. It's not going to do anything good for the ground when it's buried. It is also something you really, REALLY don't want to send to an incinerator. When burned, PVC releases some really nasty chemicals, including hydrochloric acid and dioxin.
After seeing your tutorial on making PVC sculptures, I remembered Theo Jansen. His sculptures are so beautiful. Are they made with PVC? It's some kind of plastic tubing...
DIY Photography has an interesting tutorial on creating a focusing mechanism/lens for around $4. Combine two PVC pipes of different radiuses with a magnifying glass. Cool project.
I stumbled across this amazing structure today, titled B(h)uis. It was built by Hoogte Twee Architects, using entirely PVC tubes. I think it's beautiful, considering the simplicity of the material and construction.
You're never going to see a project from me that involves straight pipe. You would have when I was a kid, but after too many years in the construction industry, I need to see a good finish. If the project doesn't look slick, I don't want to say I did it.
It's not actually a working telescope, but it is a cool model to show kids and Hubble image enthusiasts what the telescope actually looks like. Includes printable skins so the texture map looks like the actual satellite.
These guys already did the under bed pipe work. This video covers how to actually install the surface level drip irrigation system. You can check out the whole series to see how they did the under bed work.
I know it seems a little redundant to post this when I've already posted a video, but it is kind of hard to get more than a vague idea from the video alone. I hope this sheds a little more light on the subject. I'm sure it also seems like I'm beating this idea to death, but this one concept opens doors to further innovation. After I finish this article, I'm going to put another one up that shows a hinged, raised bed house and talk about some amazing things you can do from there.
