Hot PVC Innovation Posts — Page 3 of 4 « PVC Innovation

News: The Cryptex - Combination Safe Made from PVC Pipe

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.

News: Make a Robot Witch Stirring a Hanging Cauldron

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.

News: Self- Watering Garden - Reusing Water From an Air Conditioner

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.

News: Directions and Dimensions for Making Inexpensive PVC Flutes

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.

News: PVCDESIGN.org

WOO! These people take beautiful design to ridiculous extremes, taking PVC pipe, sheet and cloth to previously unexplored heights. This is a must-see for people who are in the PVC and design worlds.

News: PVC 2 Person Bike

It's about the same thing as this except you can buy it and it's painted.

American Speedster: The PVC Bike Car

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.

News: Hey, I'm Not the Only One!

Not only am I not the only one, but I'm not the only one saying I'm not the only one!

News: Serious Freakin' DIY Squirt Gun

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.

News: Robotic Unmanned Submarine

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.

News: Underwater Remote Operated Vehicle

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.

News: The Lost Art of Building With Your Hands

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.

News: Bird Art for the Garden

Today, I'm on an art kick, and sadly (happily) I'm finding things that are cooler than the things I make. I love seeing waste turned into art!

News: Eleven Super Cool Designs

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.

News: PVC Tree - This is Awesome!

I love to make works of art from leftover pieces of pipe. This person shows a sensibility and execution that I can't touch.

News: The Art of Making a Custom Predator Call

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.

News: HAM and CB Antenna

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.

News: Monster Tubulum How-To - From Start to Finish

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.

News: Jeremy P's Blog - Tubulum FAQ

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.

News: Formufit Structural PVC

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.

News: Wikipedia - Bioplastic

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.

News: Another PVC Greenhouse

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.

News: The Monster Tubulum

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.

News: Overhead Camera Boom Made with PVC Pipe

Overhead camera boom made with PVC pipe, from Dino at Hack a Week:

News: Plant-Based Plastics to Replace Petroleum

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.

News: Bent PVC Mobile for Ptolemy

this is a mobile that i made for my son. sorry about the poor image quality. this is in response to the question in the comments on the sculpture how to

News: Phthalate free plasticizers - New material development.

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 mean...