What can't you do with PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipe? The ubiquitous blue PVC water pipe may be seen along most streets right here and seems to be one of Thailand's most plentiful un-pure assets. All kinds of various connectors can be found and apart from carrying water additionally it is used as a cheap development materials that can be utilized to make every part from clothes dryers to Wheel chairs (PDF), Crutches, ZapZone flagpoles and store indicators. Of course on the web you can even find another very cool and artistic 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, ZapZone a laptop stand, ZapZone flutes, and even a shaving stand. Below you can see, in chronological order, some of my own (largely authentic) creations made from PVC water pipe including: - a Marshmallow Shooter, Plumbing, Soccer Goals, - a Cricket Wicket, - a Basketball Hoop, ZapZone Bookshelf Supports, - a Water Pipe Tron Controller, Racing Cars, Pinball Table Leg Extensions, Data Projector Mounts, - a Laptop Stand, Zap Zone Defender Device - a Wiimote Holder, Zap Zone Defender Experience - 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, Zap Zone Defender Fake Legs, - a Hilbert Cube, - a Mario Kart steering wheel, - a Guitar Stand, Hockey Sticks, - a Tank-sport (BZFlag) controller, - a Train Whistle, Zap Zone Defender and - a Trident.

This was the venture that started 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 image right). 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 performed with a bat, a ball, and two wickets. 6 x T-pieces, and 12 x 45-degree elbows. The backboard is a non-regulation measurement piece of plywood that we discovered lying round and we used inexperienced duct tape for the markings. Although the ring isn't robust enough to dangle off, the facet helps make it strong sufficient for regular play. Additionally they give it a really Star Trek feel and I feel the ring appears not unlike the NCC-31911 Saratoga. This is probably essentially the most straight forward use for PVC pipe on this web page. 2 x 25mm to 18mm (1" to 1/2") reducers, 2 x customized motorbike hand-grips, 4 x push-buttons, and a mercury swap that are linked to a pc by way of a hacked USB joystick.

You can find more particulars about how I made the controller on this project web page and i've additionally prolonged the same concept to play GL-Tron utilizing actual motorbikes. A university student who performed with the PVC Water Pipe Tron Controller, described above, mentioned "That's Ok however I like to play driving games". It obtained me pondering and over the next week I spent my evenings building a PVC racing car controller - primarily a wheel-much less, PVC go-kart body connected to the pc via a hacked USB joystick. Some Thai college students who saw the primary car wished to know how all of it worked and 6 of them got here around one Saturday and we spent the entire day hacking joysticks and building a second automobile. By connecting them both to a laptop computer and an information projector we had been capable of play split-display screen Daytona USA. You could find more particulars about the design and Zap Zone Defender construction of the automobiles on this venture page. The white workplace table I used for the virtual pinball machine wasn't excessive enough to be played comfortably.

1 x T-piece, and a couple of x elbows - partially to aid air move but mostly to carry my display up as a result of the spring within the hinge has broken. As easy as this stand appears, the "L"-shaped upright section is actually part of an air-conditioner mount for a knowledge projector that I made for one of the digital pinball table installations. The T-piece isn't glued and so in a small means (a really, very small approach) I wish to suppose that if the air-conditioning mount have been ever wanted once more then the elements could re-mix in a Voltron or Captain Planet and the Planeteers or ZapZone Power Rangers MegaZord-like approach. After all if that occurred my laptop display would fall down. I don't own a Nintendo Wii but I did handle to get my arms on a Wiimote so that I could try out a few of Johnny Chung Lee's cool tasks. This can be a Wiimote mount I built utilizing a length of 35mm (1 and 1/4") pipe, some 18mm (1/2") pipe, three x T-items, and ZapZone 4 x elbows.

The 35mm pipe has been minimize so that it matches nicely into the ridges down the facet of the Wiimote which holds it securely. This is screwed onto a T-Piece which has also had its high lower off. The joint between the 2 topmost elbows is just not glued so the angle of the highest section might 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 turn left or proper. A mercury change can be mounted on the best handlebar so the accelerator can be utilized to supply increase inside the sport and up to four bikes may be related to the computer via a single hacked USB joystick. The centerstands keep the bikes upright throughout play and a half-round of bamboo is wedged beneath the again tires to cease them from rocking. It is a music stand made from three totally different sizes of pipe.