Re: PBC pipe for obstacles?

If you're talking about PVC (Poly-Vinyl Conduit, I believe), i would
reccomend against it. That stuff is too flexible, and will be very
unstable and wiggly in lengths beyond about 10-15x the thickness of the
pipe.

Why not some 1.5" schedule 40 pipe? That's standard handrail stock,
super durable and plenty stiff. Talk to your local scrap yard to find
some. You can cut it with a hacksaw or pickup a hand held bandsaw for
it. A cheap MIG welder would be enough to weld mounting plates on, which
would be some easy welds.

Even better is simply 2x4s. You won't notice much of a diff. in the
gaps, and 2x4s are super cheap and easy to work with.

An 8' skinny is pretty short, almost too short to help with riding
skinnies. A good minimum is ~12', preferrably 15-30'. Use 1.5" or 1"
pipe, it's easier to ride, often. You only need to support skinnies
every 3-5', at most. Don't wast an 8' plank on a skinny. Try round
cutouts from 2x4s or 4x4s so only half the pipe sticks up above the tops
of the wood. You can attach with VERY tight steel hose clamps, which
won't be noticable when riding, but will prevent rotating of the pipe.

--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Trials-Muni

Nick's main man.

"I love freedom dearly, ideally, in theory, but in reality we're not
there yet--Not nearly."--Cold Duck Complex
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PVC - Poly Vinyl Chloride

Siege

--
Siege - Super-intelligent shade of blue

"Catapultam habeo. Nisi peciniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum
immane mittam."
(I have a catapult. Give me all your money, or I will fling an enormous
rock at your head.)
"Halo 2 is a lot like Halo 1, only it's Halo 1 on fire, going 130 miles
per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas
... And, the ninjas are all on fire, too." —Jason Jones, Bungie Studios.
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Siege said:

*PVC - Poly Vinyl Chloride

Siege *

Yeah, my bad.

Bevan,

thanks for the all the advice. Much of my stuff is driven by ease of
working with and tools I have and available time. Looks like the PVC is
out. I don't have any stuff to work with metal, so that's out, but I do
have some 8' lengths of 2 x 4s which I was initially going to use and 5
scap 2 x 6s, but thought the PVC might work.

I am probably going to make it in two halves just to help with transport
into my van when needed and bolt the two halves together when using
it.

I was going to use L brackets with screws to attach the "rungs" to the
sides. Not optimum, but I figure it will work. I wish I had a table
saw to groove the parrallel long pieces, that would help lock everything
in place.

You, or anyone else, have any ideas one how to put it all together? I
thought maybe I might alos use some of the metal brackets they use for
joists instead of the L brackets.

C yuh at cmw.

Cheers.

--
teachndad - ONE for the...Off Road

Rod Wylie

'MountainUnicyclingLA.com' (http://www.mountainunicyclingla.com)
'Greater Los Angeles Area Trails - Images'
(http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Greater-Los-Angeles-Trails)
'Greater Los Angeles Area Trails - Descriptions'
(http://tinyurl.com/6h8zn)
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Check 'here' (http://www.freewebs.com/andrewcarter/building.htm) and
download the file with the instructions - it has pictures.

--
fcwegnm0b - HammerTron

"You build a wood contraception that slides over it and has a removable
pin at the top to keep it in place" - carsonpalooza

"o yeah how do i change that thing under my name that says i dont know
how to change this?" - habbywall

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I like making skinnies in 6-8' lenghts out of 2x4s, since then they can
double as somewhat wiggly gapping bars. I used to have a pair--a 5' and
an 8' skinny, both 2x4s. The 5' was the primary gapping bar, but the 8'
helped.

Here's the tools I would use to assemble 2x4 skinnies:

Miter box (even the cheap plastic ones, so long as you can get the 2x4
into it)
Shark tooth saw (what's the real name? They only have one handle and
often have a picture of a shark on the blade guard they come with).
well, any wood hand saw will work. Don't worry about time, I find I can
get through a 2x4 in as little as 45 sec.

hammer

nails, not framing (use nails with heads)

Screws

Screw gun or power drill. I use a milwaulkee hole shooter, a bit
overkill

Screw driving bit

Drill bit that's about 1/32" smaller than the bottoms of the threads of
the screws

Screws (use phillips head c-sinking, they're the best. Self tapping or
sheet metal, you know what i mean.)

In my gallery are some videos os me using the rails, which will show the
basic construction of them. I made then 7" off the ground, and to save
wood did a 45 degree miter cut at the ends of stabilizng legs. That cut
saved 3.5" of wood for every cut made. Also makes the obstacles a bit
more dangerous. If you make the rails so that the legs don't extend
beyond the end of the rail you can put them end to end.

You only need one supporting leg (the flat thing that keeps the rails
from tipping. It's like the top of the T) in my experience, on rails ~8'
and shorter. This is helpful since then one end is compact and can sit
ontop of posts, etc. It also makes it easier to setup and makes for cool
lines, like leaning the leg making the top of the "T" on stairs and
propping the other end on the ground. You can then adjust the angle of
the DH skinny. The supporting leg can also be a 2x4, and it needn't be
longer than about 26". My old ones had a 3' and a 2.5 support, both of
which were overkill but useful, sometimes.

--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Trials-Muni

Nick's main man.

"I love freedom dearly, ideally, in theory, but in reality we're not
there yet--Not nearly."--Cold Duck Complex
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I like making skinnies in 6-8' lenghts out of 2x4s, since then they can
double as somewhat wiggly gapping bars. I used to have a pair--a 5' and
an 8' skinny, both 2x4s. The 5' was the primary gapping bar, but the 8'
helped.

Here's the tools I would use to assemble 2x4 skinnies:

Miter box (even the cheap plastic ones, so long as you can get the 2x4
into it)
Shark tooth saw (what's the real name? They only have one handle and
often have a picture of a shark on the blade guard they come with).
well, any wood hand saw will work. Don't worry about time, I find I can
get through a 2x4 in as little as 45 sec.

hammer

nails, not framing (use nails with heads)

Screws

Screw gun or power drill. I use a milwaulkee hole shooter, a bit
overkill

Screw driving bit

Drill bit that's about 1/32" smaller than the bottoms of the threads of
the screws

Screws (use phillips head c-sinking, they're the best. Self tapping or
sheet metal, you know what i mean.)

In my gallery are some videos os me using the rails, which will show the
basic construction of them. I made then 7" off the ground, and to save
wood did a 45 degree miter cut at the ends of stabilizng legs. That cut
saved 3.5" of wood for every cut made. Also makes the obstacles a bit
more dangerous. If you make the rails so that the legs don't extend
beyond the end of the rail you can put them end to end.

You only need one supporting leg (the flat thing that keeps the rails
from tipping. It's like the top of the T) in my experience, on rails ~8'
and shorter. This is helpful since then one end is compact and can sit
ontop of posts, etc. It also makes it easier to setup and makes for cool
lines, like leaning the leg making the top of the "T" on stairs and
propping the other end on the ground. You can then adjust the angle of
the DH skinny. The supporting leg can also be a 2x4, and it needn't be
longer than about 26". My old ones had a 3' and a 2.5 support, both of
which were overkill but useful, sometimes.

--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Trials-Muni

Nick's main man.

"I love freedom dearly, ideally, in theory, but in reality we're not
there yet--Not nearly."--Cold Duck Complex
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All you'd need to make a metal pipe ladder is 2 pipe wrenches. You could
buy all the fittings and pipe at a plumbing store. You can get various
lengths of pipe in precut, threaded lengths. Then just turn all the
pipes into the Ts and elbows, and you've got yourself a ladder. Voila!

--
loosejello - Amanda gives me sunburn
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Personally I find those fittings to be too weak, and corrosion damages
them. Also, in order to get them to align you have to let a few be too
loose and others be too tight. I find 2x4s to be superior.

--
gerblefranklin - Trials Unicyclist

http://gallery.unicyclist.com/Trials-Muni

Nick's main man.

"I love freedom dearly, ideally, in theory, but in reality we're not
there yet--Not nearly."--Cold Duck Complex
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