20mm PVC pipe

A friend of mine has recently given me some slightly used 20mm PVC ducting pipe.
Theres 60m of 20mm white cable duct in 6m lengths and 24m of 20mm green cable duct.

Now if I were using pvc pipe to make weapons I’d normally use PVC pressure pipe, which is the best suited to weapons as the coloured stuff is either too flexible or too brittle (although I have seen it used for weapons).

I am not sure how the white duct is the same grade as the pressure pipe but I am guessing it will be close enough to be weapon grade. Its not the best for swords (unless you can flatten it - you heat it up and squish it, though even then it makes heavy swords) but does suit hafted weapons quite well (maces, hammers, staves, spears, javelins).
From experience 20mm is ok for weapons up to about 1.5m long like staves and spears or 1.0m for maces and axes.

It is also useful for making props as well.

It is currently sitting at my friends place, I will probably cut it into 2m and 4m lengths for transporting it.

Let me know if you would like some, I’ll see if I can find a way of sending it to you, maybe I can courier some up to somewhere central in Auckland. Otherwise it’ll be in Hamilton until I come up to Auckland next.

Hmmm… I’m driving up the North Island to Auckland early next week. In a van. With a roof rack.

If anyone wants some bringing up, I could probably detour into Hamilton and get it. Similarly, if anyone in Wellington wants some, I can bring it back as well…

2m will fit in the back. 4 meters could fit on the top. 2m is easier.

I just have to know ahead of time so I can have the right stuff to tie it on with.

Also, I would want to drop it off at one place. Don’t really want to schlep around Auckland dropping bits and pieces off… :slight_smile:

Maybe you could take a stack to say the nzlarps gear stash… and take some back to Wellington with you.

I’d be keen for a couple of 2m lengths for making weapons. I have an idea in mind for a staff.

Ditto.

Is foam pipe-lagging a good enough cover?

Please note that PVC pipe can get very brittle over time. We have stopped using it for the NZLARPs weapons in the auckland gear library. Although it is still good for handles, gun barrels etc.

Ditto.

Is foam pipe-lagging a good enough cover?[/quote]

Yeah, foam pipe lagging + PVC pipe + duct tape = boffer weapon. The issue I would like to point out here is that 20mm PVC is quite flexible at 2m, it will whip around.

I guess you could do a latex version finish over the foam lagging but I don’t know how you’d do the tips. The lagging would also need to be glued in place.

You could also wrap in foam and make a foam latex staff. I’d suggest 2 densities, the softer going on the outside. but it’ll end up quite chunky.

You can also use a carved pool noodle + latex for a staff too but it ends up quite chunky. nzlarps has one like this in the gear shed.

Either way you do it, its the tip ends which requires the most attention.

It can get brittle and a lot of that comes down to the grade of PVC used. I have been given old nzlarps weapons that had been made from PVC and they were crap because they were made from coloured PVC. The white PVC is the most durable.

I have a staff made from 25mm pressure pipe, its 10 years old and appears to be fine. Its the lagging which is a problem, its so old its starting to harden.

The real issue with PVC is its outer diameter is more like 23mm. Therefore any weapons you make using PVC end up quite fat by the time you have padded them. They also tend to be heavy. And maybe tends towards weapons that aren’t quite as pretty as fibreglass or carbon fibre cored weapons.

Sure. But its also (in this case) free. Which means we can get some quick & dirty stuff going while people learn to make the pretty.

OTOH, if any other Wellingtonians want to club together for a bulk order of that 2m x 12mm fibreglass rod from RD1, then I’d be in for that, and go straight to trying to make the pretty myself. You can 3-layer sandwich that with campmat, and its an instant staff or haft.

Sure. But its also (in this case) free. Which means we can get some quick & dirty stuff going while people learn to make the pretty.

OTOH, if any other Wellingtonians want to club together for a bulk order of that 2m x 12mm fibreglass rod from RD1, then I’d be in for that, and go straight to trying to make the pretty myself. You can 3-layer sandwich that with campmat, and its an instant staff or haft.[/quote]

Also Keen for the smaller stuff Idiot, I was thinking the pvc stuff would be great for props rather than weapons… but like you said, it could be good for practice :slight_smile:

I would say that the PVC is OK for basic boffer type stuff, but even better for making frameworks to hang things on.

Because you can get standard pipe fittings from hardware stores, you can use them to create frameworks for LARPs and so on.

To hang cloth on.

To hang lights on.

They actually should be pretty flexible…

You can also heat the end of a pvc pipe and flatten it (by squashing it). The flat end is a perfect surface on which to glue two layers of closed-cell foam, so you can make axes, spears, javelins etc. The handles can be round, but the blades can be flat. As long as you resist the temptation to use pvc for a polearm, you should be fine :wink:

That’s good thinking, that quantity would be good for set dressing. You could make whole rooms or large tents out of that PVC piping, some corners, and some fabric.

Just as a note, my criticism of PVC for weapons is more about the limitations it has. I have seen fairly acceptable gear made from PVC and with a little care nice gear CAN be made. If its about putting cheap weapons in hand then it will certainly do the job.

And then theres the use for props and framing…

Let’s say hypothetically you wanted to use some of this for setting up tent-like buildings.

If it was in 2-meter lengths, you could make a structure that was 4m x 4m (height of 2m) using 16 of those lengths (32 meters of it). That would require 4 T-junction joiners and 4 corner joiners, 32 square meters of fabric for walls (we already have some grey fabric painted to look like stone wall), 16 square meters of fabric for ceiling, and some cord and pegs to attach fabric to frame and help it stay upright. It might want an extra four lengths to support the ceiling, which would also require some extra joiners.

Not really that big an expense. If you had a big 3m high center pole, you could make it look like a big pavilion. Or it could look like an old stone building. It would be quite modular, so you could make a couple of 2mx2m structures from it instead. Or a long narrow structure, 2m x 6m. By creating internal fabric walls, you could use it to make a multi-room building or a small maze.

This sounds quite feasible, and cheap given that the most expensive part would be the PVC and Jared has sourced it for free. I dunno what those corner joiners cost (AJ could help, he works/worked with PVC piping for a living), but I’m guessing we could spend less than $50 on joiners and then be able to create modular buildings immediately, using the fabric we already have and about with the option to expand it later with more fabric.

Hang on though… is 20mm diameter PVC actually thick enough to make free-standing structures? I may be thinking of thicker, heavier-weight PVC pipe, this might be too bendy.

I would also be concerned about the structural integrity.

I suspect that it might be necessary to put verticals at 1m-1.5m intervals, which would increase the PVC required by 18-24m.

For planar rigidity, rope can be strung across the diagonals and tightened to stop “panels” from deforming diagonally.

I believe it’s worth an experiment…

Something modular would be awesome.

We could add rigidity to the pipes by inserting a section of dowel that is about 1/3 of the length of the pipe. The dowel would be moved until it was in the centre of the pipe, then fixed into place with screws or nails. Now the middle section of the pipe, which is where it bends, will be very rigid.

20mm is maybe too bendy and too lightweight for a gazebo if its based on 2m lengths. Its probably ok to make something from if it wasn’t the only material used. The corner joiners etc would add a bit to its rigidity, so if you used additional pipe and constructed a PVC mesh (i.e. a 2m x 2m panel divided into 4 or 9 sections) then this would probably be strong enough.

The biggest challenge would be wind stress on the PVC. On a calm windless day a gazebo made from 2m x 2m panels would likely be fine. Inside, it would be fine. You could made a maze but you’d find you used up all the pipe very quickly.

Also if you are buying joiners then you really need to talk to a a plumber friend or at least someone with a trade account with one of the supply places. You don’t want to be paying retail price for this stuff… for instance the pipe is worth about $45 per 6m length.

I see what you mean. That approach would give the walls a lot more solidity. The walls should probably have a pipe running along the ground, too, with vertical joiners going up to support the vertical pipes.

It would also open up more options. Like 1m wide doorways with framework around them. Possibly windows. The walls could be transported and stored “made up” in 1x2m wall sections.

However, it would take masses of pipe. The 4m x 4m structure I suggested would require 80m of pipe for the walls if they were a 1x1m mesh. That’s almost all the pipe you’ve got, just for the walls, leaving us short for a ceiling. Although the walls wouldn’t be totally solid mesh (or there would be no way in), which leaves at least one meter spare. With 8 meters spare we could do the most basic 2x2m framework for a ceiling.

It would need a lot more joiners too (around 50), especially 4-way joiners which are probably more expensive. We might be able to fabricate our own joiners more cheaply using wider pipe and PVC glue, but the strength wouldn’t be as good.

For interior walls, I was thinking of just fabric strung from one exterior wall to another. I think we’d also want to paint all the pipe black or a dark woody brown, so it could be exposed in the interior but look okay.

In reality, if we want a small maze, we’d be better off buying a $130 gazebo (the long white ones) from the likes of Bunnings and using the PVC to extend it and add internals. By the time you look at fittings and joiners, you’d spend more than that easily if you scratch build one. The free pipe is only one aspect.

Also I have some 20mm flexible conduit as well (looks like vacuum hose), which is good for those sci-fi projects.