What can't you do with PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipe? The ubiquitous blue PVC water pipe could be seen alongside most streets here and seems to be one of Thailand's most ample un-pure assets. A wide variety of various connectors can be found and apart from carrying water it is also used as a cheap development material that can be utilized to make every part from clothes dryers to Wheel chairs (PDF), Zap Zone Defender Review Crutches, flagpoles and store indicators. Of course on the internet you may also find another very cool and artistic issues made from (non-blue) PVC pipe including: Halloween costumes like Ben Hallert's Matrix APU and Aliens Exo-skeleton Power Loader, another energy loader costume, single and multi-guitar Guitar Hero stands, ZapZone a laptop computer stand, flutes, and even a shaving stand. Below you will see that, in chronological order, some of my very own (largely unique) creations made from PVC water pipe including: - a Marshmallow Shooter, Plumbing, Soccer Goals, - a Cricket Wicket, - a Basketball Hoop, Bookshelf Supports, Zap Zone Defender USA - a Water Pipe Tron Controller, Racing Cars, Pinball Table Leg Extensions, Data Projector Mounts, - a Laptop Stand, - a Wiimote Holder, - a DIY Wii Zapper, - a Workbench, Real-Tron Controllers - a Music Stand Puzzle Bobble Coffee Grinder Controllers, - a Netbook Treadmill Hook, ZapZone CD/DVD Holders, - a Nightstand/shelves, - Push Up Bar/Handles, Fake Legs, - a Hilbert Cube, - a Mario Kart steering wheel, - a Guitar Stand, Hockey Sticks, - a Tank-game (BZFlag) controller, - a Train Whistle, 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 while I was in Australia however the fittings had been prohibitively costly (see the picture right). Fortunately they're very reasonably priced 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 played with a bat, ZapZone a ball, mosquito zapper and Zap Zone Defender Experience two wickets. 6 x T-pieces, and 12 x 45-degree elbows. The backboard is a non-regulation size piece of plywood that we discovered lying round and we used green duct tape for the markings. Although the ring is not strong sufficient to grasp off, the facet helps make it robust enough for regular play. In addition they give it a really Star Trek really feel and I believe the ring looks not not like the NCC-31911 Saratoga. This is probably probably the most straight forward use for PVC pipe on this page. 2 x 25mm to 18mm (1" to 1/2") reducers, 2 x customized motorbike hand-grips, ZapZone 4 x push-buttons, ZapZone and a mercury switch which are linked to a pc through a hacked USB joystick.

You'll find more details about how I made the controller on this challenge page and i've also prolonged the same thought to play GL-Tron using real motorbikes. A college scholar who performed with the PVC Water Pipe Tron Controller, described above, said "That's Ok however I wish to play driving video games". It acquired me thinking and ZapZone over the following week I spent my evenings building a PVC racing car controller - basically a wheel-less, PVC go-kart body connected to the pc by way of a hacked USB joystick. Some Thai university students who saw the primary car needed to know the way it all worked and 6 of them came round one Saturday and we spent the entire day hacking joysticks and building a second automobile. By connecting them each to a laptop and Zap Zone Defender a data projector we were capable of play cut up-display screen Daytona USA. You could find extra particulars concerning the design and construction of the cars on this venture web page. The white workplace table I used for the virtual pinball machine wasn't excessive sufficient to be performed comfortably.

1 x T-piece, and 2 x elbows - partially to aid air circulation however mostly to hold my display screen up because the spring within the hinge has damaged. As easy as this stand seems to be, the "L"-formed upright section is actually part of an air-conditioner mount for a data projector that I made for one of the virtual pinball table installations. The T-piece isn't glued and so in a small means (a very, very small manner) I wish to assume that if the air-conditioning mount were ever wanted once more then the parts may re-combine in a Voltron or Captain Planet and the Planeteers or Power Rangers MegaZord-like manner. After all if that happened my laptop computer display would fall down. I don't own a Nintendo Wii however I did handle to get my arms on a Wiimote so that I might check out a few of Johnny Chung Lee's cool initiatives. It is a Wiimote mount I built utilizing a length of 35mm (1 and 1/4") pipe, some 18mm (1/2") pipe, three x T-pieces, and 4 x elbows.

The 35mm pipe has been minimize so that it matches properly into the ridges down the aspect of the Wiimote which holds it securely. That is screwed onto a T-Piece which has additionally had its top reduce off. The joint between the 2 topmost elbows is just not glued so the angle of the highest part may be adjusted. These sections are merely cable-tied onto the front of the motorbike handlebars and the players squeeze the buttons with their index fingers to show left or proper. A mercury switch can be mounted on the correct handlebar so the accelerator can be utilized to provide boost inside the sport and as much as four bikes may be related to the pc via a single hacked USB joystick. The centerstands keep the bikes upright during play and a half-spherical of bamboo is wedged beneath the back tires to stop them from rocking. It is a music stand made from three different sizes of pipe.