Randy

449

Mr.

Maker Pipe allows DISASSEMBLY Too!
Hey, MakerPipe Community! We are moving soon, so today I will be taking down the canopy many of you have seen. We do this every spring, so it reminded me of another great reason we like building with Maker Pipe — DISASSEMBLY.

We know that for many build projects the goal is permanent, or semi-permanent, but we have been using the same connectors for three years in a row, assembling and removing everything every other season. This is not always talked about with so many great build ideas and hacks described here, but we will be able to take the parts with us for future projects in our new house (we are not moving far). Even our conduit will be useful again. If you are like us, you keep cut ends and short pieces for solving various challenges.

SO, not really a build to share today, but we will definitely have some upcoming ideas in the new house this fall!

Pacific Northwest Canopy Over Deck
For the third year in a row now, I setup my deck canopy again to stay dry while enjoying the outdoors (and making pizza) in the upcoming rainy season.

We have had an extended, warm autumn in Portland, Oregon and it has been fantastic, but the season of rain is almost upon us. The canopy I built is essentially the same design for the third year in a row that I originally posted about at the beginning. I rebuilt it here: https://connect.makerpipe.com/post/canopy-rebuild----you-may-have-seen-in-the-recent-maker-pipe-monday-video-h--6035be27a637f84f03517f8b
but the main features have not changed. This year I replaced the 10’x24’ clear poly tarp that forms the roof, but everything else has been reused. That’s one of the huge benefits to using Maker Pipe for a seasonal build project—you can easily take it down, save the connectors and pipes, and next year put it all back together again!

For those of you that are new to the community, you can click my profile and check past posts, but I thought I would post a refresher and describe the main features and requirements of this canopy build in case someone out there is thinking about their own version:

1. Original idea was to facilitate dry, outdoor seating during the pandemic for family visits.
2. Wanted to cover a 8 x 24 foot area with a lean-to style “roof” that attaches to the house and can hold up against strong wind.
3. Uses 3/4 EMT and original, non-adjustable Maker Pipe connectors (just Ts and 180s—no angles no adjustables).
4. Uses an inexpensive, 10 x 24’ tarp attached with ball-bungees)
5. Attaches to house with marine stainless bimini hinges with removable pin for easy take down and re-use.

The biggest insight to my design has to be the geometry—an uncut 10’ EMT pipe used for the eaves/rafters mounted at an angle from the house will overhang our railing by about 20 inches, depending on how high on the house it is mounted and the angle resulting from the leg height. This was serendipitous since EMT comes in 10’ lengths. The height worked such that I can assemble the frame, attach it to the house while leaning it on edge on the deck floor, then swing it up into position with the legs as it just misses the top rail.

One point of evolution was the fact that I found it much stronger to use a drilled and flattened section of EMT for the mate to the bimini hinge. This is a stub that is also captured with the Maker Pipe bolt so the top end of the frame cannot slip loose from the house.

Finally, I have a unique, non-marring hold-down mechanism using an “L” shaped double-T attachment on each leg. Rubber feet tuck under the rail and the connectors get tightened with some tension. This effectively holds the legs down onto the deck—wind will not lift the canopy frame at all!

3D Printed “rubber” feet

Hi, Maker Pipe Community!
It has been a while since I visited the community—life gets busy! Today, I have a little 3D printing hack to share. This one is very basic, dare I say “minimalist” rubber foot alternative.

I really love the rubber pipe feet sold in the Maker Pipe shop. They are fantastic. However, for my bird feeder setup which is out in the elements all year, they only lasted a couple years. The snug fit, combined with hot, cold, rain (lots of rain where I live) and sunlight and ozone take a toll. As you can see in the attached photo, rubber that is stretched over conduit eventually starts to crack under these conditions. At least mine did (to be fair, I purchased my feet on Amazon before Maker Pipe had them).

My solution was to 3D print replacements with flex TPU filament. My design uses as little filament as possible resulting a smaller pipe foot. It still provides 5mm of solid “rubber” under the end to give some cushion, but this is definitely a smaller solution than regular rubber feet.

Only time will tell if TPU stands up to the elements longer than natural rubber, but I figured I would share my solution with the community.

Here’s a link to my design on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5460052

Hinge Hack from recent video
David Schlitter recently posted a few videos from their road trip. In one, they talked to Jeff in Texas about his amazing tool cart. I know there is a followup to explore some of those tips and techniques, but one in particular stood out: the Threaded Insert (with lip) Hinge hack.

For those who don’t want to track down the video, this was an insightful tip to use threaded inserts on opposing ends of conduit with a rod connecting them. Using inserts with the lip gives nice mating surfaces for internally joining conduit end-to-end. This much has been covered before, and it should be noted that it is not a high performance structural joint, but the alignment is fantastic and it looks super clean. Now, what Jeff realized is that if you back the pipes off just a bit from each other, you basically have the makings of a hinge between them with VERY smooth rotation. Jeff’s cart has another joint like this a couple feet opposite and this works as a fold-down table frame. Brilliant!

The only drawback is that you cannot continuously turn the hinge joint—it will either expand apart or seize together—one thread width per revolution.

Assuming David Schlitter and Jake Lewis are going to explore this more, I thought I would throw in an idea/observation:

If you used a lag bold as your threaded rod with this technique, you could tighten it down into one end with the smooth rod (no threads) exposed. Cut off the end of the bolt and you have a protruding smooth rod. Then, on the mating section of conduit, you simply drill out the threads of the lipped insert. Voila, you have a centered “pin” that can slip inside an “unthreaded” insert, and the makings of a perfectly centered, perfectly smooth, continuous hinge.

Attached is an image example of what I mean, cut at the red line.

Bolted Joints
Ok, Maker Pipe Community, I have another tip for you. I am calling it Bolted Joints. It is not the first example of this. Mario I. Arguello had the idea first, and frankly, his solution is a bit more elegant than mine. There are also examples recently shared with drilled connectors, compression pins, or self-tapping screws. These are fine too, but I wanted a solution without modifying the connector that does not require me to make a die like Mario, or use a 2-ton press (which I don’t have).

So, here’s the challenge: You need a way to securely capture the end of the conduit so it does not pull out of the Maker Pipe connector. In my case, I am mounting a flange on the ceiling, and a heavy build will hang from this flange. I can backup the pipe in the flange with the threaded insert bolt and washer hack, but a connector could slip off the other end because it is only holding with friction.

My solution is similar to Mario’s. Use the Maker Pipe bolt itself to capture the conduit through a hole you drill in the conduit. The only problem is that there is a constriction in the connector which prevents the conduit from going past the bolt. Mario’s solution is to prep the conduit by cutting some slits and compressing it with a die so it fits the geometry inside the connector. It’s a great solution, but I wanted to simplify it. If you just compress the conduit, it will expand. With 1/2 inch EMT this is not a problem, but with 3/4 it will expand and won’t fit in the connector. I realized that if you cut 1/2 inch sides out of the pipe first, you can compress it without expansion. That is what I did.

1. Make a hexagon template with intersecting lines.
2. Put the end of the conduit on the center of the template and mark the pipe on both sides of two adjacent intersections.
3. Cut one inch down the end of the conduit, straight across the middle, from mark to mark, then again at the adjacent marks.
4. Cut a scoreline one inch down, between the end cuts and bend/remove the small sections.
5. Drill a hole through the remaining tabs, centered, 3/8” from the end.
6. Hammer a tab to start them bending together. Flip the pipe around and hammer the other tab so they bend together symmetrically.
7. Test fit in a connector with the bolt through the hole and tighten it down. This will complete the bends above.

The resulting flange I have now is backed up with the washer and threaded insert bolt hack. You are stuck with one orientation, but you can drop a couple bolts into the flange mounting holes and loosely set it over a gap (vice jaws work) and rotate connector a little using a pipe as a lever arm to line up the screw holes if you need to. This is a super secure flange that I will use in my next build (and again on the build after that). Finally, it is not just for a flange. For any connector that features conduit butting up to the bolt, the conduit could be modified in this simple way to push it past the constriction and capture it with the bolt. Anyone using a pipe grid for ceiling mounted cameras or lighting could use this method to secure verticals into Maker Pipe connectors.

Maker Pipe Live Stream
Wanted to add a shout out to David Schlitter, Jake Lewis, and Kelly Schlitter for another fun Maker Pipe live stream Wednesday!
https://youtu.be/unCm4-JF7HI
For those of you who don’t know, they have been hosting a weekly live stream for weeks and it is fun to pop in for some real-time interactive chat. I wasn’t able to join last night, but later in the evening I watched the recorded session and it was still pretty fun!

This week, they did a community build round-up which was a lot like Maker Pipe Mondays, only with live feedback from viewers. One of my favorite moments was the truck bed bike rack build (which was pretty sweet) and Dave says, “Let’s go shopping” and proceeds to find out how much a retail solution on Amazon would have cost vs. the DIY build.

This is really neat, as we get to see the owners’ reactions to our projects, often sharing insights about upcoming products or helping to connect the dots between the inspirations for what we build. They are taking a genuine interest in we, the customers, even featuring our social media posts if it is useful for the discussion. It is not often you get to connect directly with the creators/vendors of build components like this, and even if the live attendance is small/intimate today, these videos live on forever and can be fun and helpful to watch later.

Anyway, thanks for the support, sharing and promoting the creative ideas of the community!

Adjustable Maker Pipe Mini

Updated: 8/29/21
Printed now with PLA, models remade and oriented on their sides for strength.

Well, I took a crack at remixing the Maker Pipe Minis to get a working Adjustable. I think it worked!
Here are a few specs:

1. Same compatible dimensions for coffee stirrers (tested, works great).
2. Made the hinge out of what is basically a compressed through hole from a T. The mating part uses partial sphere “bumps” which you snap over the hole for a friction fit.
3. Rotates smoothly. If you want it to be solid, a drop of CA glue would do the trick.
4. Hinge works in full 180 degrees, so you can model parallel conduit.
5. Printed on side.


Please try them out and make improvements if you want. Perhaps there are better ways, but this seemed like the simplest.

I uploaded STL files to Thingiverse as a remix. (Remixed here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4943938
Mine uses mm dimensions, but originals were imported into TinkerCAD in inches, since I read that was an issue for some people.

Please try them out and make improvements if you want. Perhaps there are better ways, but this seemed like the simplest.

Removable Weather Station Mount
I just finished my weather staton pole mount after considering several design ideas. My original thoughts which I posted in another thread was going to rely on a pivot point. This was overthinking the problem. I ended up using the cast iron flange system with compression fittings and threaded inserts to create conduit “hanger posts” attached to the siding. The bottom post features a 45 degree up angle and the upper post comes straight out.

Then, I attached Maker Pipe connectors to the pole. I can now lift the pole into position and slip it onto my flange posts and tighten it with the hex wrench.

It turns out that I never needed the pivot. With the upper connection point positioned in about the middle of he pole, it is easy to grab the pole at this point which is basically the center of gravity and lift it into position.

The top of the post has a six inch section of PVC bolted to it and the very top of the conduit pole has three layers of heat shrink to keep the larger diameter PVC centered so it will not rattle from wind.

It turned out great, and I appreciate the feedback from everyone on the other post.

Pole-mounted Weather Station
In a few days I will be receiving a new weather station that I plan to pole-mount, attached to the house using EMT. I am looking for ideas/insights beyond my current design plan which I roughly sketched out in the attached photo.

I know the sketch is rough, but the basic requirements are:
1. Pole extends 3-feet above the roofline
2. Pole attaches somewhat high on the side of the house to accommodate pivoting
3. Pivot point allows for stepladder access to pole so it can be tipped down to adjust etc.
4. Pole attaches at right angle to house with less than a foot of clearance to make it around a minimal overhang.

My first thought is to use the cast iron flange method with the strongest hold using a compression conduit fitting plus the fender washer&flush screw hack to back that up. The conduit would be a stub with a flattened end, drilled, and mated to the tall pole conduit (also flattened and drilled). This would create a pivot point, such that it would allow me to tip the long pole up 180-degrees putting the weather station into position above the roofline without needing to use such a tall ladder.

With the right measurement and pivot point, I could use a shorter ladder, pivot it down and work on it at ground level, then tip it up when ready.

Finally, a second flange could be added a couple feet higher with a Maker Pipe T connector to hold the tall pole in its upright position.

What do you think? Have a better idea? I would rather not drill into the roof (or even go up that high).

Conduit Clips for Cords, etc.

I created a 3/4” EMT Conduit clip and added it to Thingiverse:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4830010

I got tired of cutting and re-fastening zip ties and figured that there had to be an easier, reusable way to hang lights or other relatively lightweight items from conduit. I needed the clip to be strong enough for cords but removable and adjustable.

This clip is a remix of another, only mine “snaps” over the conduit and loops over it for more support. Crucially, it slips through the small loops of the popular hanging string lights as well as a perfect fit over the cord.

I printed these with the lowest quality settings on my 3D printer. Draft mode is fast and essentially good enough for this simple profile.