John Fereira wrote:
: "(PeteCresswell)" wrote in
: :

: In my garage, I've got this wooden rack - made out of 2x4's. Basically
: two goalposts connected and on wheels with a couple extra crossbars.
:
: Needs tb a few inches wider to accommodate a new toy.
:
: I'm thinking something like 2 or 3-inch PVC pipe would be easier to
: look at.
:
: I *think* I could make it work with regular plumbing fittings and some
: wire rope/cable tensioners in an X pattern on the sides to stabilize
: it.
:
: Anybody been here? Caveats? Maybe special fittings for rack
: construction? Pipe size?

: If you try building one the wire tensioners will be important. A friend of
: mine built a large rack to hold his PDFs for his rental business. The rack
: was meant be picked up an moved outside at the beginning of the day. After
: a couple of weeks ago the joint where two pipes were fitted together broke
: and the glue failed on another join a week later. The PVC and fittings are
: just not strong enough to handle moving the rack around. 2x4's are probably
: cheaper than PVC pipe and fittings too.

If you are going to build it to be moved around you can't just glue it
together as if it's going into a wall to never be touched...

http://www.chicagopaddling.org/klsled.jpg is a klondike sled we built that
gets a lot of stress (kids running pulling the rope or pushing it from
behind). There is the outer layer of PVC, however there is also a inner layer
of pvc inside it that is connected to the outer layer via sheet metal screws.
All the other sleds were made of wood and if you look at the picture, you'll
see just how far behind the other people were... they changed the rules the
following year and our plastic sled was banned... :-(

Also, http://www.chicagopaddling.org/wind2.jpg is a windmill mounted on top
of PVC pipe... in that case we used multiple pipes with bolts going thru them
to make it easier to disassemble (I'm a scout leader, and rather than burning
propane lamps at night, we used a windmill to recharge a small battery and
had 4 automotive dome lights inside the dining fly for lighting at night).

PVC can handle the load, but you can't just glue it with fittings to do that
if you are going to handle it roughly...

--
John Nelson
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