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Every Monday, we take a look at some of the creative projects that our customers have built and shared on social media, through email, and reviews on the website. This week we have 5 great projects built by makers in the community. Also in this episode we feature 4 3D printed building accessories. Without further ado, let’s get into the builds!
The first project is by Joe, who’s hockey team needed a place to store their hockey sticks. After a practice or game, it can be easy for gear to get thrown around and for things to get disorganized. Joe prevented this by building a really cool stick rack out of conduit, T Connectors, and 90-degree connectors. It allows each hockey stick to hang vertically from the top rack and rest on the bottom rack. It has wheels, too! Now the sticks can be moved in and out of the locker room with ease. We’re glad it worked out well, and thanks for sharing!
The next project is by Chris, who’s posted a lot of awesome builds. He built a custom-engineered battery pack out of Ryobi tool batteries that outputs 40 volts! The Maker Pipe was used just for the handle, but we’re glad to be a part of a project, even if in a small way.
Chris posted a video showing the building process on his YouTube channel, SerendipitySue. There he shows how he designed, mounted, created the electrical connections, and built the handle out of two T connectors and conduit. He gives the whole how-to, so it’s really worth checking out. The pack holds two sets of parallel batteries, allowing for a higher voltage output. We have more projects from Chris this week, which we’re always happy to see. Thank you for sharing!
Next up we have two smart builds by Michael. For the first build, Michael needed a way to carry and transport his fat tire bikes. He made a “yoke” for the bikes that allows for easier and secure transportation. He started with a regular basket carrier that you’d find a store, then added two conduit rods to the side and covered them with pool noodles. Then he created a yoke with conduit and T connectors, again covered with pool noodles so as not to damage the bikes, and with a few turns of an Allen wrench he’s able to secure the bikes onto the basket carrier. The bikes are 60 pounds each and sit solidly on the rack. It was a very clever and smart solution, and it looks great!
The other build by Michael is a golf bag carrier for his golf cart. His previous carrier stuck off of the cart and created extra space, so he decided to utilize the space within the golf cart. He did this by creating a holder that sits on the footrest of the rear-facing seats. He used one pipe with four T Connectors going across the pipe, allowing the golf bag to be placed snugly inside the space. These are two clever builds and we’re glad you shared them with us, Michael!
The next project is by Randy, who had built an amazing canopy for the beautiful deck on his pacific Northwest tree home. The original canopy was attached to the house with bimini connectors, which are normally used to set up boat tops. Unfortunately, these failed in a windstorm, so he recreated this setup with Maker Pipe.
Inspired by Mario’s bolted conduit solution, he created a way to modify a half-inch EMT so that it locked inside of a T-connector, allowing for a recreation of the bimini. He used a vice to slightly compress the EMT so that it could slide into and match up with where the bolt mounts on the T-connecter. This allowed him to recreate his previous setup with more stability in stormy and high-stress situations. This was a great show of community engineering! Thank you to Randy and to Mario as well for the ideas and builds!
Lastly, in another fantastic show of engineering, Chris, who built the battery pack shown earlier, has released a few awesome 3D connectors for conduit!
Made with off-the-shelf U bolts and the 3D printed piece, the first connecter allows for a cross of two pieces of conduit while keeping each piece in-tact. This no doubt solves many different building challenges.
Another connector allows for an adjustable angle. It’s made with a set screw which locks the 3D printed block onto any part of a piece of conduit, then an adjustable piece that sits on an adjustable foot.
This one is a variation of the cross and it’s also adjustable with a set screw.
Last but not least is a piece that creates a double adjustable angle. It also has a set screw that locks it in place on a piece of conduit. You can find all of these great designs linked in Chris’s post to download and print out. If you don’t have a 3D printer, feel free to contact us and we’ll help you get them printed. Thank you for posting these, Chris!
That’s all for this week! It’s amazing to see all of the community creations and interactions, and we really appreciate it. If you have a project to share, you can send it via email to info@makerpipe.com, or on social media with the #makerpipe hashtag, and you can also share it on the Maker Pipe Connect Community. The video version of this week’s showcase will be listed below. Thank you and happy building!
