It looks like you are using an ad blocker. That's okay. Who doesn't? But without advertising revenue, we can't keep making this site awesome. Click the link below for instructions on disabling adblock.
Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post.
Register to become a member today!
So I've built rails before and was thinking about building an S-rail, but here's the catch, I don't want to slant the boards and I don't want to use multiple pipes, I want to use one 4'' or 6'' ish diameter pipe. Obviously, this wouldn't really be able to bend. So what if you cut the pipe every few inches or a foot and basically made a rail with a shit ton of very mellow kinks?
When I was in highschool, my buddy made a rainbow rail out of PVC, worked fine, about the amount of bend you want. Just build the frame, probably two c-rails, line up the PVC on each section of C then bolt it together tight. There will be a overlap/gap but it will be small if you build it well.
You could probably get a pretty good bend in like 1.5 or 2 inch. It depends on the wall thickness of the PVC. I would go to a plumbing supply yard to buy the pipe so you have as many options as possible, but like Eheath said going end to end with the pipes shouldn't be that big of a deal.
eheathWhen I was in highschool, my buddy made a rainbow rail out of PVC, worked fine, about the amount of bend you want. Just build the frame, probably two c-rails, line up the PVC on each section of C then bolt it together tight. There will be a overlap/gap but it will be small if you build it well.
I think a rainbow would be super easy if you did like 4 1inch pipes, but one 6 inch pipe C, even if I bent it could it bend that much or would it eventually buckle and fold.
DeepskierI think a rainbow would be super easy if you did like 4 1inch pipes, but one 6 inch pipe C, even if I bent it could it bend that much or would it eventually buckle and fold.
You can bend 6 inch to a 90 degree if you do it right
daannnnieelexplain please? I feel like it would loose most if not all of its structural integrity with that much bend.
My first post explains how. Electricians do it. I guess i cant guarantee it would stand up to skiing but id think it would be just as durable as any other way of forming the pvc
Acquire piece of steel tubing. Find friend that works at some sort of metal fabrication shop and throw him $50 bucks. S bend success.
Use the wood for a new mini ramp. Acquire some scrap steel from said friend or anywhere.
Borrow small welder from somebody.
Weld legs to s rail.
Tape the top and slap a nice coat of oil based paint all over her. Slather that shit.
You have an S rail that's dope as fuck.
A pvc s rail is totally doable, but I feel like if you do it right, it's actually going to be more effort than a steel one, or at least more effort than it's worth.
theabortionatorAcquire piece of steel tubing. Find friend that works at some sort of metal fabrication shop and throw him $50 bucks. S bend success.
Use the wood for a new mini ramp. Acquire some scrap steel from said friend or anywhere.
Borrow small welder from somebody.
Weld legs to s rail.
Tape the top and slap a nice coat of oil based paint all over her. Slather that shit.
You have an S rail that's dope as fuck.
A pvc s rail is totally doable, but I feel like if you do it right, it's actually going to be more effort than a steel one, or at least more effort than it's worth.
This is very smart, what about getting it places, like from the shop to the house or to the hill, it couldn't be moved very easily and wouldnt fit in a car so you would have to do two small Cs.
DeepskierThis is very smart, what about getting it places, like from the shop to the house or to the hill, it couldn't be moved very easily and wouldnt fit in a car so you would have to do two small Cs.
Put that shit on the roof.
I drove a 24' steel flat rail 5 hours on the roof of a mini van with Kevtron a while back. Almost speared a deer in a freezing rain storm but othr than that not bad.
Lining up multiple rails can be a pain in the ass and you will always have at least a small drop.
How much do you plan on moving this rail? It sounded like you just wanted it for your house. Moving a piece of steel that doesn't weigh too much one time to the homefront is pretty easy. You might have to get creative but it shouldn't be hard.
If you really really really want to be able to make it the size of a c rail, could cut it in the middle or start with two C's, and weld a hinge or two on there. Leave a slight drop to one side. The one C would fold right into the other since it's an S rail.
That's getting more overly elaborate but just saying if you needed to be able to fit this rail into a smaller space it's doable.
As much as all that is overkill, a pvc S rail sounds like just as big a pain in the balls.
I drove a 24' steel flat rail 5 hours on the roof of a mini van with Kevtron a while back. Almost speared a deer in a freezing rain storm but othr than that not bad.
Lining up multiple rails can be a pain in the ass and you will always have at least a small drop.
How much do you plan on moving this rail? It sounded like you just wanted it for your house. Moving a piece of steel that doesn't weigh too much one time to the homefront is pretty easy. You might have to get creative but it shouldn't be hard.
If you really really really want to be able to make it the size of a c rail, could cut it in the middle or start with two C's, and weld a hinge or two on there. Leave a slight drop to one side. The one C would fold right into the other since it's an S rail.
That's getting more overly elaborate but just saying if you needed to be able to fit this rail into a smaller space it's doable.
As much as all that is overkill, a pvc S rail sounds like just as big a pain in the balls.
yeah I was thinking at the house but it would be nice to take it out for preseasoning but obviously the solution is just don't take it out. If I could weld 2 10-12 foot long tubes and bend them that would be sweet, however steel is a little less forgiving to eat shit on.
heating and bending would probably be your best bet. someone mentioned capping the ends and filling it with hot air which would work but you'd probably need special caps to properly seal it off and safely get the hot air in.
maybe put each end on stands and put some kind of weight in the middle and slowly heat different parts with a torch?
for that kind of stuff in our backyard we'd always just make z rails and shit by linking straight PVCs at different angles. bending and all that seems like way more trouble than it's worth
baitif your 2x4 cutting skills are sharp, maybe try making the rail with 3x 1.5 inch pipes side by side and canting them in the bends.
Thought about that but I think that would be easy and all but you might catch wood when pumping curves, would just prefer a 4 or 6 wide pipe but I might have to go for that.
Sorry about the potato pic, had to dig deep into the embarrassing old blade-lyf archives to find this video and screenshot it. But this is how I made a C rail out of PVC without any heat, just natural flexibility of the plastic. It actually bent to a pretty significant angle and the PVC never cracked in the years I spent sessioning it.
Sorry about the potato pic, had to dig deep into the embarrassing old blade-lyf archives to find this video and screenshot it. But this is how I made a C rail out of PVC without any heat, just natural flexibility of the plastic. It actually bent to a pretty significant angle and the PVC never cracked in the years I spent sessioning it.
Explain more about this very interesting frame and how you built this creature.
Genius idea: put a board on some cinder blocks and weigh down the middle and get it wet, then heat a pipe or use a bendable pipe and slide you super bowed board in the pipe to give and make it hold shape.
DeepskierExplain more about this very interesting frame and how you built this creature.
Excuse the crude MS paint sketch. This is a view from the top, and I think you can figure out the rest from the first image. Each red line is a 6 inch tall cut of 2x6. 3 of us bent the pvc to get an idea of how to angle the 2x6 cuts. Then attached the 2x6 cuts with elbow brackets and bolted the pvc right on top.
Does anybody remember that kevin salonius edit where he had this insane pvc s rail? it was really tall too. I can't find it. It was easily the most impressive summer rig I've ever seen
RparrDoes anybody remember that kevin salonius edit where he had this insane pvc s rail? it was really tall too. I can't find it. It was easily the most impressive summer rig I've ever seen
i got you, his NS account is solhaugen
(makes insane PVC rails and probably best setup ive ever seen)
Well for a S I think im going to lay out a bunch of 2x4s or 2x6s both maybe 6 feet long and mount 4x4s upright on them in an S pattern and cut a 2x4 or 2x6 twice to give it a rough C shape. DO this twice and screw the pipe in from the ends to the middle, then you have the rail and then with the frame, BOOM its raised smooth PVC s rail.
When my house had geothermal coil installed in the pond, the coils they used were a pvc-type material but very flexible in order to be held in about 4 foot diameter coils with large zip ties. It looked just like PVC except it was black and bent as easy as corrugated drainage pipe. A quick search of geothermal pond coil material may help and maybe you get some leftover pipe from a job.
We had about a 30' by 4" pipe left over but my dad got rid of it (sad face)
