Poorman's Rings

[James R. Climer]

Misha nice work-
My first intention was to heat and bend the elbow into more of a semi-circle but when I got home, I wondered why I needed to take the risk. You can heat the pvc up slowly with gas stove flame or use a propane torch (similar to shaping a hockey stick blade). Get some type of glove to handle the hot plastic and some sort of tool to curve it with. Another idea was to bend a section of 1" metal elctrical conduit, but I didn't want to buy a pipe bending tool for just one use.

Steve- I saw the nyla-bone at the pet store the other day, and I can see where these would easily work as homemade rings, no problem holding the weight!

[Tyler Hass]

Misha,
Those are probably the best home-made rings I've seen yet. Maybe I could hire you?

Tyler

I took many pictures of the ring-making process, so if anyone's interested, I'd be glad to post them. Oh, and bending PVC wasn't my brilliant idea. I first saw this design at a climbing gym.

To get the rings soft I heated them in the oven at about 450 (?). CAREFUL! Keep an eye on them so they don't get runnny. I took them out (wearing gloves) after a couple minutes and bent them around a paint can of appropriate circumference. The PVC gives you about 4 minutes of work-time, so go slow and make sure you don't get any kinks in the pipe. Just hold the ring tight for a couple minutes until it hardens around the paint can. Viola!- They haven't failed me yet.

Tips:
- Don't let the rings kink as you bend them.
- I think my paint can had a circumference of around 21 inches.
- Put the rings on foil in the oven.
- Do one ring at a time.

If anyone tries this and finds any improvements, please tell me.

Thanks Tyler; I'd love to take credit, but someone at my climbing gym told me that Timy Fairfield gave them the idea.

Still, I wouldn't mind taking you up on that offer, especially if it means free rings.

[Grady McDonald]

Misha, Those are legit. More pix please.

Here are some more pictures of the process:

http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/10105.jpg
http://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/10106.jpghttp://www.crossfit.com/discus/messages/26/10107.jpg

Misha, great design! Falls under, "whydidnItinkadat?"
About the kinks. Doesn't look that was too much of an issue from looking at the pics, but there's an old aircraft mechanics trick that would help with that.
When we want to bend a steel or titanium hydraulic line without kinking it, we would fill the tube with sand, cap the ends and bend it to the desired shape. The sand would distribute the pressure evenly, disallowing any kinks. You should be able to do the same thing with the PVC. Of course you would want to heat the plastic longer (because the sand will absorb a lot of heat), but at a lower temp, say 250-275 deg.f. should do it. Then just let cool, remove caps and dump sand. But like I said, the finished items in the pics look fine, and the sand trick might not be worth the effort, unless one really wants perfectly round rings.

[James R. Climer]

Don & Misha-really sweet posts!

I just hafta try this. I had no idea of the awesome helps that would come out of this post. Now I'm scratching my baldness wondering why I took so long to do it.

NOTE: 22 inch circumference is about a 7-inch diameter.
25 inch circumference is about 8 inches in diameter.

Remember that Movie "Quest For Fire"? When the cavechick shows the caveman how to start a fire with a wooden drill? Remember the look of stupid wonderment on his face? That's me.

[David Wood]

Misha:

One of the all-time great opening posts. Congratulations, and welcome to CrossFit!