# My Super-Cheap Clownfaced Econostud Vortex Tunnel



## Toktorill

Howdy All. Well, our haunt has run quite successfully last weekend, and we have a few more days before running it again (Friday the 31st! Woo!) so I thought I would take a few to write a how-to on this years #1 prop: our Vortex Tunnel!

For those who have been reading my posts before, you know I like doing things as fast and as cheaply as possible. This year was no exception. Our Vortex Tunnel came in at around the $200 mark- which cheap(ish) for a 20' long prop people walk up, and through.








This year we were blessed and cursed. Blessed, because we had one of the largest stalls in the mall to decorate for our haunt, but cursed because we only had 7 days and 2 evenings available to do it. But darn it, I finally had the floor space to do a vortex tunnel, and I pity da foo that gets in my way!








I'll jump right into the bridge construction. We built the entire structure out of cheap 2x4's ("econostuds"), and 4 4'x8' sheets of 5/8 plywood. Everything was attached with wood screws- 3" if going into studs, 1 1/4" if screwing down plywood. The first 2 sheets of plywood were cut 3' wide (8' long). We used a full 3'x8' section on one side, with a 3'x4' on another, making our total bridge length 12'. We did this to match the length of our "driving tube", a 3" black PVC plumbing pipe.


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## Toktorill

The under-structure of the bridge was very cheap, and simple... taking about 12 econostuds. (This is a ground-up view, with the boards colored by length- 8' black, 3' light grey. There were four lines of support along the bottom- two full length 2x4's in the middle, screwed together where they overlapped, and 2x4 along the side edges of the plywood. I had these ends met flush, and used a 3-4' long piece on the inside to connect them. There were 3' pieces on the ends of the bridge, with a few screwed to the bottom. A 1' piece was screwed into the corners, with the legs screwed into this- so that all the weight of the bridge is handled straight-on, not sideways through a few screws digging into the wood. By itself this structure was good and only gave an inch with hundreds of pounds of weight dead center- But then we added a triangular form, inspired by roofing trusses, for the hand rails. This allowed the bridge to hold all 900 lbs of volunteers, with a bend of only 1/4" in the middle of 12'.








And here's our great secret for making a cheap vortex tunnel. The central tunnel is made very, VERY light- supported by nothing but the single tube at the top. With only a single "roller", there is 100% drive on the tunnel.








The 3" PVC pipe is supported by some fridge wheels I had lying in a box, but we're talking the kind of weight you can lift with 1 arm so I'm sure almost any wheel will do. We cut some notches into the 2x4's and screwed them down, with another pair of wheels over the top of the pipe held in place with metal strapping. We fond they worked well, albeit with a nasty squeak at times... but with the entire system in place you could spin it with one hand.








For the power behind the prop, we used an old plug in drill. The method you choose to attach the drill to the 12' PVC pipe -and do anything at all anyone describes anywhere online- is entirely up to you. I can not, and will not, be held responsible for ANYTHING that happens if you try to make anything, no matter how much it resembles something I have described. My "Prop How-To's" are to be taken as examples, only.

With all that taken into careful consideration... I found I needed a large housing nail, a 4-6" scrap length of 2x4, some duct tape. I pounded the nail into the 2x4, in *about* the center. Then I tightened the nail into the chuck of the drill, and duct taped it solidly in place. Then I turned on the drill, SLOWLY, and put a black dot where the center of rotation on the 2x4 was. I measured the inside of the 3" PVC, and copied this mesurement onto the 2x4 with the center of rotation in the middle. The drill was then tied down with steel wire to something heavy and solid. The trigger was taped down to spin slowly, and a circular saw was used to gently coax the 2x4 into a cork shape. [Okay, I lied. After ten seconds of maniacal laughter sawdust covered everything in a twelve foot radius, and I was called "Mr. Safety" for days.] This cork was then shoved into the 3" conduit, with more screws and duct tape applied.








A 2x4 bracket was added to one end to hold the drill at "roller" height, and worked much more smoothly than I thought it would!

To keep the tunnel in place, I found I only needed to cut 2 plywood rings. (remember the 1'x8' pieces left over from the deck?) I shoved these down the length of the pipe before screwing down the wheels on strapping, and screwed them in place with triangular cuts of 2x4. For pieces that small I found using the 3" screws in pre-drilled holes worked best.

[This how-to was provided for free at hauntforum.com. If you paid money for this on Ebay or similar site, congratulations! You've just helped support internet copyright infringement!]


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## Toktorill

The entire bridge was painted with half a gallon of dark gray wal-mart mistinted paint- $10. I put 2 light sockets on each side and screwed in bulb-sized florescent blacklights, with an 18" tube black light over each "door". All these lights were wired in series with a single plug to a control box screwed to the side of the bridge. The bottom was "always on", while the top plug had the hot wire run through a 600w dimmer switch, which the drill was connected to. (we broke the tab off one side of the receptacle to split the circuits) A wire from the control box plugged into an extension cord that ran to the wall.








Did you see those three light gray rings supported by the 3" PVC a few pics ago? More PVC!!! Our "tunnel" is made with a frame of 9 10' long 1/2" grey pvc conduit, 3 per loop. The end of each pipe was flared open, so we only had to shove them into each other- no glue or taping needed! We found it worked best with one of the conduit cut in half, giving us 3 25' lengths, for 8' tall loops. We took an exact measurement, divided it by 5, and marked all the conduits at these points. This gave us the 5 equal points along our pipe to duct tape the rest of or tunnel 'frame'- bamboo garden stakes. Before attaching the bamboo we decided on the spacing between loops, and marked the bamboo accordingly. We taped them on the ends in the middle of the PVC, so that there would be no overhang to catch on our plywood circles. In the middle we also taped the overhanging pieces to each other. The duct tape worked best for this in 1' pieces, torn in half width wise, and wrapped around each side of the PVC/Bamboo in an X shape. A few short pieces of full width DT was applied over the edges to keep them smooth.

Once we had all 5 of the horizontal lengths in place, we worked our way around the tube again and added diagonal lengths. From the central loop one side went up, the other down. These kept all of our 5 points on the 3 tubes the same distance apart- so much so that when the tube snagged on something the entire thing came to a stop without distorting- even as the 3" PVC kept turning.

For our "fabric", I used my favorite cover-all: black poly! A 10'x100' roll costs about $40, meaning covering a 10' long tube with a circumference of 25' will cost $10. I should have thought of that when I made our tube 11' long. Oh well, quick fix with 3 little 10' long slices.








I'm going to have to keep this stuff in mind if I ever make an axeworthy ghost. For 14 cents a yard, this braided 25lb black braided test fish line was perfect. ($7 at Canadian Tire!) Our poly was only taped to the 2 outside rings- with a zigzag pattern of black fishline between them holding the poly out.


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## Toktorill

All our haunts are wheelchair accessible, so ramps were a must. We screwed 2x4's to the side of the frame, and cut them at the floor so they would lie flat. Then we screwed a few lengths between them, spacing them 14-16 apart. We measured from edge to edge, and cut one of the sheets of plywood to cover everything. The railings were made from a single econostud.








But, I could never leave well enough alone... so I made a weird entrance with a distorted bridge that spanned out to the side. I won't go into too many details on this, other to say that I covered it with a chunk of carpet painted to look like a giant tongue.








Of course, why have a tongue without a face? I used strips of bent cardboard taped to the front and a chickenwire nose. This gave a little shape, that would be covered with black poly and painted.


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## Toktorill

For the upper half of the face, I made a half-circle out of cardboard, and cut holes for the eyes. I backed these with boxes and put in pupils, for the "sunken eyes are watching me" effect. I painted everything with a layer of light gray mistint paint, which I later dusted with spraypaint for color.

(Notice the dots on the tongue?)








Oh, such bright eyes! 








I spent a little more on the spraypaint- Krylon plastic-bonding paint from Canadian Tire. But WOW did it work out great!!!

Well, there you have it. I'm sure there are tons of details I missed out- feel free to PM or comment and I'll try to fill in all the blanks I can. Thanks for reading!


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## thisisaric

Nice work Toktorill! Curious to see how the actual tunnel looked in the end, could you post a picture or better yet a video?


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## ScareShack

That looks really nice....excellent job. I like it a lot.


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## turtle2778

Thank you. This is why I come to haunt forum. You were right, you could have just sold this on ebay and made a killing. You chose to put it here on the forum for those of us who love halloween and want to make an amazing display with wonderful props to put in it as cheaply as possible. Im not sure if I will ever make a vortex tunnel, but its great to know that I can if I want and for under 300 bucks. YOU ROCK!!


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## Sickie Ickie

This is definitely a "big" how-to. Thanks for sharing. It's a shame you are so worried that someone will steal your plans and sell them on Ebay, though.


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## Haunted Bayou

I pity da fool who violates your intellectual property! LOL!

I always wondered how those vortex tunnels are made. Thanks for showing us how you made yours.


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## ghost37

That looks great. Thanks for sharing.


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## evil-within

i have always wanted to do one of these but the price has always scared me away but now im thinking of trying it thanks for the super cheap way


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## Toktorill

Thanks all for the great comments! 

Sorry about all the "E-Bay" stuff- I was reading a thread not too long ago about someone downloading a bunch of stuff from the haunt list and other sites and selling them online- I love making my howto's but dread the thought of someone stealing my ideas.  Tossing some anti-theft text into the howto was about the only thing I could think of, other than just not writing about the vortex at all- which is something I just couldn't do to my H.F. friends.

Some additional things I didn't mention:

1) The height of the legs was 18" from floor to bottom of the bridge. This left the tunnel turning about 2-4" off the floor.

2) I thought using the dimmer switch to power the drill was a good idea- it turned out to be a MUST. We had to start turning the tunnel slowly, then bringing it up to speed over a couple seconds, or else one side would fly up into the driving pipe, unbalancing the tunnel, and something would catch or tear on the bottom of the bridge. The VT was also too noisy to run constantly- though mostly due to an old loud drill and squeaky rollers- but this worked out for the best because the controls were hidden in a little control room with one person operating 3 props, and we asked our groups to come into the funhouse "when it spins", so we had crowd control as well.

3) The spraypaint on black poly... wow. It worked SO well, I think a large painted something is going to find its way into a haunt of mine from now on. But ONLY with the Krylon paint. Everything else we tried in years past has flaked off and been ground into the floor under patron's feet.

4) I have lots of video, but its going to take some time to empty the HD and do some video editing. Keep watching this space!

Thank you all again!


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## Sickie Ickie

Rustoleum now makes a plastic paint as well.


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## pennywise

COOL!! I have wanted to build a vortex tunnel for years, but the expense held me back. I think we'll have one for 2009! Thanks for the great tutorial


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## CreepyCanmore

That's amazing. And nice to see someone from the neighbourhood (well, Alberta anyways) join the forum. Welcome.


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## jstein

so just double checking here, you had a person controlling when the tunnel started and stopped correct? otherwise im sure teh drill would have burned up right? I had hoped to have built one of these for a haunt this year because i have the rings already, but I just had no idea of what wo power it with, now i know! Great job and thanks for posting this!!!


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## Toktorill

jstein said:


> so just double checking here, you had a person controlling when the tunnel started and stopped correct? otherwise im sure teh drill would have burned up right? I had hoped to have built one of these for a haunt this year because i have the rings already, but I just had no idea of what wo power it with, now i know! Great job and thanks for posting this!!!


Yes, we had someone bring the tunnel up to speed slowly over 3-5 seconds so it stayed relatively balanced on the black pvc pipe. When someone just turned on the drill full speed the tunnel would jump to one side and usually catch on the bridge. I'm not sure if the drill would have burned up- very little torque was needed to turn it- even with the drill connected I could reach up and turn everything by hand. But of course, if your running the thing for 8 hours straight... that might cause some issues.


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## chisox100

I want to have one of these so bad, but I dont have the space. Is there a way I can scale it down to a size that wold work for my space i have?


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## Terrormaster

That is really cool and a lot cheaper than I would have ever expected. I'd love to do one but my space is so limited here.

I wanted to do a spider based one with the insides covered in the spider lair scene setter, hang some damp egg sacks and some fishing wire. Add creepy spider sounds and a huge spider prop at the end.

Ah the things I would do with time, money, and space.


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## Toktorill

chisox100 said:


> I want to have one of these so bad, but I dont have the space. Is there a way I can scale it down to a size that wold work for my space i have?









"Want one so bad"... yeah, I can relate to that! I wanted to make one of these 8 haunts ago. Oh well! Regardless, here's the basic dimensions I used- a 3' wide bridge (for wheelchair accessibility) 1.5' off the floor, and an 8' tall tunnel (25' of PVC per ring). This left about 7' of distance from where people were walking to the top of the ring- so a 6' tall guy like me just has to reach up and touch the driving pipe. The entire thing stands about 9' off the floor. It was pretty small as it was.

I was able to push the PVC together with 2 pieces (20' worth), so you should be able to scale this to just about anything. Doing it 2/3rd size would give you a bridge height of 1', width 2', with a 5.5' tunnel (17' of PVC per loop). But this all depends on the amount of space you have to work with. I guess.. take the ceiling height, knock off half a foot and break out the calculator?  If length is an issue as well, it will do wonders to put in mirrors on each end, to give an "endless tunnel" spinning tube.

Terrormaster: I LOVE the spider idea! One of my haunters was pushing for a pirate theme next year, so I thought "walking the plank" into a VT with bubbles and fish would be interesting, leading into an underwater scene with a boat bottom on the ceiling, fish mobiles, etc. Oh, damn... ideas for next year already! arrah!

EDIT: Sorry it took awhile, but I finally got a little video of the tunnel in action! Please, no jokes about my Eh's and Aboot's. I'm Canadian. I apoligize.


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## tot13

Does the PVC for the three rings have to be "formed" before they can be used, that is, pre-bent or pre-curved?


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## tot13

tot13 said:


> Does the PVC for the three rings have to be "formed" before they can be used, that is, pre-bent or pre-curved?


Bump


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## Toktorill

tot13 said:


> Does the PVC for the three rings have to be "formed" before they can be used, that is, pre-bent or pre-curved?


The beauty of the 1/2" PVC with the flanged/slip-fit [what DO they call those???] ends is that you only need to shove one end into the other to make a giant hula hoop, then your good to go. We didn't use any heating, bending, adhesives or fasteners- other than duct tape to fasten the bamboo and poly to the conduit.







 As for the number of pieces, we did experiment a little.  Just using two 10' pieces (6' wide loop) was very rigid, while three 10' (10' high tunnel) started getting a bit wobbly. Cutting the third piece in half to give 25 total feet for our 8' tunnel was the perfect balance.


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## steampunk1809

greetings. great project. i'm gonna give it a try. there are a couple of things i want to clarify.
1. the tunnel just sits on the drive pipe right? so the friction from gravity alone is enough to tun the tunnel?
2. did you put the plastic on the PVC before or after you made the hoops? i assume after. any tips on that process? 
3. after completion, when you slowly powered the drill up to speed did you have it running full tilt or somewhere below full RPM? (i'm working on ideas for a quieter drive engine)

i'm sure i'll have other questions and i'll post any thing new i come up with. excellent job by the way.


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## Screaming Demons

steampunk1809: I am working on one of these myself and will chime in, if you don't mind. Our Canadian friend hasn't posted much lately, but I can't wait to see what he's been working on.

1. The weight of the rings and plastic sheeting is enough to create enough friction for the pipe to turn the whole thing.
2. I put the plastic on after putting the rings together. I can't imagine doing it before. There is no way you would be able to close the rings up and brace them, which is needed to hold the rings together/apart and hold the plastic taut.
3. I'm going a different way with the power but I think the weight will require almost full power while the slippage of the rings will lessen the load a bit. This is probably one of those situations where every one built will be considerably different.

Hope that helps. And thanks to Toktorill for coming up with this idea and sharing it with us.


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## steampunk1809

thanks for your input. i was thinking of trying a box fan motor. my build only needs to run for an hour max and they are cheap enough that i don't care if it burns out. i watched the video again and it didn't seem like the drill was turning at max speed but that doesn't mean that it wasn't trying to. what kind of engine are you using?

i'm working on a materials list right now. the original design used some sort of bamboo stakes for the 5' horizontal braces on the tunnel. i assume pvc will work just the same. what are you using?

thanks.


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## steampunk1809

thanks for your input. i was thinking of trying a box fan motor. my build only needs to run for an hour max and they are cheap enough that i don't care if it burns out. i watched the video again and it didn't seem like the drill was turning at max speed but that doesn't mean that it wasn't trying to. what kind of engine are you using?

i'm working on a materials list right now. the original design used some sort of bamboo stakes for the 5' horizontal braces on the tunnel. i assume pvc will work just the same. what are you using?

thanks.


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## Screaming Demons

Don't laugh- I'm using the motor out of an electric lawn mower. I guess you can try it but I don't think a fan motor really puts out enough torque to turn something like this. If worst comes to worst on the big night I will have someone turn the whole thing by hand. It won't take much effort, and I read somewhere where someone did this after they had problems with their motor.


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## steampunk1809

hey that's not a bad idea. use what you've got, that's my motto. that thing probably has a throttle on it too. i was thinking the same thing about the fan. i know it spins fast enough but i wasn't sure if it would get bogged down by the weight. i plan to scrounge around for a cheap used fan to give it a test. i'll post my final engine when i get it figured out.

i've just been building motion sensors. they go 8' plugin cord, sensor, 8' cord 2 socket outlet. after i had finished them i though "man, i could have just stuck the sensor in the middle on an extension cord for the same effect." hindsight's 20/20.


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## Toktorill

Hey all. Thanks for answering those questions Screaming Demons, you were right on the money.

I only brought the drill to perhaps half its power- it was only turning the tube 4-6 times per second. Given how light the tube is its tough to tell if it would turn with just the force of a fan motor. Though a lawn mower might be overkill. 

When we taped on the polyurethane we had one person feed it out from the center of the bridge, and two other people would pull it tight to the ends and tape them around. Packing and Duct tape both worked well for this. Duct will hold a little better, but packing pulls off easier at cleanup if you want to save your poly for next year.  With one area taped down, we pushed the tube up a foot, and taped it again. Repeat 25 times and your done.  After that we "wove" black fishing line back and forth on the inside from end to end, to help support the poly between hoops. We did all the painting "while rolling", but in future versions we may switch to neon poster sheets and clear tape.

The bamboo garden stakes were found at Wal-Mart. We used the 6' lengths and had them tied overlapping in the middle. The stakes were only 1/4-3/8" in diameter, and extremely light. I wouldn't use anything much heavier, as the added weight may pull your circle downwards into an egg shape, which would then resist being rotated. Which is also an issue we faced the first time we put our side supports on and "estimated" the spacing- the off-balance tube had a very visible limp. Yes, I admit- we took it apart at that point, measured, and re-assembled. Lessons learned. 

Thanks for the questions. I'm a little out-of-season right now, but will answer any more you post- eventually.


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## tot13

Toktorill, thanks againi for posting your how-to onthe vortex tunnel. I plan to start construction this weekend, but I have a few questions for you.

Now that you've successfully built a vortex tunnel, is there anything you would do different to improve on the original design?

As for the length, would you consider making the tunnel longer or do you feel your original specs are best left as they are?

Thanks in advance -


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## Toktorill

Hey Tot13! 

Looking back, I think there are a few things I would do a little differently. When I was shopping for wood I bought the very cheapest thing they offered -econostuds- then worked my plans around them. When I was building the bridge I used 1 and 1/2 8' studs (12' total), where using a 12' 2x8 or 2x10 might have been a better choice structurally. Just a quick check as I write this puts their price at $6.88 for a 12 footer, versus the $1.20 econostud (or $2.40 for for two studs overlapping in the middle). BUT, It was necessary to put the A-Frame truss on each side (doubling as a railing support) to compensate for the weakness of the studs. 2x8's for floorboards would probably have negated this need. Both methods would serve the purpose. I think it boils down to personal preference.

Using the old drill was a hack.  I would have loved to have a silent, continuously-running motor assembly... but time was not on our side. My 10 volunteer friends, devoted wife and myself found ourselves with only 10 days of site access before we opened the doors to the public. The tunnel was only one prop in our "amusement park" (super-cheap 8' tall jack-in-the-box how-to coming one of these years!) Other than a few doodles, I didn't have a whole lot planned since it was only a week before getting the keys that we knew for certain that the haunt was a go. What would I do differently? TAKE THE TIME to design what I can be happiest with. That being said, we lucked out and I couldn't have been much happier with how the vortex turned out.

We were limited to keeping the bridge under 12', as we had to have the tunnel on the 3" PVC tube. I have been secretly plotting to double the tubes and bridges on our next haunt, to give 25' of walking distance. I felt using two tubes joined at the middle, with bridge legs and tube rollers in the middle and at each end. I once thought of tripling it, using axle joints on the driving tubes to zig-zag the tunnels so that someone at the start can't see end to end. I also pondered using 20' thick-walled steel pipe, but never bothered to source it or see if it wouldn't bend in the middle if supported on the ends. Mute points, as only the first option fit into my non-budget. 

FOR THE RECORD, I don't think ANY haunt plans are best left "as they are". It's our duty as haunters to mutate, mangle and misshape everything we touch into a dark mockery of its previous form. :devil: I eagerly await seeing what darkness you spawn from my original creation... :zombie:


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## tot13

If you don't mind, three more questions.

First, I'm not quite understanding the following:
"To keep the tunnel in place, I found I only needed to cut 2 plywood rings. (remember the 1'x8' pieces left over from the deck?) I shoved these down the length of the pipe before screwing down the wheels on strapping, and screwed them in place with triangular cuts of 2x4. For pieces that small I found using the 3" screws in pre-drilled holes worked best."

And second, could you explain a little more about weaving the fishing line?

And last, were the bamboo supports on the inside or the outside of the three large rings?


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## Toktorill

tot13 said:


> First, I'm not quite understanding the following:
> "To keep the tunnel in place, I found I only needed to cut 2 plywood rings. (remember the 1'x8' pieces left over from the deck?) I shoved these down the length of the pipe before screwing down the wheels on strapping, and screwed them in place with triangular cuts of 2x4. For pieces that small I found using the 3" screws in pre-drilled holes worked best."


Ouch, sorry about that. I bought 1/2" 4' x 8' plywood sheets for the floor. But, I was only making the bridge 3' wide, so after cutting a sheet I had a 3'x8' and a 1'x8'. From the 1'x8' I cut two 1'x1' squares, and trimmed them into a circle, adding a 3" hole in the middle for our drive pipe to go through, and triangles of 2x4 to hold them in place. Diagram time!






I used rollers to hold the drive tube in place on each end. In the model above I'm using wheels mounted to 2x4s on the top and bottom, but in my original the top wheels were bolted to a strip of metal. I put the wood circles on before holding the 3' tube down with the metal strap.









tot13 said:


> And last, were the bamboo supports on the inside or the outside of the three large rings?


I'll answer this first: We had the bamboo supports on the outside, then the 1/2" PVC rings, then the black poly, then black fishline on the inside. We couldn't put the bamboo on the inside of the rings, since they would catch on the driving tube. Likewise, the poly had to be on the inside, since we didn't want people seeing the rings or bamboo.


tot13 said:


> And second, could you explain a little more about weaving the fishing line?


The fishline was a shortcut to keep the black poly from drooping in the middle at the top- we were having "tape issues" in keeping it attached to the outside middle hoop and bamboo supports. I don't remember if we put holes in the poly at the ends to bring the fishline around the pvc hoop. We zig-zagged it back and forth so that the lines were a little over a foot apart in the middle, and as tight as possible. We didn't overlap or weave. Looking back, it will probably work better to reinforce the poly so it won't rip, poke a string through and tie it to the hoops and bamboo. Wow, the things you think of a year later! Doh!


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## xxnonamexx

www.haunteddeadend.com We built one 25ft long 10ft. tall. Photos and video on the site. We used electrical PVC 1.5" 3 to make the rings and a treadmill to make it spin.


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## tot13

xxnonamexx said:


> www.haunteddeadend.com We built one 25ft long 10ft. tall. Photos and video on the site. We used electrical PVC 1.5" 3 to make the rings and a treadmill to make it spin.


Wow, that's a really great website! I tried to find the photos and videos you mention as I'm in the process of building a vortex tunnel myself. However, I wasn't able to locate either of them. Could you give me a hint or just provide links to the vortex video and pics themselves instead of the home page? Thanks in advance -


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## steampunk1809

i have everything ready to be assembled for my VT. the bridge is complete and waiting for final erection. (not quite something you can just build and store) the only thing that concerns me is that my drive shaft has a slight wobble to it but i won't be able to move it to it's haunt home for about 3 weeks. we'll find out then if it all works. everything has gone quite well on my build, praise be.


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## Toktorill

xxnonamexx said:


> www.haunteddeadend.com We built one 25ft long 10ft. tall. Photos and video on the site. We used electrical PVC 1.5" 3 to make the rings and a treadmill to make it spin.


Beautiful website! And a gorgeous VT! Your photos and video (bottom of 2007 pics page, 12:00 in 2008 video, didn't watch 2007 vid yet) would make a wonderful how-to! I wish I had your space... and time... and budget. 

On another note, I've had some PM's and emails about bamboo:








I pre-measured before assembling the hoops, to have equal spacing at five points. At each of these 5 points I used 4 pieces- 2 running straight across, and two arching out to make triangles. This made the tunnel very sturdy. And at $2/6 bamboo pieces (x20) and $3 per 10' length of PVC (x9), that made my tunnel structure worth... almost as much as xxnonamexx's first hoop. 

For those that noticed: yes, that was a sketchup model. For people who love the program as much as I do, you can find some of my haunt models here.

Steampunk, that sounds great! I can't wait to see some pics!


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## morbidmike

great job on the clown tunnel from hellllllllllll


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## xxnonamexx

go to the bottom of the page http://haunteddeadend.com/photos/2007/index.php


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## steampunk1809

*Houston, we have a problem*

Toktorill,
okay then, i have assembled my tunnel for a test run and everything went fine till i tried to crank it up (just what i feared). i purchased a heavy duty drill from a pawn shop but even with a speed control switch it went from struggling to turn the shaft to "oh my god it's gonna kill someone" with no in between. so that's out. i hooked up my plain jane black and decker and it worked! however after about a minute it began to smell hot. so i turned it off and watched as smoke rose from the drill. this is why i began so early, it gives me time to correct this issue.

do you know the specifications of the drill you used? any other ideas?

thanks


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## dynoflyer

Thanks for the great how-to!


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## Toktorill

steampunk1809 said:


> Toktorill,
> okay then, i have assembled my tunnel for a test run and everything went fine till i tried to crank it up (just what i feared). i purchased a heavy duty drill from a pawn shop but even with a speed control switch it went from struggling to turn the shaft to "oh my god it's gonna kill someone" with no in between. so that's out. i hooked up my plain jane black and decker and it worked! however after about a minute it began to smell hot. so i turned it off and watched as smoke rose from the drill. this is why i began so early, it gives me time to correct this issue.
> 
> do you know the specifications of the drill you used? any other ideas?


Hey Steampunk!








My drill is an ANCIENT Black and Decker (Model 7250?) 120VAC, 4.2 Amp. Solid steel body, weighs a ton.

By "speed control switch", do you mean the trigger on the drill? I used a 300watt dimmer switch. Normally, dimmers and motors are a big no-no, but it worked like a charm for me. I also didn't run the drill for more than a few minutes at a time- just long enough to let a group go through. A haunter was always on the dimmer switch.

I would also check the wheels supporting the 3" drive tube: do you have it clamped down, or is it free enough to spin by hand? Can the resistance to the driving power be lessened any way?

For power alternatives I would suggest either a geared down 110VAC motor, as seen in almost every other VT tutorial, or doubling the drills by putting one on each end of the tunnel. During its original concept I also mused about a "green" non-electric method: using a staff-driven hand crank to turn the tunnel, just when groups were coming up to it.

Well, hope something works for you.  It's really rewarding when you hear some little kid yell "wow, COOL!" when they walk up the ramp.


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## PropBoy

xxnonamexx I sent you a PM, 

but what tool or how did you bend your rings???
I have a ring roller but not sure I can bend something of that diameter 10' or over 1" pipe.

-PB


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## Toktorill

PropBoy said:


> xxnonamexx I sent you a PM,
> but what tool or how did you bend your rings???
> I have a ring roller but not sure I can bend something of that diameter 10' or over 1" pipe.
> -PB


Um, you may be waiting for awhile for his answer. He joined Sept 12th, 2009, and his profile lists his last activity as Sept 30th, 2009. But hey I'm here! (Please take all of the above in the nicest way possible.  )

You don't need any special equipment to bend PVC pipe- it's plastic, with one end flared open so you can just stick end into end. Shove them together, and they make a perfect circle with nothing else needed. I used 2 and 1/2 10' pieces of 1/2" PVC for mine, for 25' circumference, about 8' diameter. I would suspect xxnonamexx's 1"/30ish/10ish hoops behaved the same. He had flared ends visible in his website pics. Hope that helped!


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## HauntCast

If I ever take my haunt to the next level I'll have to make one of these. Awesome Tutorial.


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## ds6191

With the top drive pipe at the top,Did that ruin the illusion at all? I have followed this thread for a while and I'm going to tackle a vortex this year. I'm just trying to finalize who I'm going to copy off of. Thanks for sharing all your projects. Dan


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## tot13

ds6191 said:


> With the top drive pipe at the top,Did that ruin the illusion at all? I have followed this thread for a while and I'm going to tackle a vortex this year. I'm just trying to finalize who I'm going to copy off of. Thanks for sharing all your projects. Dan


I built one of these (actually two) last year using not only Tok's design, but also a great deal of help from him (thanks again, Tok). We used black plastic for the tunnels so we painted the axles black as well. People were so busy watching the tunnels move as well as where they stepped, I doubt very many of them could have actually told you that there was a rotating pipe above their heads.


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## ds6191

That's good. I didn't know if it would affect the effect. Likewise if I can pull off a vortex in my haunted garage,I don't think to many people would complain. It is free after all. 
Thanks, Dan


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## Toktorill

ds6191 said:


> That's good. I didn't know if it would affect the effect. Likewise if I can pull off a vortex in my haunted garage,I don't think to many people would complain. It is free after all.
> Thanks, Dan


Sorry Dan, I've been AFH (Away from Hauntforum) for a few weeks so I didn't have a chance to answer your question before Tot13 got to it. He was right on the money, though. While walking across the bridge most guests were inclined to watch their feet or the railings, to make sure they had safe footing. Another factor was our lighting. The black lights were mounted to the lower sides of the bridge, so the only light on the drive pipe was reflected off the side of the tunnel.

Happy Haunting!


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## ds6191

Anyone who has built the vortex this way,Will the drive shaft mess with the black plastic when it rolls under the shaft? I hope that question makes sense. Also,How in the world did your pvc rings keep a circular shape. I tried haunteddeadends way and the rings were so much of an oval I had to give up.I couldn't get them to stay on the bike tires.
So since that didn't work, And now I have a 20 bridge to nowhere,before I waste any more money will the thinner pvc keep it's circular shape better then the 1 1/4 inch? 
Anyone who wants to jump in who has made this kind of tunnel,PLEASE jump in and help out.My bridge is in the very back of my haunt and I really need it to be done so I can start building around it. Thanks a lot, Dan


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## tot13

Wow, you used 1-1/4" pvc? Last year, we used 1/2" and with the weight of the plastic, the "bowing" or "egging" was obvious though it worked itself out when the VT was running. Our tunnel operated for about 5 hours every Saturday (5 nights) in October. By the middle of the month, we knew that the tunnels would have to be rebuilt each year. My intentions for this year are to switch to 3/4" pipe. I'm not comfortable going any larger at this time because of the added weight issue. Also, I'm considering not using the bamboo switches as supports between the rings, but instead added some T's and crosses to the rings and attaching the rings to each other with more pvc.

Unlike Tok, we had our black lights attached to the support beam which held the axle. That is, our lighting was from above their heads.

Do you mean, "rolls over the shaft"? A cross-section pic would show the axle, the plastic on top of the axle, and then the pvc rings. There was a sound as the plastic passed over the axle but nothing that was distracting.

Our tunnels had a habit of "walking" down the axle until they found their place - if that makes sense. Fixed this by cutting some thin rings form a pipe slightly larger in diameter than our axle and gluing these thin rings to create a track for the tunnel rings to roll through.

After re-reading your post for the third time, I finally noticed the "bike tires". I'm afraid I made the assumption that you were using Tok's specs, and therefore using the suspended axle that the rings rest on. I've seen VT's like what you're building, but I gotta tell you, Tok's way solves so many of the potential problems of the other way(s). that hanging axle keeps the tunnels in place, and I believe helps keep the tunnel aligned.


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## ds6191

"Tok's way solves so many of the potential problems of the other way(s). that hanging axle keeps the tunnels in place, and I believe helps keep the tunnel aligned."
Exactly! that's why I am looking to build with a top drive shaft. My traditional vortex attempt was a failure because the 1 1/4 pipes were oblong,and I couldn't straighten them out to a true circle no matter what I did.They would just fight each other on the tires and they wouldn't stay on. 
It's getting late for me,I don't get many days to get out there to work on it.I'm at the point of trying Tok's way or cut and run. I have a pretty big haunt to put together and I'm about to ask what to do with a 20 foot bridge! lol Dan


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## tot13

Gotcha. I think, lol. You're first attempt using what we've all seen a lot of in the way of home-made VT's, was using bicycle rims on the ground to guide the rings, with one of the rims being powered by a motor to turn the whole thing.

My only experience is with Tok's method. there's some tweaking that I think everyone has to do, but really the biggest challenge is getting the bridge built. I can't believe you've built a 20' bridge. Do you have a central support?

If I am understanding you correctly, and now you're considering using Tok's method, its really not that big of a change. The fact that it's an easier, more straight-forward way of turning the tunnels may actual save you some time at this point.

Here's a link to my album with my VT:
http://hauntforum.com/album.php?albumid=415

There's a few more that I didn't put in the album, but if there's any way I can help you, then I will. I can honestly say I never would have completed mine had it not been for Tok's help.


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## ds6191

Thanks a lot, I'm going to give it a good try,And I will ask questions if your up to it,thanks. Just in case, I did ask the forum what to do with a bridge to nowhere. lol


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## ds6191

Did you power your shaft with a drill like Tok's? 
My bridge is 20 feet so the spinning part would be approx. 16 feet, I could just glue 2 shaft pieces together correct?
You said you might use thicker pvc for the rings,I have 2 1 inch pvc pieces left over,would one inch start to get to heavy a load for the drill or motor? 
If it would be easier to just tell me to reread this thread and the info is in here already I will. I guess I'm just afraid to throw more money into it,BUT if it is just a little more pvc and black plastic,I can do that. Thanks for your time, BTW your pictures look like it was an awesome prop/area of the haunt.Do you do a full blown haunted trail or was it just the big top circus theme? Dan


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## Toktorill

ds6191 said:


> Did you power your shaft with a drill like Tok's?
> My bridge is 20 feet so the spinning part would be approx. 16 feet, I could just glue 2 shaft pieces together correct?


Hi Dan, thanks for all the great questions! Sorry I came late to the party... :zombie:

The big thing to keep in mind in my overhead drive shaft method is weight. When we made our tube it was only 9 pieces of 10' pvc (3 of them sawed in half so 75' in total), 20 pieces of 5' bamboo garden stakes, and just under 300 sq ft of black poly. This was the lightest I could make the tunnel- and it HAD to be light for two reasons. Firstly, that was just enough weight that the drive tube could support it, and secondly, the tunnel wouldn't "egg" enough to stall the rotation. If you were to "glue" the shaft pieces together, the only thing you would need to worry about is that the weight of the tunnel is still supported by the shaft. I had thought about this problem some time ago- and figured I would either modify the drive shaft with a solid interior (wood 2x4) to make it much stronger, or support the drive tube at multiple points along the bridge. I believe tot13 did the latter, as his VT was twice as long as mine. 

Of course, you could "scale up" the parts to thicker pvc tubes, or thick metal drive pipes. A 1" pvc hoop will egg less than a 1/2" hoop (equal weight and hoop diameter assumed). But then you lose the greatest benefit of this design: it's SO CHEAP! :lolkin:



> You said you might use thicker pvc for the rings,I have 2 1 inch pvc pieces left over,would one inch start to get to heavy a load for the drill or motor?


That's tough to say- I ran my entire prop with an old drill, but it was only run for a few minutes at a time. I was able to easily turn the entire shaft and tunnel with one hand, drill attached, however- so I'm assuming any decently powered, continuous operation, geared down motor would be up to the task. 


> Do you {tot13} do a full blown haunted trail or was it just the big top circus theme? Dan


Johnny does a full trail. It's really quite amazing. 

-Neil.


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## tot13

Hey Tok, didn't mean to hijack your thread, but I do love to talk about your vortex tunnel, lol.


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## ds6191

Tok,thanks a lot for answering my questions, tot13 has been a great help also, I have been bugging him often.With the help from you two I'm getting it done, I will keep going over your how to if I have anymore questions,most of my answers are all ready here.then your thread will not get cluttered with my questions. Thanks again, Dan


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## Toktorill

tot13 said:


> Hey Tok, didn't mean to hijack your thread, but I do love to talk about your vortex tunnel, lol.


You built one as well, and...  yours was bigger 

 LOL  You know what your talking about.


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## wanaquehaunts

What actually drove the rings? I don't see how the wooden discs would turn the rings, unless there was something you left out. I see how the treadmill can turn the rings but I am open to any suggestions. I am in the process of building one and I must thank you for all of your ideas and creativity.


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## tot13

Tok's design is unique to any other vortex tunnel I've seen (not saying no one has never done it this way, but his is the only I've ever seen like this).

He has an axle that the rings _HANG_ from. The axle turns and the friction caused by the weight of the rings causes the tunnel to turn.

The wooden disks themselves did not turn the rings.


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## wanaquehaunts

So the wood is there to keep it still from shifting either way. I get it. Thanks


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## Toktorill

Toktorill said:


> You know what your talking about.


... and you always seem to get to the thread just before I do. LOL


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## debbie5

This is....brilliant. And I LOVE that you also managed to make it wheelchair accessible.


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## wanaquehaunts

Built my bridge in 3 sections 4' long, bolted everything together, used 2x6's instead of 2x4's, walked on it and it colapsed. Spent the next 24 hrs thinking if I should scrap this job or make it work. I then ran a 2x6-12' on each side of the bridge which was held on with carriage bolts and worked like a charm, solid. I installed the ring, using the concept given but trying to build the rings with 1/2 pvc with tees and crosses instead of bamboo to hold everything together. No good, too much weight, the rings became egg shaped and fittings got hung up on the main 3" tube. Running out now to purchase the gray tubing and bamboo. I


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## wanaquehaunts

I am determined to make this work. Too much time invested to stop now. I also came up with a fool proof AFG set up, without using bike rims, angle steel, etc. I'm talking easy. I will post that as soon as I get this working first.


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## dominic81

You are ingenious my friend and its people like your self that makes this stuff fun


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## HauntCast

Fantastic how-to. I'll eventually attempt a project like this as my haunt grows.


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## scaretastic

looks great!!!


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## allisonmagic

im building one of these ! it looks great so far, i just have to get my rings on and i'll be good to go ! im gonna post pictures for you guys too.


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## pennywise

When building the rings out of conduit, what size did you cut the down to and did you have to heat them up to bend them?


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## tot13

pennywise said:


> When building the rings out of conduit, what size did you cut the down to and did you have to heat them up to bend them?


We used 3 10' sticks of 1/2" pvc. We replaced the bamboo struts with pvc joints and glued the 3 sticks together and allowed them to dry before bending them into the rings. No heating necessary.


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## pennywise

Great. Going to try it out I have some spare conduit around.


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## k8rk8skt

*circle of tunnel*

Hi,

We create a haunted house every year in our back yard. I know it is getting late, but I would love to incorporate this tunnel this year. Thank you for posting the steps. What is the circle made out of though? The three silver looking circles that rest on the 3" PVC pipe. Any more information you can provide will help us in being successful! Thank you!

KAte


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## Toktorill

The silver rings were each made of 3 pieces of 1/2" pvc conduit, 10' long each for Tot13's (awesome!) tunnel. He used more pvc for the cross bracing. I used 3 and a half pieces for mine, and cross braced it with 5' long pieces of bamboo duct taped on. Just about any LIGHT way you find to do it will work, as long as your careful and pre-measure your bracing so its balanced as the tunnel spins.

Happy Haunting!


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## allisonmagic

this thing is awesome. i built one for my haunt, based on your tutorial. thanks for this awesome info ! i got pictures and video up


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## dommyboy

*Great tutorial. Built one with some things to note!*

This is a fantastic tutorial. I learned a few lessons along the way though.

1. A harbor freight plug in drill work fine. I hooked it up to a safety switch and had an actor turning it on and off

2. I used super cheap aluminum rollers to hold the tube. BAD idea! We found during testing after about 20 min of continuous running they heated cinsiderably. They dug a track into the PVC, and when turned off they were warm enough to actually indent the PVC damaging it. We attached an aluminum sleeve to fix this problem...which failed with 10 min left in our haunt. No big deal. Next year plastic rollers are being installed to fix this issue.

3. Wooden wedge to the drill is novel but failed us Over and over during our tests. We fixed this by drilling a hole straight through the 3" PVC and screwing in a small piece of all thread. In the middle of the pipe we attached a round coupling to the allthread free to move. This attached straight to a drill bit that we secured into the drill with zipties. We had to replace a few zipties throughout the night but it worked great.

4. We ziptied a 48" blacklight under each railing in the middle. This provided plenty of light!

This was a fantastic addition to our haunt...which is a completely free donation driven military sponsered event held yearly for a whopping 3 hours. It takes about 10 days of setup but is well worth it for the kids. We usually see about 800 people in that small window!

The information provided above is for informational purposes only. I assume no responsibility to any information that you may use that I provided.


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## loner

Last year I built this . I used the old dinosaur drill . This year I used the motor from a hospital bed. It only has one speed and it's perfect . I can turn it on and just let it run.


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## Bronccat

Hi All,

Been lurking for years - building this tunnel this year and had some questions.

I am trying some different things (will post pictures eventually) but I am hung up on the struts.

Did using PVC instead of bamboo work or was it too heavy? 

I assume the pvc was at a 90 to the rings instead of making an X

If using Bamboo - what diameter?

One "x" on opposing sides of one "bay" between two rings so 4 "Xs" total?

I am using a router and router speed control for power I think
Using 4" PVC and using couplings to make a channel for my support wheels to follow instead of the ply disc (like a pair of couplings with 1.5" of pipe in between)
Platform 14' going for 12' tunnel
Going to wrap drive pipe in rubber flashing tape at contact points with rings to prevent slippage

Thanks!


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## AuvilleHaunt

Thanks for the instructions!


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## rbrittigan

First -> thanks so much for the original thread; been running a variant of this for years in my home haunt. Some lessons I learned:
1. Treadmill motor works *really* well, and is fairly easy to find this time of year as people give up on their New Years resolutions & yard sale the treadmills; just be sure to save the control internals so you don't need to build a 'special' controller.
2. PVC works great here; just plan on redoing the hoops every year, depending on how they are stored (mine were hung up, got permanent egg shapes). Every 3 years or so or they may get brittle on ya, so replace them at that point either way... They are cheap, so no biggie here.
3. Fishing line matched with the support bars in between works wonders; I use metal rods (snagged from a throw-away complicated garage enclosure). Run the fishing line in cross-hatches on the outside of the supports, forming a web. I then used safety pins to pin the fabric to the line; makes tiny attachments points, but works well and is hidden because of the lighting.
4. I used LED UV strips to line the sides of my bridge; helps folks from accidently stepping off and provides even lighting throughout the tunnel. I still have 2 UV floods mounted on the support beams to hit the top ranges of the tunnel.
5. I had to adjust my handrails; turns out *everyone* who goes throw these leans to the opposite side of rotation; when they reach for the handrail, they all reach too low. So now my handrails are at different heights (about 8" apart)
6. I used friction tape with glow stripes on my exit ramps, so folks can tell there is a slope, and don't slip. (Ramps because I want them accessible to as many folks as I can)

Thanks again & hope it helps!


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