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When you come to the end of a toilet roll
you are left with a stubby section of
virtually useless cardboard tubing.
One Tube Deserves Another requires a
slightly new manufacturing system, and
though it involves the consumption of
more cardboard, the result is a tube that
has the potential
for a useful outcome.
To understand the idea, think of two
tubes of the same length, but
one fits inside the other. Now imagine
the
inner tube is pushed out by a half inch
and
fused into position. This means that the
tube now has a "male" end and a "female"
end.
This enables the empty cardboard tubes
to
fit together and be used as a simple
construction material.
Illustration
https://sodabred.tu...erves-another-its-a
The start of something big... my first effort with Illustrator CS [xenzag, Dec 17 2007, last modified Apr 14 2018]
Congreve rocket
https://en.wikipedi...iki/Congreve_rocket
Most entertaining [8th of 7, Apr 23 2018]
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Annotation:
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//virtually useless// Now *that's* a challenge! {starts compiling mental list of 101 uses for a dead toilet roll} |
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BUN! This would be good for recycling too! |
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Every 5th of these could have flexible pleats (like a flexible drinking straw) so you can build curvy piping.
Every 10th of them could have an interior hole so you can make branches. |
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edit - (I inserted the rest of the second
sentence)
[phundu] if all of the toilet
rolls were available as either "straights" or
"curves", then many forms could be
constructed. The degree of cuvature of the
rolls could be printed on the outside.
"6 pack of bog roll please" - "Certainly Sir
- straights or curves?" - "Eh, 3 shallow
arcs,
one acute, and two straights" |
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Excellent idea. Some tubes should be capped at the end, so you can finish off your constructions neatly. |
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If this is part of a range of bathroom products, then the lids of, pehaps, bottles of powder, or packaging for toilet cistern blocks could be designed to be neatly fitting "caps" for the tubes. |
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See re-posted illustration - tumblr |
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As far as I can see, this allows you to make various
structures including (a) a tube. |
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What's needed here is tee and elbow pieces, similar to the ones you
can get for plumbing purposes. |
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I'm not sure how to wind toilet roll onto a T-shaped tube, but that's a
minor detail. |
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If the tubes were slightly tapered they could join without the extra extra |
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// I'm not sure how to wind toilet roll onto a T-shaped tube, // |
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We would suggest a "triangular" wrap, successive turns around each arm in sequence. |
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That's the easy bit; the hard part is designing an inexpensive device from which the paper can unspool smoothly, without snagging. |
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Actually, you could just make all the tubes with a hole in
the side, into which another tube could be inserted, to
produce a T. |
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However, as I have pointed out elsewhere, today's loo rolls
are flaccid, insubstantial things compared to the the loo
rolls of yesteryear. |
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True. They're designed to be a perfect match for
the modern bum. |
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(+) Missed this when it was posted. |
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There's a similar thing you can do with the tubes from flooring stores. If you cut them sideways with a hole-saw of the same diameter they stack up like perfect little log cabins. |
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[2fries], you really need to get out more and meet people. Even we're starting to think of you as "a bit weird, actually", which is not good ... |
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//perfect little log cabins// |
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Just make half of the rolls with a smaller diameter so there
is a snug fit when the small one is inserted in the large one.
This makes them stronger without additional material.
Holes for making tees or stacking as log cabins (as suggested
by others) should be
pre-perforated. |
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// Even we're starting to think of you as "a bit weird, actually", which is not good ...// |
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Well then I'm sure that will change when tell you all about the awesome cat trees you can make with them!
There's fur trees, catalpas, pussy willows, sugar-meowples, catcuses, junipurrs, mewcaliptus... |
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<runs away, waving arms and screaming/> |
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Leave it to the Borg to find weirdness a bad thing, even
around here… |
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Another benefit of this idea might be increased tube wall
thickness, resulting in tubes that are less likely to get
squished in the package and then not roll nicely on the
holder. |
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The tubes in RV toilet paper rolls are so dense you could probably make fireworks from them. |
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You mean firework casings (unless you're proposing to nitrate them) . |
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They're OK, but the cores from fax paper rolls (remember them ?) are better, particularly for making rockets. |
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Yes that is what I meant.
As for model rocket motors, I haven't seen anything that works better for a home-made rocket shell than an expended CO2 cartridge. They have just the right venturi shape, and those strike-anywhere wooded match heads with their own oxidizer work far better as a propellant than black powder. |
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A CO2 fire extinguisher casing made from aluminium can do an impressive impersonation of a JATO bottle if treated kindly. A short length of threaded thick wall steel pipe screwed into the top will provide an acceptable nozzle, although they do erode fairly fast. |
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//although they do erode fairly fast. // |
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ooh... <waggles fingers> stages... |
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