SPACER tubes - empty ones

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MnSue

MnSue

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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Has anyone found a good "recycle use" for SPACER tubes (NOT FILLET)?

I have about twenty (from our big project) spacer tubes and so far all I've been able to find to do with them is the dumpster.

Anyone know of a group that can use them? I thought maybe boy/girl scouts?? Thoughts?
 
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Do you have a martial arts school near you? They can whack each other silly with them!

If they are plastic, you should be able to put them in with the recycling. Another option would be to see if you can return them to whomever you bought the fillets from -- they might be able to reuse them.
 
Our supplier picks them up and sends them back to the mfg. Imagine if all the National vendors were that eco-conscious.
 
Do you mean those blue poly tubes??? i think someone (maybe Pamela?) mentioned that someone was using them for fencing in horse rings.

Or you could make wicked didgeridoos or rain sticks. Donate them to schools.
 
About 8 or 9 years ago I came in to the store early before we opened and found one of my framers cutting them up and drilling a couple holes into them.

That's right, he was making bongs out of them.

Sure he was recycling the tubes but, he was no longer employed after that morning.
 
Gee Tim, what was your cut in the venture? Or wasn't he sharing? :D

They would make great containers for fillets and oh, something like space . r . . . .s

hmmmm, . . . .. I guess never mind.
 
I use them to organize my fillet stock.

When I was a kid my dad use to bring home the cardboard cores from rolls of canvas and the like. My brother and I would cut a whole on the outside near the end of each tube on opposite sides and span them around the house from floor to ceiling constructing a huge marble game. Drop one in the top and it would go all around the house until it fell out of the last tube and spilled out on the floor.

I was easily entertained as a kid.

:D
 
make them into wind chimes?

Blue man group instruments for preschoolers?

actually my sone (5th grader) just finished up a "band camp". He plays the sax. at the end they put on a concert. They actually sounded really good, and "produced" a cd! the percussion ensemble performed using pvc pipes ala Blue Man Group. It was really fun!
Maybe a school band instructor would like to use them.
 
Poison dart guns?

Bottle rocket launchers?

Walking sticks?

Thin cement or plaster post molds?

Slip them under your shirt and down your pants as posture straighteners?

Scare Crow construction?

Soil sample core diggers?

Fill them with pebbles get some congas and start an earth band?

Cut them into small lengths and use as napkin rings?

Sailboat stay covers?

Sausage making tubes?

Tomato stakes?

Kid's blanket house construction?

Slit them down the middle lengthwise and use them for playhouse storm gutters?



:icon21:

I do use the little plastic end pieces from them and mailing tubes as palettes for mixing stuff.
 
They're great for storing Fly Rods.

Cut them down a little, label each one and throw'em in the car. Perfect way to spend a summer evening.

Do you have 25 Fly Rods?
 
digereedoo. send them home with customers kids. speaking of customers kids, build a cage.
 
Ok, this is for real............We were one of the first houses built in our neighborhood. After our house was built, two more houses were built adjacent to our backyard. They were "built up" a little higher than our lot and suddenly, we were getting all the water in our back yard because we were now the lowest. This is not a happy situation to be in. Of course, the builders and landscapers really didn't care, they just said it was our landscaping that did it. We called the county drain commissioner to come out and help us. Nope, we were going to have to build an expensive drainage system. However, we could not do anything that would affect our neighbors. Now, the fact that they built and it now affected us didn't matter.

I knew that below the 2-3 inches of dirt in our lawn was mostly sand. I also know that sand is good for drainage. If I could only find something that I could get to the sand and not fill up with dirt, I might be able to get my own "drainage system". Enter the "BLUE TUBES"!!! I drilled 1/2" holes into the tubes, cut them about 10", dug a hole and leveled them to the ground so we could mow the grass without a problem. I filled them with rocks to prevent them from filling in with dirt. I did 10 spots about 5 feet apart.

All I know is that I no longer have a pond in my back yard for several days after it rains. We no longer worry about it getting to close to the house.

So, there you have it, use them to create DIY drainage systems!!! :D :D :D
 
Smart lady, Candy!

:thumbsup:
 
So, when we sell the house, we can use our "French Drainage System" as a selling point? :D :D :D

I think a nice little pellet gun is in order, I can make my own pellets!!! Great idea!!!
 
Spacer tubes

Having a friend who is a concrete foundation contractor, I would invite him to stop by and take them.

He would cut to length and cast them into walls or floors where they make excellent drainage holes or chases for wires.

Of course I would strategically position a newly framed Denton fish lithograph or Edward Gordon gicle to catch his eye as he came through the door.

Find a home for the tubes, sell another piece of art to an appreciative collector and of course talk shop as we finished off a couple of cold Sam Adams' Ale's at closing time.

Another thought:

In my shop we often rested pieces of clean dusted glass awaiting installation on the Fletcher mat cutter. A piece of the black tubing with a full length slit made with a couple passes through the table saw made a perfect protective cover for the cutter rail.
 
FrameTek use recycled plastic milk juggs for the blue plastic tubes. The recycled plastic actually costs us a bit more than fresh plastic but we're trying to do our little part.

We also ship all the shipping boxes back to our extruder to keep them out of the land fill. Sometimes it costs a bit more to be green but I think it's the right thing to do.
 
Greg Fremstad said:
FrameTek use recycled plastic milk juggs for the blue plastic tubes. The recycled plastic actually costs us a bit more than fresh plastic but we're trying to do our little part.

We also ship all the shipping boxes back to our extruder to keep them out of the land fill. Sometimes it costs a bit more to be green but I think it's the right thing to do.
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It only appears to cost more. In the long run, I imagine that waste costs more than recycling.
 
Funny you should ask! I just cut up one of those selfsame tubes, sprayed it inside and out with Super 77 spray, wrapped black velvet around it, tucking in the ends to make it neat and now I have several doohickies to clean my vinyl records before and after I play them. :)
Note to you youngsters out there: 'twas a time, a long time ago when music came on these 12" diameter black vinyl discs that, believe it or not sounded BETTER than CDs when handled with a modicum of respect.
 
We store our left over fabric scaps on them
 
We use them as interior rolls when rolling canvas' for shipping. Keeps them from inadvertanly getting flat spots. We also use them for the same purpose when a customer brings in a rolled canvas, until we stretch them.
 
Bogframe said:
Funny you should ask! I just cut up one of those selfsame tubes, sprayed it inside and out with Super 77 spray, wrapped black velvet around it, tucking in the ends to make it neat and now I have several doohickies to clean my vinyl records before and after I play them. :)
Note to you youngsters out there: 'twas a time, a long time ago when music came on these 12" diameter black vinyl discs that, believe it or not sounded BETTER than CDs when handled with a modicum of respect.
Click to expand...

Hey Seth- I still have my Watts Parostatic Disc Preener, complete with internal foam moisturizing wick and plastic storage tube. I also have a similar device from Radio Shack about the size and shape of a blackboard eraser.
:thumbsup: Rick
 
Bogframe said:
Funny you should ask! I just cut up one of those selfsame tubes, sprayed it inside and out with Super 77 spray, wrapped black velvet around it, tucking in the ends to make it neat and now I have several doohickies to clean my vinyl records before and after I play them. :)
Note to you youngsters out there: 'twas a time, a long time ago when music came on these 12" diameter black vinyl discs that, believe it or not sounded BETTER than CDs when handled with a modicum of respect.
Click to expand...

Hmm.. I can't seem to find any codecs on the internet to make my media player run this "vinyl" file format. Where do I download them from?
 
DTWDSM said:
About 8 or 9 years ago I came in to the store early before we opened and found one of my framers cutting them up and drilling a couple holes into them.

That's right, he was making bongs out of them.

Sure he was recycling the tubes but, he was no longer employed after that morning.
Click to expand...

He TOLD you what he was doing with them?? was he stoned at the time??
 
Bogframe said:
Four words: Your ears are anaolgue.:kaffeetrinker_2:
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I'm not so sure about that. The cilia in the cochlea take the physical vibrations of the tympanic membrane and convert them to electrical impulses for the nerves to carry to the auditory cortex.

Soooo, your ears are more like modems than analogue sound devices.
 
Bob Doyle said:
I'm not so sure about that. The cilia in the cochlea take the physical vibrations of the tympanic membrane and convert them to electrical impulses for the nerves to carry to the auditory cortex.

Soooo, your ears are more like modems than analogue sound devices.
Click to expand...

Yes, but are those electrical impulses switching completely on and off, or are they continuous, simply varying in frequency or amplitude? I side with Seth, that sound is essentially an analog phenomenon, and any attempt to digitize it (making a smooth curve into a zigzaggy curve) is going to result in some loss, however subtle. This may involve subtle overtones or other elements of timbre that effect our psychological response to the music. On the other hand, by the time sound is pressed into a vinyl record it has usually been equalized and compressed in various ways to make it suitable for usable grooves, or for other reasons. So what, really, is the "normal" or "standard"?
Personally, to my (almost) 53-year-old ears, vinyl sounds warmer and a bit less harsh. The tradeoff is surface noise and less convenient precise track access, as well as having to copy in real time for transfer to other formats.
:cool: Rick

P.S. do you realize that this thread has now morphed from spacer tubes to Eustachian tubes, and possibly vucuum tubes?
 
Rick Granick said:
Yes, but are those electrical impulses switching completely on and off, or are they continuous, simply varying in frequency or amplitude? I side with Seth, that sound is essentially an analog phenomenon, and any attempt to digitize it (making a smooth curve into a zigzaggy curve) is going to result in some loss, however subtle. This may involve subtle overtones or other elements of timbre that effect our psychological response to the music. On the other hand, by the time sound is pressed into a vinyl record it has usually been equalized and compressed in various ways to make it suitable for usable grooves, or for other reasons. So what, really, is the "normal" or "standard"?
Personally, to my (almost) 53-year-old ears, vinyl sounds warmer and a bit less harsh. The tradeoff is surface noise and less convenient precise track access, as well as having to copy in real time for transfer to other formats.
:cool: Rick
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Play the CD of Dark Side of the Moon on a good vintage system through HPM-100s or Klipschorns then play it again from the vinyl. You'll hear the difference. Better dynamics, warmer tones, etc. you can't heat 1s and 0s; you CAN hear a sine wave. Just remember to clean the record with a piece of spacer tube covered with a (slightly) dampened piece of velvet first.
BedroomRig.jpg
 
Seth, Wheres the 8 Track player????

Pamazon, have you ever talked with a bong smoker...usually not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Bob, Have seen them and would recognize most I would guess. Never inhaled. We actually have an oriental gift shop in our mall that sometimes has water pipes for tobacco for sale occasionally, my guess is that they never see tobacco.
 
A new business just opened in town, and I'm dying of curiosity: "Caterpillar's Hookah Lounge".
A hookah lounge?? What the heck do they smoke in there?? Right on the main street, next door to the coffee bar. A big ol' hookah's sitting in the front window and there are large pillows all over the floor, and the wondows are draped with big billowy fabric.

I've gotta go check it out one of these days. I wonder if they inhale??
 
Don't drink the water...


:vomit:
 
Oh yeah....heh-heh....you've done that too, eh, Dave?
I mean - I hear it's nasty.

ACK!!!
 
DTWDSM said:
Seth, Wheres the 8 Track player????
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It's above the equalizer and Pioneer CT-F950 Cassette deck, to the right of the 1971 Craig belt-drive turntable and to the left of the Pioneer RT-909 Reel-to-Reel, Pioneer TX-8800 Tuner and Pioneer SA-9800 amplifier, of course! There are also two Pioneer HPM-100 Speakers in this setup too. All analogue, no digital stuff in this setup!
 

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Val said:
A new business just opened in town, and I'm dying of curiosity: "Caterpillar's Hookah Lounge".
A hookah lounge?? What the heck do they smoke in there??
Click to expand...

We have one of these in an upscale section of town. They feature middle eastern food and belly dancers.
They sell and smoke flavored tobaccos in the hookahs.
 
Well I came to the party a bit late. I'm not sure if we're still talking about tubes. Anyway, the really big ones (4"+) I cut to a set length for 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 photo frames. So when I have a short, I hold it up to the tubes and drop it in the tube that is closest to the right highth. The idea is that when the tube is full, its time to make photo frames. Well that didn't happen and now I need more tubes.

Carry on.
 
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