solid hdpe racks. Would you buy them?

[Pyroforfun]

We are working on a prototype rack made of solid half inch hdpe. We would like your opinions on this and if there would be a market for them. Our plans are to cut everything and pre drill all the attachment points. Provide stainless bolts and hardware for putting them together with a small tube of hdpe liquid resin weld if needed. Sending them as a kit you put together would help in shipping and labor, to bring the final costs to you down. I will post pics as we get moving but would sure like some input from all you guys. Thank you

[skibladerj]

I think the weight would be the over all factor. My only fear would be that an HDPE rack would weight like 150lbs.

[Midak]

I would love to see pics but as mentioned, weight plays a factor here but not for everyone.

[r1dermon]

depends on the price really. i know i can buy excals and screw them down to a board and have as good if not better a rack than racks made with wood plugged HDPE pipe.

plus it shouldn't weigh too much, ESPECIALLY compared with wood racks with the same amount of tubes. HDPE can be molded into fairly thin pieces for the base, except where the strength is needed specifically. if you provided a plastic base with premolded plugs that a consumer could just pop an hdpe pipe over with some "special" glue or whatever, that would be a seriously nice piece. or better yet, i'd pay a premium for the same type of base with threaded plugs that you could just screw the pipes on and off for transport purposes...chew on that one for a while.

[missinglink]

depends on the price really. i know i can buy excals and screw them down to a board and have as good if not better a rack than racks made with wood plugged HDPE pipe.

How true. I wish Jakes would sell those tubes by themselves. I have made some really nice light-weight angle racks using those. The base of the tubes creates a nice separation so it is easier to fuse and you can use a medium speed fuse to get nice timing.

[Pyroforfun]

depends on the price really. i know i can buy excals and screw them down to a board and have as good if not better a rack than racks made with wood plugged HDPE pipe.

plus it shouldn't weigh too much, ESPECIALLY compared with wood racks with the same amount of tubes. HDPE can be molded into fairly thin pieces for the base, except where the strength is needed specifically. if you provided a plastic base with premolded plugs that a consumer could just pop an hdpe pipe over with some "special" glue or whatever, that would be a seriously nice piece. or better yet, i'd pay a premium for the same type of base with threaded plugs that you could just screw the pipes on and off for transport purposes...chew on that one for a while.

Now thats a dam good idea... I could just make up a flat base with say 30 screw plugs. have the left and right sides set at and angle and you got an instant fan rack. I am making a call in the morning on this.

Weight on the rack we are doing will be less than the same rack made of good quality lumber. We have checked already it was not much less but it was less. By like 4 pounds.

[roreilly]

depends on the price really. i know i can buy excals and screw them down to a board and have as good if not better a rack than racks made with wood plugged HDPE pipe.

plus it shouldn't weigh too much, ESPECIALLY compared with wood racks with the same amount of tubes. HDPE can be molded into fairly thin pieces for the base, except where the strength is needed specifically. if you provided a plastic base with premolded plugs that a consumer could just pop an hdpe pipe over with some "special" glue or whatever, that would be a seriously nice piece. or better yet, i'd pay a premium for the same type of base with threaded plugs that you could just screw the pipes on and off for transport purposes...chew on that one for a while.

Now thats something id like to see, treaded tubes. Basically you would have one sold molded piece for the base, and it would have predrilled holes in it for various positions, and you just thread the tube into the hole about an 1 1/2 inches and that should be more than enough to hold the tube in place without the need for side supports. Maybe you could even do away with the wood plug on the tube, sicne the base and threading would act as a plug on the bottom of the mortar.

[wubby]

would the thread on the tube ever get stripped? (haven't ever used hdpe)
If so coul'd you have a metal thread on the outside of the tube that would screw into a base?

[roreilly]

would the thread on the tube ever get stripped? (haven't ever used hdpe)
If so coul'd you have a metal thread on the outside of the tube that would screw into a base?

yeah, you could probably do that, but it would most likely add a lot more to the cost. I’m sure you can thread the outside of a standard DR9 or DR11 tubes and it would still maintain its integrity, and last the lifetime of the tube.

[Pyroforfun]

Well guys this looks very promising so far, we are in the works now and have cad drawings in. We are working on a proto type now. Once we get it we will post pics. We will also be asking for a select few to test the heck out of them for us. The design we are working on will have a solid base and the plugs will thread into the pipe not on the outside. The plugs will be replaceable on the base just incase some one does cross thread one or if it was to wear out. Keep your eyes open for updates. I think this has alot of potential.