"See Thru Concrete - Almost Like An Actual Terrain Piece" Topic

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Doesn't that look like it would make a nice terrain piece?

I can almost see miniature figures of Nova and Brent crawling through those, as they look for Taylor.

I wish there was more inspiring cross-section artwork of hidden structures of that kind!

Dan

Go to the hardware store and make some out of PVC pipe.

I can almost see miniature figures of Nova and Brent crawling through those, as they look for Taylor

Ooooooh nice reference!

Looks like something from Mythbusters.

Interesting Him, I wonder how one would add something like that to a board?

This is insanely inspiring actually. I can see a 3D table made from sanitary tubing, worked open to enable moving figures and making a huge and multi-level dungeonlike maze. Maybe as part of a Mordheim or Necromunda table?

Oh dear. Must…not….expand…..thought…..

Yeah that looks sweet. Head off to a hardware store and get some PVC pipe as TK 421 has suggested. If you can get a clean cut through then there's your pipe. You could make a 3D D&D style gaming experience, only going up rather than sideways (or sideways too) Great idea, post pics when you get it done (or whatever you do)

A

Definitely non-trivial – unless you have access to a tablesaw.

Use vinyl rain gutters, not PVC pipe.

Hmm, I've never tried it but that would be a task indeed to cut reasonably consistently through so many pipes. The issue there is how to make/cover up any cuts that go wobbly. I'd probably get some form of cover strip that I could control to put over the pipe edge. So if you look at the image above, the connection band that goes around the pipe half way along, if you could replicate that along probably the top edge there (where the re-bar is exposed in the image) to cover it up for a consistent straight line. That would be easy to do I think.

For the bottom of the pipes, as its full of sewage etc couldn't you fill it with 'goo' of some kind and have it as a feature with it spilling over the bottom edge of the pipe? (all this assuming you make it in the same configuration as the pic above) That would/could hide a multitude of sins.

To be honest once you have cut through a Stanley/craft knife could be used to slice off the extra and work the edge to a relatively straight edge, even sanding too I expect. You could just do a couple of short pipe sections with some straight rooms so a bit like Space Hulk in a way, here's pics of the character Lee from Telltale's Walking Dead S1 game for the kinda thing I mean…

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OK, here's something I actually know about.

There are several methods for cutting PVC pipe lengthwise.

Table saw, band saw, hand saw (hacksaw or other), matte knife.

Using a table saw to cut something round and hollow can be dangerous (using a table saw can be dangerous). You want the blade high enough to not just be pushing up on the work piece (it's best if the cutting portion is descending) but not so high that it's too near your fingers. Of course a push stick can help, but a push stick can cause other hazards (such as not providing downward pressure to counteract the blade's upward force). Also, you want to keep the piece from rotating. If you construct an adequate jig, you can clamp the work piece in the appropriate fashion. Round stuff on a tablesaw is not for beginners! And round stuff wants to escape the jig. Be careful!

A vertical bandsaw can work, but as with any saw, a bandsaw is a dangerous tool. The foot can be used to keep the work piece from slipping somewhat, but you don't want to put excessive force on something round near a moving blade. Also, a thin blade will tend to flex, especially when engaged along a great deal of its length. PVC tubing leaves a nasty "sawdust" which tends to foul and unseat bandsaw blades. The first time you unseat a bandsaw blade can be a memorable experience. PING!!! Watch you don't overheat the blade by using too thin of a blade for too long of a cut. The first time you break a bandsaw blade is an even more memorable experience. PLANG!!! Be careful!

A handsaw may be your best bet (not a powered saw like a circular saw, and old-fashioned rip saw like grand-dad used to cut down the width of planks). Cut outside your body. Clamp the work. Don't trust the clamp to hold something round. A hacksaw works beautifully, but: a) the workpiece needs to be somewhat shorter than the saw opening, so you can move it, and b) just like the bandsaw, the tiny teeth will quickly fill up with PVC sawdust. Hell, a back saw (the one that came with your mitre box) works just as well with less flex and fouling, although you want to take that first motion on the draw, not the push, and don't put all your weight on it (plane perpendicular to side of cylinder, not a lot of surface area there). Be careful!

Finally, if you have a very sharp matte knife, a very strong wrist, a good vise and a straight edge, you CAN cut PVC pipe by hand. I don't recommend it, but it can be done. You will not be able to cut through in one stroke. Mark the piece, score it with the knife, and CAREFULLY make a series of ever-deeper cuts, until you have broken through the pipe wall. Cut outside your body. Use a vise. On a bench. Your femoral artery is just inside your knee. Don't try it squatting, on your lap, on top of a bucket or any other silly way I've tried it in the past. Think through the entire process before you start, and don't do it while you're alone. Have a spotter, even if it's just a beer-guzzling heckler, as long as he shuts up while you're actually working.

BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL!!! Once you have broken through the sidewall of the pipe, it will be harder to clamp, and will respond in unexpected ways, as you attempt to re-clamp it to make your second cut.

You can smooth the edge with emery paper. USE A SANDING BLOCK! Again be very careful. Freshly cut PVC pipe wall is very sharp! Don't run your finger along the edge to test the edge! You will slice yourself. Trust me, I've done it.

I'm sure there are some youtube vids or DIY sites with better advice. Having cut a lot for electrical construction and building scenery, I've done it dozens of times.

Oh, and did I remember to say it enough? BE CAREFUL!!!

P.S. If you already know all this stuff then my apologies.

Oh, and Dan? Do be careful.

Great post grommet37

Maybe easier to use cardboard postal or poster tubes instead of PVC, just a thought. Much easier to cut and glue.

Also with this layout you are not limited to just two axis of movement, you can add a third direction axis taking up a whole table. Instead of cutting the side you can cut the top off like a conventional 3D dungeon when travelling on the third axis.

"The first time you break a bandsaw blade is an even more memorable experience"

it most certainly is!
I was 12
PLANG indeed!!

"Oh, and did I remember to say it enough? BE CAREFUL!!!
P.S. If you already know all this stuff then my apologies.
Oh, and Dan? Do be careful."

Dont apologize about safety concerns

5am here snd i wake up thinking about this thread…

Here's what you need, a tool at the right scale for the job

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You would be best to clamp the tubing (assuming you stick to plastic) However given that it may be tricky with a round object you could clamp the tubing by getting a piece of wood, put in two screws from the INSIDE of the tubing screwed through into the piece of wood. The wooden piece is then clamped leaving the tube free and proud of everything so that you can work on it.

Alternatively the cardboard tubing idea could really work. Working in our office with large A0 printers we do get the tubes left over when the paper runs out, these vary from a poultry 2" diameter through to a 4" diameter. If there's a printers or other graphics shop nearby pop in and ask if they have any. They will just go straight in the rubbish so that would be a free way to get your pipes. I'd still use the Dremel to cut them though or hand tools. I wouldn't go larger power tools due to the sledgehammer/nut = safety situation. You're making me want to take on this project now too darn it! (I think the dremel comes with a sanding head swap too so you could use it to make the plastic cut-edges safer too!)

Ewan,

I think that your open top idea is what what Javelin98 had in mind when he made this:

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TMP link

Dan

Yup thats what I was thinking, although I was thinking a little more open.

Myself and a few friends many, many moons ago planned a sewer game using the same principles and it was for a public participation sort of Necromunderesque gang game . We drew up a system that fitted on a 6 x 4 table and was three pipe levels high and it to explain simply wrapped itself around a box but it had some connecting tunnels/pipes that ran across the table. Part of one end had some street level details and part of a tower block with accessible floor levels and a moving elevator that went down to part of an underground car park and sewers below that. The middle section of the table had part of the mezzanine of and underground railway station and sewers. The rest had sewers and a secret lair.
Unfortunately the idea was there but the motivation to construct such a large model in the time frame allowed was not.

Another suggestion for cutting plastic pipe. Use a 4" disc cutter with a 1mm thick abrasive 'slitter' disc. All the safety issues mentioned by grommet still apply & I would recommend doing this in a well ventilated area as some plastics give off unpleasant fumes, but the tool itself is a lot more forgiving than using a table or bandsaw.
A small bead of molten plastic may build up along the cut but this can be easily removed with a file or emery cloth.

I third (or is it fourth, now?) grommet37's safety concerns. The chief factor (imho) is that the nature of the tube makes it want to squeeze/collapse into the kerf/cut, so that as the blade moves along the length the material will close in on itself: if the backside of a tablesaw blade is there, the PWANG you hear will be coming from your face as the tube (most likely in pieces) gets thrown up from the bed…not fun.

As an option to PVC (which I never liked working with…) consider using ABS (as from pg 3 of PDF link ). The walls are thinner and thus easier to cut with hand tools, and it bonds with the same cement/solvent used for acrylic and styrene – making it convenient when attaching other bits and bobs and greeblies. Granted it's much more expensive, but if the thickness/unworkability of the PVC makes the project dangerous/frustrating-to-the-point-of-impossible, then maybe the cash is worth it? dunno…just putting it out there.

In addition, there's all the other stuff in the range (caps, hemispheres, valves, etc…) that are made-to-fit and purposefully designed to create industrial models. I love to scratchbuild, but if I can pick it off a rack and use that time to roll dice instead…

As a further effort to Make-Neat-Stuff-While-Retaining-All-Original-Body-Parts, would putting the next-size-down PVC tube inside the part to be cut to act as an internal support? Think telescoping sections.
This might increase your cost as the internal tube will be cut in ways you might not desire, but better than risking the modeller's shrapnel scenario.

That could work, I think you'd have to pin through (using screws or something) the larger pipe to the smaller one to stop the larger one dancing about. You could easily fill on the holes after the work has been done. Great idea

I fifth grommet37's concerns. I'd actually wonder about using foam insulation tubing instead. It's still reasonably cheap, comes precut, and slices easily with a utility knife. You would need to brace it in the final setup because of a distinct lack of rigidity, but it could always be embedded into something else for stability.

Maybe print from 3d printer?