The real gem on this site is the Make Pipe Minis! What a great way to prototype your idea before committing to the real build.

https://makerpipe.com/collections/modular-pipe-fittings/prod...

edit: I did not even see when I posted this that they had made this open source with the downloadable STL to print your own connectors. Great move on them!

I remember seeing their booth at the Orlando Maker Faire years ago. Metal pipe was a bit too expensive for my budget but I was still inspired by their display and started using PVC and custom 3D printed connectors in my gardening projects.

I love how much work they've done on connectors. In my experience with PVC, one of the biggest hurdles to making interesting projects is finding prebuilt connectors for anything besides simple 90-degree angles. It makes sense given that most PVC projects are for construction rather than hobby projects, but it's still annoying.

Having pre-drilled screw holes is also a nice bonus.

EMT conduit isn't a great support material if you're handling human weight loads. The picture on the front page showing off the strength is visibly bending. It's kind of an awkward load profile, lower weight like an awning you're probably using ABS, higher weight you're using 1 1/4" system like steeltek or keeklamp

The "discounted" bundle is such an anti-pattern. I'm saving the price of one fitting, out of 20. So if the bundle has even one fitting that I have no use for, the whole deal falls apart, and I should have bought them individually instead. Anyone with the volume to make use of all connectors would probably want to negotiate a better deal anyway.

How does this compare to "80/20" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-slot_structural_framing ?

(At a past startup, we used 80/20 for the structure of our factory stations. We were very happy with how 80/20 was easily adapted during prototyping and testing, and then our final station design could be replicated quickly stateside to several stations, then disassembled into a few assemblies for flight, reassembled at the factory in Asia, and hold up well in production, and it also looked professional for demos. A lot of that success was due to the know-how and effort of our mechE, but, IMHO, 80/20 is appealing to people who grew up with Lego-like toys, and even I, primarily a software person, felt I could do useful things with it and some basic tools.)

Anyone interested in heavier duty may appreciate Kee Klamp.

For example: https://keesystems.com/product-category/fittings/kee-klamp/?...

Not quite the same, but EMT conduit is very popular for shade structures at Burning Man and similar events. You can get fittings that will hold up very well in windy conditions (if properly secured) https://formandreform.com/blackrock-hardware/

As a cheap and quick alternative for making simple structures, my dad used to join pieces of conduit by flattening the ends in a vise and drilling holes for bolts and nuts.

Are these elements friction-fit? That seems to be a majorly bad idea if you want to handle loads, especially if you want these fixtures to be permanent. A speck of grease or oil could make your structure collapse.

Doubly bad, the friction seems to be created by screws that can get loose with time/ not be tightened with the proper torque.

Also, an Europe specific thing (I think), is that we don't use metallic pipes for electric wiring, we use PVC.

Neat idea!

In college I hung blackout curtains in my dorm room with conduit - IIRC it was maybe $5 for a pipe that was longer, sturdier, cheaper, and less annoying than the typical telescoping curtain rods (where the curtain always gets caught up on the telescoping edges as you open it).

I also love that you can add structural bends with readily available (and relatively compact) conduit bending tools. Gotta love economies of scale.

Ah, piping, all about moving something from A to B. Has anyone else read Leslie Claret's classic text "The Structural Dynamics of Flow"? I got the chance to hear him speak, once. It was riveting: "Hey, let me walk you through our Donnely nut spacing and cracked system rim-riding grip configuration. Using a field of half-seized sprats and brass-fitted nickel slits, our bracketed caps and splay-flexed brace columns vent dampers to dampening hatch depths of 1/2 meter from the damper crown to the spurv plinth. How? Well, we bolster 12 husk nuts to each girdle jerry — while flex-tandems press a task apparatus of ten vertically composited patch-hamplers — then pin flam-fastened pan traps at both maiden apexes of the jim-joists."

EMT is pretty flimsy stuff, why would you build anything with it when extruded aluminum and strut channel exist? Or even RMC, it’s much stronger than EMT. I know it’s a cost thing, but use the right material for the job.

There’s absolutely no way I’d trust a desk made of EMT, if someone leans on it too hard it will crumple immediately.

Awesome, but what does 1'' mean? Some weird measurement unit?

They also provide cad models for some of the connectors which I found very useful: https://connect.makerpipe.com/build-help/post/if-you-would-l...

I have been shopping for pickup truck bed organization racks that are in the thousands of dollars, but can never pull the trigger because they do not seem like they should cost that much. If I can design these to support the weight I need they will find their way in to the truck bed and my overlanding rig.

Last month I spent about 100 hours learning to MIG weld to create a giant mushroom art piece for a music festival. I had looked at Maker Pipe as an option, and it was very compelling. Slow and expensive shipping to Canada and the lack of discounting for large numbers of components pushed back. I would still love to try these, I just hope they manage to get distributors in markets outside the US.

This is super cool!

One of the most important lessons I've learned in all my time building things, is that it's very often the mechanical and physical construction that makes or breaks a project.

Electronics and software are pretty forgiving, but bad mechanical design directly translated to a bad product and a bad experience building it. I love to see progress in that aspect of DIY!

I know this is meant for EMT, but these look a lot like chainlink fence end-rail clamps which go for about $2.50 a piece. The post material (galvanized 1-3/4” pipe) goes for about $2.50 per foot, so those could be a reasonable alternative for when you can’t get easy access to EMT or maker pipe shipped to you.

Can you get them in Europe?

Don't often see product ad's getting to HN and not be flagged.

But have to say, not enough people know that products like this exist that can allow building something a lot cheaper than buying something pre-made.

Isn’t this just Flexpipe?

https://www.flexpipeinc.com/us_en/

I can vouch for this stuff, used some for a railing system for a ebike trailer that handled some abuse.

I would love to have these for several projects, but I need it for 2" pipes.

Any ideas who might have them?

What's the advantage of metal pipe over treated wood?

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