[Toktorill]

I want to have one of these so bad, but I dont have the space. Is there a way I can scale it down to a size that wold work for my space i have?

"Want one so bad"... yeah, I can relate to that! I wanted to make one of these 8 haunts ago. Oh well! Regardless, here's the basic dimensions I used- a 3' wide bridge (for wheelchair accessibility) 1.5' off the floor, and an 8' tall tunnel (25' of PVC per ring). This left about 7' of distance from where people were walking to the top of the ring- so a 6' tall guy like me just has to reach up and touch the driving pipe. The entire thing stands about 9' off the floor. It was pretty small as it was.

I was able to push the PVC together with 2 pieces (20' worth), so you should be able to scale this to just about anything. Doing it 2/3rd size would give you a bridge height of 1', width 2', with a 5.5' tunnel (17' of PVC per loop). But this all depends on the amount of space you have to work with. I guess.. take the ceiling height, knock off half a foot and break out the calculator? If length is an issue as well, it will do wonders to put in mirrors on each end, to give an "endless tunnel" spinning tube.

Terrormaster: I LOVE the spider idea! One of my haunters was pushing for a pirate theme next year, so I thought "walking the plank" into a VT with bubbles and fish would be interesting, leading into an underwater scene with a boat bottom on the ceiling, fish mobiles, etc. Oh, damn... ideas for next year already! arrah!

EDIT: Sorry it took awhile, but I finally got a little video of the tunnel in action! Please, no jokes about my Eh's and Aboot's. I'm Canadian. I apoligize.

 

[tot13]

Does the PVC for the three rings have to be "formed" before they can be used, that is, pre-bent or pre-curved?

 

[tot13]

Does the PVC for the three rings have to be "formed" before they can be used, that is, pre-bent or pre-curved?

Bump

 

[Toktorill]

Does the PVC for the three rings have to be "formed" before they can be used, that is, pre-bent or pre-curved?

The beauty of the 1/2" PVC with the flanged/slip-fit [what DO they call those???] ends is that you only need to shove one end into the other to make a giant hula hoop, then your good to go. We didn't use any heating, bending, adhesives or fasteners- other than duct tape to fasten the bamboo and poly to the conduit.

As for the number of pieces, we did experiment a little. Just using two 10' pieces (6' wide loop) was very rigid, while three 10' (10' high tunnel) started getting a bit wobbly. Cutting the third piece in half to give 25 total feet for our 8' tunnel was the perfect balance.

 

[steampunk1809]

greetings. great project. i'm gonna give it a try. there are a couple of things i want to clarify.
1. the tunnel just sits on the drive pipe right? so the friction from gravity alone is enough to tun the tunnel?
2. did you put the plastic on the PVC before or after you made the hoops? i assume after. any tips on that process?
3. after completion, when you slowly powered the drill up to speed did you have it running full tilt or somewhere below full RPM? (i'm working on ideas for a quieter drive engine)

i'm sure i'll have other questions and i'll post any thing new i come up with. excellent job by the way.

 

[Screaming Demons]

steampunk1809: I am working on one of these myself and will chime in, if you don't mind. Our Canadian friend hasn't posted much lately, but I can't wait to see what he's been working on.

1. The weight of the rings and plastic sheeting is enough to create enough friction for the pipe to turn the whole thing.
2. I put the plastic on after putting the rings together. I can't imagine doing it before. There is no way you would be able to close the rings up and brace them, which is needed to hold the rings together/apart and hold the plastic taut.
3. I'm going a different way with the power but I think the weight will require almost full power while the slippage of the rings will lessen the load a bit. This is probably one of those situations where every one built will be considerably different.

Hope that helps. And thanks to Toktorill for coming up with this idea and sharing it with us.

 

[steampunk1809]

thanks for your input. i was thinking of trying a box fan motor. my build only needs to run for an hour max and they are cheap enough that i don't care if it burns out. i watched the video again and it didn't seem like the drill was turning at max speed but that doesn't mean that it wasn't trying to. what kind of engine are you using?

i'm working on a materials list right now. the original design used some sort of bamboo stakes for the 5' horizontal braces on the tunnel. i assume pvc will work just the same. what are you using?

thanks.

 

[steampunk1809]

thanks for your input. i was thinking of trying a box fan motor. my build only needs to run for an hour max and they are cheap enough that i don't care if it burns out. i watched the video again and it didn't seem like the drill was turning at max speed but that doesn't mean that it wasn't trying to. what kind of engine are you using?

i'm working on a materials list right now. the original design used some sort of bamboo stakes for the 5' horizontal braces on the tunnel. i assume pvc will work just the same. what are you using?

thanks.

 

[Screaming Demons]

Don't laugh- I'm using the motor out of an electric lawn mower. I guess you can try it but I don't think a fan motor really puts out enough torque to turn something like this. If worst comes to worst on the big night I will have someone turn the whole thing by hand. It won't take much effort, and I read somewhere where someone did this after they had problems with their motor.

 

[steampunk1809]

hey that's not a bad idea. use what you've got, that's my motto. that thing probably has a throttle on it too. i was thinking the same thing about the fan. i know it spins fast enough but i wasn't sure if it would get bogged down by the weight. i plan to scrounge around for a cheap used fan to give it a test. i'll post my final engine when i get it figured out.

i've just been building motion sensors. they go 8' plugin cord, sensor, 8' cord 2 socket outlet. after i had finished them i though "man, i could have just stuck the sensor in the middle on an extension cord for the same effect." hindsight's 20/20.

 

[Toktorill]

Hey all. Thanks for answering those questions Screaming Demons, you were right on the money.

I only brought the drill to perhaps half its power- it was only turning the tube 4-6 times per second. Given how light the tube is its tough to tell if it would turn with just the force of a fan motor. Though a lawn mower might be overkill.

When we taped on the polyurethane we had one person feed it out from the center of the bridge, and two other people would pull it tight to the ends and tape them around. Packing and Duct tape both worked well for this. Duct will hold a little better, but packing pulls off easier at cleanup if you want to save your poly for next year. With one area taped down, we pushed the tube up a foot, and taped it again. Repeat 25 times and your done. After that we "wove" black fishing line back and forth on the inside from end to end, to help support the poly between hoops. We did all the painting "while rolling", but in future versions we may switch to neon poster sheets and clear tape.

The bamboo garden stakes were found at Wal-Mart. We used the 6' lengths and had them tied overlapping in the middle. The stakes were only 1/4-3/8" in diameter, and extremely light. I wouldn't use anything much heavier, as the added weight may pull your circle downwards into an egg shape, which would then resist being rotated. Which is also an issue we faced the first time we put our side supports on and "estimated" the spacing- the off-balance tube had a very visible limp. Yes, I admit- we took it apart at that point, measured, and re-assembled. Lessons learned.

Thanks for the questions. I'm a little out-of-season right now, but will answer any more you post- eventually.

 

[tot13]

Toktorill, thanks againi for posting your how-to onthe vortex tunnel. I plan to start construction this weekend, but I have a few questions for you.

Now that you've successfully built a vortex tunnel, is there anything you would do different to improve on the original design?

As for the length, would you consider making the tunnel longer or do you feel your original specs are best left as they are?

Thanks in advance -

 

[Toktorill]

Hey Tot13!

Looking back, I think there are a few things I would do a little differently. When I was shopping for wood I bought the very cheapest thing they offered -econostuds- then worked my plans around them. When I was building the bridge I used 1 and 1/2 8' studs (12' total), where using a 12' 2x8 or 2x10 might have been a better choice structurally. Just a quick check as I write this puts their price at $6.88 for a 12 footer, versus the $1.20 econostud (or $2.40 for for two studs overlapping in the middle). BUT, It was necessary to put the A-Frame truss on each side (doubling as a railing support) to compensate for the weakness of the studs. 2x8's for floorboards would probably have negated this need. Both methods would serve the purpose. I think it boils down to personal preference.

Using the old drill was a hack. I would have loved to have a silent, continuously-running motor assembly... but time was not on our side. My 10 volunteer friends, devoted wife and myself found ourselves with only 10 days of site access before we opened the doors to the public. The tunnel was only one prop in our "amusement park" (super-cheap 8' tall jack-in-the-box how-to coming one of these years!) Other than a few doodles, I didn't have a whole lot planned since it was only a week before getting the keys that we knew for certain that the haunt was a go. What would I do differently? TAKE THE TIME to design what I can be happiest with. That being said, we lucked out and I couldn't have been much happier with how the vortex turned out.

We were limited to keeping the bridge under 12', as we had to have the tunnel on the 3" PVC tube. I have been secretly plotting to double the tubes and bridges on our next haunt, to give 25' of walking distance. I felt using two tubes joined at the middle, with bridge legs and tube rollers in the middle and at each end. I once thought of tripling it, using axle joints on the driving tubes to zig-zag the tunnels so that someone at the start can't see end to end. I also pondered using 20' thick-walled steel pipe, but never bothered to source it or see if it wouldn't bend in the middle if supported on the ends. Mute points, as only the first option fit into my non-budget.

FOR THE RECORD, I don't think ANY haunt plans are best left "as they are". It's our duty as haunters to mutate, mangle and misshape everything we touch into a dark mockery of its previous form. :devil: I eagerly await seeing what darkness you spawn from my original creation... :zombie:

 

[tot13]

If you don't mind, three more questions.

First, I'm not quite understanding the following:
"To keep the tunnel in place, I found I only needed to cut 2 plywood rings. (remember the 1'x8' pieces left over from the deck?) I shoved these down the length of the pipe before screwing down the wheels on strapping, and screwed them in place with triangular cuts of 2x4. For pieces that small I found using the 3" screws in pre-drilled holes worked best."

And second, could you explain a little more about weaving the fishing line?

And last, were the bamboo supports on the inside or the outside of the three large rings?

 

[Toktorill]

First, I'm not quite understanding the following:
"To keep the tunnel in place, I found I only needed to cut 2 plywood rings. (remember the 1'x8' pieces left over from the deck?) I shoved these down the length of the pipe before screwing down the wheels on strapping, and screwed them in place with triangular cuts of 2x4. For pieces that small I found using the 3" screws in pre-drilled holes worked best."

Ouch, sorry about that. I bought 1/2" 4' x 8' plywood sheets for the floor. But, I was only making the bridge 3' wide, so after cutting a sheet I had a 3'x8' and a 1'x8'. From the 1'x8' I cut two 1'x1' squares, and trimmed them into a circle, adding a 3" hole in the middle for our drive pipe to go through, and triangles of 2x4 to hold them in place. Diagram time!

I used rollers to hold the drive tube in place on each end. In the model above I'm using wheels mounted to 2x4s on the top and bottom, but in my original the top wheels were bolted to a strip of metal. I put the wood circles on before holding the 3' tube down with the metal strap.

And last, were the bamboo supports on the inside or the outside of the three large rings?

I'll answer this first: We had the bamboo supports on the outside, then the 1/2" PVC rings, then the black poly, then black fishline on the inside. We couldn't put the bamboo on the inside of the rings, since they would catch on the driving tube. Likewise, the poly had to be on the inside, since we didn't want people seeing the rings or bamboo.

And second, could you explain a little more about weaving the fishing line?

The fishline was a shortcut to keep the black poly from drooping in the middle at the top- we were having "tape issues" in keeping it attached to the outside middle hoop and bamboo supports. I don't remember if we put holes in the poly at the ends to bring the fishline around the pvc hoop. We zig-zagged it back and forth so that the lines were a little over a foot apart in the middle, and as tight as possible. We didn't overlap or weave. Looking back, it will probably work better to reinforce the poly so it won't rip, poke a string through and tie it to the hoops and bamboo. Wow, the things you think of a year later! Doh!

 

[xxnonamexx]

www.haunteddeadend.com We built one 25ft long 10ft. tall. Photos and video on the site. We used electrical PVC 1.5" 3 to make the rings and a treadmill to make it spin.

 

[tot13]

www.haunteddeadend.com We built one 25ft long 10ft. tall. Photos and video on the site. We used electrical PVC 1.5" 3 to make the rings and a treadmill to make it spin.

Wow, that's a really great website! I tried to find the photos and videos you mention as I'm in the process of building a vortex tunnel myself. However, I wasn't able to locate either of them. Could you give me a hint or just provide links to the vortex video and pics themselves instead of the home page? Thanks in advance -

 

[steampunk1809]

i have everything ready to be assembled for my VT. the bridge is complete and waiting for final erection. (not quite something you can just build and store) the only thing that concerns me is that my drive shaft has a slight wobble to it but i won't be able to move it to it's haunt home for about 3 weeks. we'll find out then if it all works. everything has gone quite well on my build, praise be.

 

[Toktorill]

www.haunteddeadend.com We built one 25ft long 10ft. tall. Photos and video on the site. We used electrical PVC 1.5" 3 to make the rings and a treadmill to make it spin.

Beautiful website! And a gorgeous VT! Your photos and video (bottom of 2007 pics page, 12:00 in 2008 video, didn't watch 2007 vid yet) would make a wonderful how-to! I wish I had your space... and time... and budget.

On another note, I've had some PM's and emails about bamboo:

I pre-measured before assembling the hoops, to have equal spacing at five points. At each of these 5 points I used 4 pieces- 2 running straight across, and two arching out to make triangles. This made the tunnel very sturdy. And at $2/6 bamboo pieces (x20) and $3 per 10' length of PVC (x9), that made my tunnel structure worth... almost as much as xxnonamexx's first hoop.

For those that noticed: yes, that was a sketchup model. For people who love the program as much as I do, you can find some of my haunt models here.

Steampunk, that sounds great! I can't wait to see some pics!

 

[morbidmike]

great job on the clown tunnel from hellllllllllll