Mysterious raids around the world

I was able to source a few of these from my local tinter who will now keep them for me, he also had a 6 foot (1800m) one which he says he doesnt use a great deal. These came with black sealed end caps that would make mounting these very simple.
A very nice find these especially for no cost
 
In the raids that have occurred to date some Red and Blue tubes have been liberated, these tubes were previously thought to be of a worthless nature and had been ignored
However as the following photo's show this may not be the case
 

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AussiePhil said:
In the raids that have occurred to date some Red and Blue tubes have been liberated, these tubes were previously thought to be of a worthless nature and had been ignored
However as the following photo's show this may not be the case
Click to expand...
Thanks Phil, I was not considering the colored tubes as they looked solid but now thanks to your photos they will look nice in some applications and will use the (now unwanted) white only lights.
Now I have to go back to the tint shops that had the red and blue tubes. :)
 
Slite said:
Though I dont think we have those kinds of businesses up here in the cold, dark north. But those tubes has to come from somewhere... :)
Click to expand...

http://www.sonoco.com/locations.aspx
Is one tube supplier I have found with a few phone calls working backwards thru the supply chain.
This company appears to make many different things. Appears to have locations everywhere, just a matter if they produce the tubes in your area.
I plan to find out if they produce the white tubes longer than 5', if so, whom (industry type) uses them. Will keep you posted on progress.
 
dropbear_luke said:
They are the empty rolls that window tintimg comes on. People are going to places like "tint-a-car", an aussie tinting shop and asking for the throw aways.
Click to expand...
Thanks,

I've checked my area and I'm finding 72" and word is the there may be 120" ones around.

Again, thanks for the heads up.
 
Bird said:
Slite said:
Though I dont think we have those kinds of businesses up here in the cold, dark north. But those tubes has to come from somewhere... :)
Click to expand...

http://www.sonoco.com/locations.aspx
Is one tube supplier I have found with a few phone calls working backwards thru the supply chain.
This company appears to make many different things. Appears to have locations everywhere, just a matter if they produce the tubes in your area.
I plan to find out if they produce the white tubes longer than 5', if so, whom (industry type) uses them. Will keep you posted on progress.
Click to expand...

Sweet! There is a Sonoco branch in a town just a hop and a skip away from me. (50 kilometers), need to contact them and see what they say! :)

/Stefan
 
I talked to a manufacture of these tubes.
They are made of polystyrene.
Manufacture representative said a good way to connect the tubes end-to-end is a product called MEK.

In trying to track down MEK, another company (that has MEK) said MEK will evaporate quickly and may not be the best product to use. This company suggested using IPS Weld-On 16 Cement.

IPS Weld-On 16 Cement
A clear and thick cement for industrial grade acrylic. Heavy-bodied solvent for quick bond. Cements styrene, butyrate, and other plastics. Use on irregular edges, especially when high-strength (not bubble-free) joints are required. Good outdoor weather ability.
 
So im wondering by using this glue/cement if it is just a case of butting the ends together and joining the lengths with the glue/cement, if this is the case them im now wondering how strong that join would be and how noticeable will the join be?
 
Bird said:
They are made of polystyrene.
Manufacture representative said a good way to connect the tubes end-to-end is a product called MEK.
Click to expand...

Hey Bird - Are you sure that it is polystyrene? Doesn't sound right to me, unless there are a lot of completely different forms of polystyrene?

FastEddy said:
So im wondering by using this glue/cement if it is just a case of butting the ends together and joining the lengths with the glue/cement, if this is the case them im now wondering how strong that join would be and how noticeable will the join be?
Click to expand...

With the star light boxes that I made out of perspex (acrylic), I used a very liquid type of glue to weld the pieces together (doesn't really look like the links Phil has posted). To use this stuff, you put it into a little squeezie bottle that has a needle dispenser on it. You put the two pieces you want to join together, and then squeeze a little bit of the liquid right at the join. This gets sucked in between the two pieces, and then forms the weld join.

Apparently when the join is done properly, it is as strong as an original piece of acrylic. Would certainly be interesting to see how noticeable the join was with lights inside.

Here's a link to a video of a product like the one I used - shows very well how it works:

How to glue Acrylic


I'm going to pick up some tubes from a local tinter today - they said their longest ones were around 1830mm.
 
Steve22537 said:
Found this link, explains http://www.scandia-nh.com/polystyrene_tubing.php

We used to use chloroform in a glass syringe to join acrylic in the same way the video shows.
Click to expand...
You learn something everyday!

Having a bit more of a look, it seems as though what I generally think of Polystyrene is actually "foamed" polystyrene.... Jees, you would have thought I'd learn a bit more about it, seeing that I built my house out of insulated concrete formwork (polystyrene formwork blocks with reinforced concrete infill)

I am not sure if the "glue" I used to weld the perspex (actual acrylic) would actually work for this - might need more of a traditional glue like the ones Phil posted..
 
Has anyone had any goods ideas for what these could be used for? It seems like they may b too thick to bend in to candy canes or arches....
 
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