vortex tunnel

[jimmyfish]

Warning this will probably be a long one laff.

I am posting for a couple of reasons, fisrt to maybe give you an idea and second to get some input.

We have been banging our heads against the wall trying to figure out how to do a vortex tunnel without spending thousands of dollars and buying a ready made system. the rings seem to be the hardest part. We have thought about cutting out wood, having pipes bent ect.

I think we may have found our rings. We gor some giant steel (I think) reels like the power co. uses for wire to spool on. These things look like ferris wheels for the kids. They are kind of heavy and made of maybe 2 inch tube, the outer rings are perfectly round and we are planning on cutting the spokes of to make 4 rings. Only thing is they are heavey as I mentioned and would not fit into bike rims.

Any one tried these or have any tips before we start building.

[thehauntedhollows]

There is a lot of info about making vortex tunnels on the cheap.

Scary Terry does a good job:

http://www.scary-terry.com/vortex/vt.htm


These sites also made their own:

http://www.travellingfeetz.com/2006/...ex-tunnel.html

I'm in the process of making a tunnel and I used the method above for making the rings- it takes a lot of time and can go wrong in many places, but it seems to be working for me now.


And when it is time for you to get the fabric for the tunnel, there is a thread on this forum that will give you a lot of info about it.

http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_ho...ghlight=vortex

[jimmyfish]

tunnel update

Thanks for the reply and info. We almost have it done! We wound up getting some of those giant spindles the power company uses for big wire, it is some kind of iron/steel, we cut out the spokes and had 10 foot rings, they were too big to fit in big rims and probably to heavey and would have bent them.

I went to the Scary Terry site and it helped as we used the sit on the rollers methed with the tires on each side to hold the rings in place, worked perfect.

Now here is a new piece of info for you. For the motors my cuz came up with using those conveyer belt walking machines, we had to use 2 for each tunnel section, but it works! We are doing 2 8 foot sections divided, so we had to have 4 of those machines. Not sure how they will hold up, but I have never heard anyone using this method.

We have the bridge and rails built and used a bunch of old mirrors he have collected. Just putting on the fabric, which is a roll we had that is used for under couches, but seems to look decent and work well.

Have not fired it up with black lights yet.

[HauntedDeadEnd]

www.HauntedDeadEnd.com we used the treadmill as the motor. We built a 25ft. Vortex. We uses Electrical PVC piping bent and used plumbers glue to keep them together so we ended up with 3 10ft. rings plastic which is light. We also purchased a Huge tarp from ebay and spray painted with flourescent colors, We also built the bridge out of wood and mounted 4 3 ft blacklight tubs on each side to the bridge facing out towards the fabric. We used 1 Treadmill that has variable speeds. We have done it this way for 2 years, We used bike rims and it worked flawlessly.

[shawnc]

www.HauntedDeadEnd.com we used the treadmill as the motor. We built a 25ft. Vortex. We uses Electrical PVC piping bent and used plumbers glue to keep them together so we ended up with 3 10ft. rings plastic which is light. We also purchased a Huge tarp from ebay and spray painted with flourescent colors, We also built the bridge out of wood and mounted 4 3 ft blacklight tubs on each side to the bridge facing out towards the fabric. We used 1 Treadmill that has variable speeds. We have done it this way for 2 years, We used bike rims and it worked flawlessly.

That's a heck of a home haunt you've got going there!

What did you use to connect the PVC rings to each other?

[HauntedDeadEnd]

I used the PVC plumber glue the purple and the clear. I had a few of my friends help bend the pipe I believe they are 1.5" thick and we glued them and it works awesome.

[shawnc]

I used the PVC plumber glue the purple and the clear. I had a few of my friends help bend the pipe I believe they are 1.5" thick and we glued them and it works awesome.

Thanks but I meant those clamp things that attach the cross braces to the rings. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

BTW, if you glue the rings together what do you do with them at the end of the season? Do you have somewhere with a door wide to store them or do you just throw them away and make new ones the following year?

[HauntedDeadEnd]

We store them flat in my backyard. We used metal steel rods to link the rings together.

[thehauntedhollows]

Your haunt looks awesome, Dead End. Very well made.

What type of fitting do you use to hold the pipes together? Is it a coupling that goes inside the pipes?


I have tried wood and metal pipes so far, couple hundred dollars, and ALOT of time, finally I see PVC pipes being the answer.

Thanks

[Coasterbp]

How did you bend your PVC pipes to the precise radius? I tried to do it myself, but the rings weren't perfect enough....

[HauntedDeadEnd]

We had a few guys help bend it, one guy would put the glue in it and then we would all push it and hold it a few so the glue dries up and when completed it was a perfect circle.

[jimmyfish]

tunnel

It is done and working! I had to see it to believe it. It is actually powered by 4 treadmills. They had a hard time with it kicking breakers, so they have it hooked up to a generator, but it works and keeps on turning with no glitches.

[The Asylum House]

We used a hybrid of the scary terry plans, another one posted on haunted Illinois and some home made ideas thrown in....for the motor we went to Grainger. It took a few tries, but we eventually found a slow moving, high torque electric motor that wont kick your breakers. It was a little pricey, but has lasted four years so far on a pretty hefty setup of plywood rings and 2x ribs, and has never kicked a breaker. Would be glad to send you some pics.

Nat
Asylum House Productions,LLC
www.theasylumhouse.com
theasylumhouse@yahoo.com

[HauntedDeadEnd]

4 treadmills? we used 1 to power 25ft. vortex flawlessly.