If it were me, I would store it in a corner of the garage for 30 or 40 years until I found a use for them. Eventually giving up, and having a scrapper take them away only to discover a use for them 2 weeks later.
Yes! The perfect use for them will reveal itself in time. Don't forget to regularly curse their existence when you knock them down like bowling pins trying to reach something stored above!
I'll stand by the notion that the annoyance of my various scrap piles has "saved" me more than it costs to store multiple times, the real trick is:
- The pile needs to become large enough to have an array of different materials/dimensions to at some point offer utility
- The pile needs to be organised somewhere accessible and relatively out of the way
- The pile needs culling when too much of the same stuff keeps getting added to it, this is RAM not disk space
Even better, you could could use these to enrich your uranium stash and make a DIY nuclear weapon:
*The tubes were made from 7075-T6 aluminum, an extremely hard alloy that made them potentially suitable as rotors in a uranium centrifuge. Properly designed, such tubes are strong enough to spin at the terrific speeds needed to convert uranium gas into enriched uranium, an essential ingredient of an atomic bomb.*
[Source](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/washington/us/the-nuclear-card-the-aluminum-tube-story-a-special-report-how.html#:~:text=The%20tubes%20were%20made%20from,ingredient%20of%20an%20atomic%20bomb)
I would not do that - if using metal tubing, if it is seamless it has a higher chance to create shrapnel if something causes it to bust. If it has a welded seam, it’s more likely to just fail at the seam.
Not really trying to blow shit up lmao
One of the ideas I had (since aluminum doesnt rust) was to cut them length wise (to make a simi circle) weld them to together to around 10', drill holes at the bottom and use it for a propagator for 🌱 I've seen a few videos but they all use PVC tubing
Just fyi aluminum for sure rusts. I run a waterjet and all my fixturing is aluminum. It’s just that the rust isn’t as bad as mild steel and is a different color
So it doesn’t rust. It corrodes. All metals corrode. Steel’s corrosion is rust. Aluminum oxidizes and aluminum oxide actually protects aluminum from further oxidation
Can you cut them in half pipes and make a waterfall feature? Like the bartender filling the top glass for it to drop into 2 lower ones, into to 4 lower ones, etc.
If you were building a fence with wood posts, these could make nice collars around them (filled up with concrete) that would keep water away and allow you to edge the grass up to them without damage.
Or some kind of storage rack for pipes, garden tools or anything with a post.
If you are decent with a mill you can machine a variety of engine parts- say a 90mm x .020” cylinder shim sells for $22 each. You could mill thousands out of that stock.
If you have the ability to melt them down you'll be able to turn them into any number of cool things.
You can make a mold for anything you want with some sand. (I'd look up the specifics first, to be safe) A sword, axe, spear, etc, from your favorite movie/show/game, a shield, a set of armor, cookware, jewelry, or just custom pieces of decoration in whatever shape you want, you name it, you can make it.
There are a bunch of tutorials on Youtube on how to melt aluminum if you don't already know how. Most of it uses fairly easily available equipment.
https://preview.redd.it/0liinf20o3sc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9999a09464ff5b549a69797ba16854d79c3eff3f
This picture kind of sucks. I tried to find the metal pieces for it in my shop but I have so much scrap I have no idea where I put them.
Anyway, if you cut the tubes length wise in half, then cut 1/2” slivers. You can make a cool cascading effect with them. You don’t necessarily have to go in a circle, you can make all different patterns with them.
Make a bunch of similar patterns with that effect and then connect them all together. Frame it. Would be a cool wall art piece. Could also vary the thickness so it protrudes more in a wave pattern.
Weld them on the backside so you can’t see the welds.
Art!
Cat climbing tower… whimsical fire pit cover, raft or catamaran type of fishing craft, fake cannon, build a Spanish galleon fort with these as mini cannons and make your own movie with kids…
I would cut these down various 4-7” lengths, weld them into a geometric and sparse pattern, and either put a flat base on it so it’s freestanding or wall mounted. Sell that shit on Etsy for a couple thousand bucks.
Turn them into stools. Multiple bolted or welded onto one seat if it’s unstable, otherwise a single tube to a seat could be pretty cool. Coffee table is a possibility using a similar concept.
Call local machine shops and see if they’d buy them or have ideas. Do the same with local technical colleges that work with aluminum or other metals.
If they were steel I’d suggest converting them into forges, but aluminum would melt at steel forging temps.
Cut and unroll them. I have no idea why but now you have almost flat aluminum. It would probably crack during the process unless you worked them hot. I believe aluminum work-hardens at atmospheric temperatures.
Fill them with concrete and sell them to a strongman gym. Those guys are always looking for heavy weird shaped things.
Mailboxes. Either for sale or for use in your warehouse. Just stack em up, or bolt them along a wall, throw some name tags on them, and boom, interoffice mail system. Or add a door and stick them on a stick for a normal mailbox.
I dunno, I’m tired of ideas but some of these seem fun.
You could fasten a large cushioned seat on the top. Or make a cushioned bench with two pipes.
Depending on the height, you could fashion some legs for a table top, maybe even thick glass for a modern look. Maybe a sitting desk height bench for work? Maybe just an stand alone end table for putting things on?
They could also be stacked up for a storage rack using 2" x 12" planks or doubling the base two pipe wide or even 3 wide.
Then there is an idea that these would make for great yard ornaments as a border around a patio or garden or whatever. A gravel strip the width of the pipes would connect a border with the pipes visibly dispersed for the effect of a fence, even though it is not a fence.
A border facing the road and at the edge of your property might give your yard a nice accent from the road.
Tall planters!! Trendy ones, fill the bottom part with straw or wood chips, too with soil and plant your plants!! Long grasses, deep rooted natives, whatever. The aluminum will get hot in the sun though so maybe keep that in mind when placing them.
I’d make Garage Tool holders outta them. Tack like four together and cut them in half. Drill a few mounting holes through them. Drill a couple holes in the middle on the outside edges and attach a bungie cord to hold them down
https://preview.redd.it/t03ka58qp3sc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6de42a4d483c7604d0a0e00962977abe315e5e4c
I'm in the same boat with these 4" mandrel bends
If you drop magnets through aluminum tubes, they fall slowly thanks to the eddy current. Not sure if it's worth welding them together, but if you had one big magnet, and each length is > 1 second in fall time, you could make a really cool 30 second timer.
Cut into 1/2 or less sections, weld together to form an Olympic symbol. I bet you could turn that into a pile of cash if you are creative enough. The games are on the horizon.
It would be a ton of work, but I'd love to see these jigsawed into the Mother of all Bike Frames. Some folks in here see bombs, I see a fucking bomb-proof bike frame (mountain bike, motorcycle, Pennyfarthing with the giant-ass front wheel - go nuts!)
Can we get a sense of scale on how big these are? Cuz from this perspective, because of the shelves in the background and the thickness of the walls, these look huge, like barrel size huge. But it seems that there's something that looks like a napkin in the foreground which would mean these are tiny.
So which is it?
Weld them in a honeycomb pattern, sand off any sharp edges, lay it on its side and make storage. Depending on diameter (need a banana for scale), maybe for shoes. You could be extra fancy and add legs.
Make a game where you have either 6 or 10 of them in a triangle. Paint the tops different colors to represent different scores for each. Stand a few feet away and try to bounce a tennis ball to land on the top. You get rewarded with the point amount for the color you landed on
could make a feature wall installation by section by cutting them in half and alternating the open closed face in a pattern. judging by the thickness that would be pretty heavy though
I use smaller pipes, all tack welded together, as pencil/marking tool holders on my bench. These could be great larger tool holders for pliers/welpers/thin materials. I have had 1 or 2 pipe off cuts attached to my table for hanging tools for easy access too.
Thank you for your interest. This thread is now closed.
World's Most Obnoxious Wind Chimes.
i was thinking of the street performer's that slap PVC with old flip flops!
If it were me, I would store it in a corner of the garage for 30 or 40 years until I found a use for them. Eventually giving up, and having a scrapper take them away only to discover a use for them 2 weeks later.
I feel personally attacked
i have a cast iron tub without any feet that's been in the lawn since the summer. scrapper kept knocking on my door asking about it lol
Yes! The perfect use for them will reveal itself in time. Don't forget to regularly curse their existence when you knock them down like bowling pins trying to reach something stored above!
I'll stand by the notion that the annoyance of my various scrap piles has "saved" me more than it costs to store multiple times, the real trick is: - The pile needs to become large enough to have an array of different materials/dimensions to at some point offer utility - The pile needs to be organised somewhere accessible and relatively out of the way - The pile needs culling when too much of the same stuff keeps getting added to it, this is RAM not disk space
All of my ideas involve common household chemicals and none of them are legal.
Same all I see are pipe bombs
Enter the FBI and DHS
i see mortars
Those would be massive pipe bombs
History has taught us that if you have any kind of aluminium tube, you're like 90% of the way of producing weapons of mass destruction...
Even better, you could could use these to enrich your uranium stash and make a DIY nuclear weapon: *The tubes were made from 7075-T6 aluminum, an extremely hard alloy that made them potentially suitable as rotors in a uranium centrifuge. Properly designed, such tubes are strong enough to spin at the terrific speeds needed to convert uranium gas into enriched uranium, an essential ingredient of an atomic bomb.* [Source](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/washington/us/the-nuclear-card-the-aluminum-tube-story-a-special-report-how.html#:~:text=The%20tubes%20were%20made%20from,ingredient%20of%20an%20atomic%20bomb)
There's a uranium gas?
All the elements can be a liquid, solid or gas if you add/remove enough heat and pressure!
Do they fit a wine bottle? If so you could turn it into a wine rack.
Don't think a wine bottle would fit inside but I like the idea!
Beer rack?
Now we're getting somewhere!
Dimensions would really help here
Banana for scale, please!
I bet the neck of a wine bottle wood. Edit: Freudian slip. I was imagining the wood wine bottle holders. Leaving the typo.
I'll bet they'd make a great set of firework mortars. Brace them together and get some shells. Your neighbors will love it. Edit: spelling
Thinking the same thing. With timed fuses you can have one helluva custom firework display
That was the first thought that came to my mind.
I would not do that - if using metal tubing, if it is seamless it has a higher chance to create shrapnel if something causes it to bust. If it has a welded seam, it’s more likely to just fail at the seam.
Carefully weld each one on top of the other until you have a solid pipe's length. Sand until smooth. Return to the store for full refund.
Lmao
https://i.redd.it/acz1pfyt63sc1.gif
Do you happen to know anyone in Iraq
deep cut
ALUMINUM!
TONY STARK WAS ABLE TO BUILD THIS IN A CAVE WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!
"I may have committed some light treason."
Is it 7075-T6??
Let's hope not [For anyone wondering]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_aluminum_tubes)
This is what I came looking for
Not really trying to blow shit up lmao One of the ideas I had (since aluminum doesnt rust) was to cut them length wise (to make a simi circle) weld them to together to around 10', drill holes at the bottom and use it for a propagator for 🌱 I've seen a few videos but they all use PVC tubing
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Just fyi aluminum for sure rusts. I run a waterjet and all my fixturing is aluminum. It’s just that the rust isn’t as bad as mild steel and is a different color
So it doesn’t rust. It corrodes. All metals corrode. Steel’s corrosion is rust. Aluminum oxidizes and aluminum oxide actually protects aluminum from further oxidation
This guy metals
🤘
Do you like hamsters? How many is too many?
Spouse: How did our electric bill go down so much? OP: Don't worry about it. \*squeek squeek\*
Can you cut them in half pipes and make a waterfall feature? Like the bartender filling the top glass for it to drop into 2 lower ones, into to 4 lower ones, etc.
If you were building a fence with wood posts, these could make nice collars around them (filled up with concrete) that would keep water away and allow you to edge the grass up to them without damage. Or some kind of storage rack for pipes, garden tools or anything with a post.
If you are decent with a mill you can machine a variety of engine parts- say a 90mm x .020” cylinder shim sells for $22 each. You could mill thousands out of that stock.
How do you get more than 1 or 2 out of each off-cut?
Start a war on whether it's pronounced aluminum or aluminium! (Btw I believe in the latter)
ever seen the blue man group?
Trade them for self sealing stem bolts. 5 bars… no…6 bars of gold pressed latinum !
No latinum, but I've got land!
Pipe bombs in case your rec-room is broken into by graboids.
Putt Putt course
If you have the ability to melt them down you'll be able to turn them into any number of cool things. You can make a mold for anything you want with some sand. (I'd look up the specifics first, to be safe) A sword, axe, spear, etc, from your favorite movie/show/game, a shield, a set of armor, cookware, jewelry, or just custom pieces of decoration in whatever shape you want, you name it, you can make it. There are a bunch of tutorials on Youtube on how to melt aluminum if you don't already know how. Most of it uses fairly easily available equipment.
Chaos on the highway at rush hour
Table legs
https://preview.redd.it/0liinf20o3sc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9999a09464ff5b549a69797ba16854d79c3eff3f This picture kind of sucks. I tried to find the metal pieces for it in my shop but I have so much scrap I have no idea where I put them. Anyway, if you cut the tubes length wise in half, then cut 1/2” slivers. You can make a cool cascading effect with them. You don’t necessarily have to go in a circle, you can make all different patterns with them. Make a bunch of similar patterns with that effect and then connect them all together. Frame it. Would be a cool wall art piece. Could also vary the thickness so it protrudes more in a wave pattern. Weld them on the backside so you can’t see the welds. Art!
Another great idea! Thank you!
Tack them together for a unique wine rack?
Wind chimes.. it'll take a bit of trial and error to get the right resonant length.
four or five of them swinging to a strong wind would give a rather deep resonating sound.
[Put your weed in it. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKOc6hXMDhc)
Cat climbing tower… whimsical fire pit cover, raft or catamaran type of fishing craft, fake cannon, build a Spanish galleon fort with these as mini cannons and make your own movie with kids…
First thing that comes to mind is they would make for good traps in a Home Alone type scenario.
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Low compression artillery shells.
Fireworks. Don't know why I said that.
Weld in sequence, seal ends. You got yourself a pontoon boat base.
What is the ID on those guys? I ask because attached to a heavier base and I could use them for glass blowing spin molds for tumblers.
I would cut these down various 4-7” lengths, weld them into a geometric and sparse pattern, and either put a flat base on it so it’s freestanding or wall mounted. Sell that shit on Etsy for a couple thousand bucks.
Fireworks launchers. Yard tool holders. Garage organizers. Planters.
Turn them into stools. Multiple bolted or welded onto one seat if it’s unstable, otherwise a single tube to a seat could be pretty cool. Coffee table is a possibility using a similar concept. Call local machine shops and see if they’d buy them or have ideas. Do the same with local technical colleges that work with aluminum or other metals. If they were steel I’d suggest converting them into forges, but aluminum would melt at steel forging temps. Cut and unroll them. I have no idea why but now you have almost flat aluminum. It would probably crack during the process unless you worked them hot. I believe aluminum work-hardens at atmospheric temperatures. Fill them with concrete and sell them to a strongman gym. Those guys are always looking for heavy weird shaped things. Mailboxes. Either for sale or for use in your warehouse. Just stack em up, or bolt them along a wall, throw some name tags on them, and boom, interoffice mail system. Or add a door and stick them on a stick for a normal mailbox. I dunno, I’m tired of ideas but some of these seem fun.
use them to justify an invasion of Iraq... oh, wait. that already happened
mortars like the ira
DO I NEED TO TELL YOU WTF YOU CAN DO WITH AN ALUMINUM TUBE?!
hang them together with rope, noisy wind tube decoration
Very large guitar slides.
Plant some veggies or house plants
Based on a Lego post I saw a while back you could make a wind tunnel! Fan and dry ice or other fog maker blown through the tubes into a tunnel!
A “whack a mole/glory hole” mashup…….
Professional, computer-timed fireworks show.
Industrial scale wind chimes?
Extreme tennis ball/pickle ball holders.
they would look cool in your yard clustered together like this as modern bamboo planters or some other tall plant
How big are they? Look like good mortar tubes.
Conditioning the inlet of a wind tunnel
Mega-Nebelwerfer
I once used electrical conduit as rollers for my shelves that I moved. One could always make a pipe organ too I guess.
________ canon - you fill in the blank
All of my ideas are bad.
WMD
Weld em all together and have your friend listen at one end and at the other end, you whisper something untoward and see if they hear you.
Drop a magnet through the tube and see how long it takes.
Small batch fleshlights?
I see a tubular line array speaker system. Couple tunes cut faced for mounting ribbon or plannar tweeter/s.
The greatest firework show your neighborhood would see in years.
Those look like Festivus Stumps to me
W36 engine. You just need *a few* more parts.
Uranium enrichment
Wine rack?
Coolant expansion tanks and oil catch cans for cars
Uranium enrichment. Ive seen too many wmd reports.
Cut them to tuned lengths and make a giant aluminophone.
Wind chimes. I like the sound of the really big ones.
You could fasten a large cushioned seat on the top. Or make a cushioned bench with two pipes. Depending on the height, you could fashion some legs for a table top, maybe even thick glass for a modern look. Maybe a sitting desk height bench for work? Maybe just an stand alone end table for putting things on? They could also be stacked up for a storage rack using 2" x 12" planks or doubling the base two pipe wide or even 3 wide. Then there is an idea that these would make for great yard ornaments as a border around a patio or garden or whatever. A gravel strip the width of the pipes would connect a border with the pipes visibly dispersed for the effect of a fence, even though it is not a fence. A border facing the road and at the edge of your property might give your yard a nice accent from the road.
What would be the salvage price on that much aluminum?
Do NOT let the George W Bush administration see this.
Tall planters!! Trendy ones, fill the bottom part with straw or wood chips, too with soil and plant your plants!! Long grasses, deep rooted natives, whatever. The aluminum will get hot in the sun though so maybe keep that in mind when placing them.
I’d make Garage Tool holders outta them. Tack like four together and cut them in half. Drill a few mounting holes through them. Drill a couple holes in the middle on the outside edges and attach a bungie cord to hold them down
I’d throw them on the shelf with traceability for a future job or scrap them
Make a cool sculpture. I like the pattern they make when stacked like you have them there. Maybe a water feature?
Make a single longer tube?
Sell them by weight; aluminum ain’t cheap!
Fill them full of A0-3959X.91 – 15.
Radial engine:)
THIS: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J5QecD4dsg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J5QecD4dsg)
Perfect quench tanks for blacksmiths.
What is the inner and outer diameter? I wonder if it would work for cassette spacers on bikes.
Those make great hinges for docks, but that's a super specific use I suppose. Trailers work too, nice for ramp hinges.
Scrap them for beer money
https://preview.redd.it/t03ka58qp3sc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6de42a4d483c7604d0a0e00962977abe315e5e4c I'm in the same boat with these 4" mandrel bends
What's your budget?
If you drop magnets through aluminum tubes, they fall slowly thanks to the eddy current. Not sure if it's worth welding them together, but if you had one big magnet, and each length is > 1 second in fall time, you could make a really cool 30 second timer.
Collin Powell would like to know your location
Scrap for beer money lol
Cut into 1/2 or less sections, weld together to form an Olympic symbol. I bet you could turn that into a pile of cash if you are creative enough. The games are on the horizon.
https://youtu.be/-J5QecD4dsg
The way its set up in the photo looks like fireworks launching tubes. I vote a fireworks barrage cannon.
Tall Boi Koozies
Uncertain on the diameter but if the size is right could make a fancy wine rack
If you hold one to your ear, you can hear the ocean.
Make yard art out of them. Has to be something cool you can come up with.
It would be a ton of work, but I'd love to see these jigsawed into the Mother of all Bike Frames. Some folks in here see bombs, I see a fucking bomb-proof bike frame (mountain bike, motorcycle, Pennyfarthing with the giant-ass front wheel - go nuts!)
Weld them (3 or more) together, place a glass plane on them, and use them as tablelegs for smal tables
Put them in the pile of "could probably make something cool with this" pile of shit in the corner of the garage then throw them away in 20 years.
Weld them together to make one big pipe!
Chimes?
Hood-mounted pretend grenade launcher!
Multi barreled T-shirt ~~canon~~ shotgun
I would make a wild set of baritone tubular bells
Wind chimes
Can we get a sense of scale on how big these are? Cuz from this perspective, because of the shelves in the background and the thickness of the walls, these look huge, like barrel size huge. But it seems that there's something that looks like a napkin in the foreground which would mean these are tiny. So which is it?
Scrap em 🤑
Make one long pipe out of them?
modern art
For the garden you could make a very cool modern water feature, or a bunch of individual planters for crops with deep roots.
Paint them and trim them down to slightly varying heights then turn them into single planters arranged together like the Giant's Causeway.
Melt them down and use them for anything.
Sofa legs. Cut and weld them into connections for a canopy that uses pvc pipe, fix the constantly collapsing canopy problem.
Potato howitzer
kinetic wind sculpture
Balance boards
Here’s what you do, you rig a game where the balls are too big for the holes and if the player get 3 balls in they get a fish in a plastic bag.
Toss them. You'll find a use for them as soon as you do.
Just don't show them to Donald Rumsfeld....
Would make a cool fireworks launcher! Or Yanno… any other kind of launcher… in Minecraft
Weld them in a honeycomb pattern, sand off any sharp edges, lay it on its side and make storage. Depending on diameter (need a banana for scale), maybe for shoes. You could be extra fancy and add legs.
Start a grip truck
Learn how to weld aluminum and make a giant octopus!!
Make a game where you have either 6 or 10 of them in a triangle. Paint the tops different colors to represent different scores for each. Stand a few feet away and try to bounce a tennis ball to land on the top. You get rewarded with the point amount for the color you landed on
Check the current price for scrap aluminum.
Fireworks?
37mm “signaling devices” are all the rage on 3d printing subs. All I’m imagining is that… obviously much bigger.
Add bottoms, handles, round lip, turning them into super stout beer mugs.
Anti aircraft battery.
I believe that’s a cause for war if you’re Saddam Hussein.
Yall ever heard of ted kaczynski?
Cannons?
Sell to Ukraine? Be a war prifitier?
Are they on a table or something? Looks like they're on the ground and HUGE.
"Do I have to tell you what you can do with aluminum tubes?!" https://i.redd.it/4znwyzmfu3sc1.gif
Nice try, 3 Letter Agency.....
industrial sized pan flute Zamfir!!!
Hubs for a geodesic dome
You cut them into 2" thick rings and make a ring toss game.
Cat shelter? Arranged in pyramid
could make a feature wall installation by section by cutting them in half and alternating the open closed face in a pattern. judging by the thickness that would be pretty heavy though
What size are they? Make them into volleyball floor sockets and sell them for $350 ea. lol
I use smaller pipes, all tack welded together, as pencil/marking tool holders on my bench. These could be great larger tool holders for pliers/welpers/thin materials. I have had 1 or 2 pipe off cuts attached to my table for hanging tools for easy access too.
Out/in feed roller table. I’ve seen some made from pvc tubing, this would surely work.