PVC Designer

Build a homemade water gun or water balloon launcher and tell us about it.
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Silence
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Post by Silence » Sun May 21, 2006 12:42 am

Unfortunately, the program crashed as soon as I ran it. Then, I ran it again, and it was fine. Strange...

However, thanks for adding all the things we mentioned (yes, Duxburian, he even added a metal ball valve :) ). There's a new straight piece that has a line through the middle; is this supposed to be a piston shaft or something? It's very cool. However, an O-ring/piston plunger that was just a line taking up no width would also be useful. Also, in the original, the "Special 2" menu had a thick gray line; it falls behind all the other types of sprites, so I just used it when I was experimenting to connect to an imaginary trigger, though I'd like to know what it is (especially because there's an identical metal piece now). In addition, could you add a T that has the middle fork at 45 degrees? That would make my signature PCgH/CPS/etc. homemade layouts easier to draw in this.

Excellent job! This is truly a powerful tool.

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wetmonkey442
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Post by wetmonkey442 » Mon May 22, 2006 12:49 am

Hmm...interesting. PVC ball valves are much cheaper here. I would assume that this is logical because metal costs more than PVC, but then again, perhaps metal is cheaper in NJ than CT. However, I find that I can get a good 1" PVC ball valve for about 7.50 at HD, and about 7 bucks at Lowes. It's why I don't use metal valves. Besides, once you work them in, and apply a bit of muscle, you can get the PVC ones to open pretty fast.

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Scavenger
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Post by Scavenger » Mon May 22, 2006 1:22 am

Yes, PVC ball valves are also cheaper here in OK. A one-inch valve runs at about $7.50, and a metal one is about $9.60 at Lowe's.

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Silence
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Post by Silence » Mon May 22, 2006 9:01 pm

@ Scavenger: That's not too big a price difference if you really want the performance boost. However, if metal ball valves are almost 3 times more expensive than PVC ones for wetmonkey442, then I can see why he likes the PVC ones more.

I'll go into Lowes initially looking for the metal type, but if it's way too expensive, I'll just use PVC.

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DX
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Post by DX » Mon May 22, 2006 9:45 pm

Don't forget that PVC valves kill battle practicality. You can't take good tap shots with them. The metal valves were designed to open and close fast. PVC ones can open fast, but you can't make swift open/close movements like with the metal. The metal valve's handle makes it a lot easier , compare the metal and PVC side by side to see why.

Lowes might be the reason the PVC valves are cheaper for you. I don't buy ball valves at larger stores because their prices tend to be higher. The local Sears and Home Hardware have better ball valves for cheaper prices. Also, my Lowes and Home Depot only go up to 1" ball valves. Home Hardware goes up to 4", both PVC and metal!
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SSCBen
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Post by SSCBen » Mon May 22, 2006 9:57 pm

Modify a PVC ball valve with a torque arm and lubricate them if you want them to open or close easier. The valve on Supercannon II opens and closes very easily after the torque arm was added. I saved some money over a metal ball valve (metal valves cost about 1.5 times as much here).

Regardless, metal valves and PVC valves open and close in about equal times for me. I'm not sure if I'm doing anything different than anyone else, but I don't see much difference between them aside from price and potentially durability.

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Silence
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Post by Silence » Mon May 22, 2006 10:02 pm

Ben wrote:Regardless, metal valves and PVC valves open and close in about equal times for me. I'm not sure if I'm doing anything different than anyone else, but I don't see much difference between them aside from price and potentially durability.
That's what I would have thought--if the designs are identical besides the material(s) used, then functioning (besides due to different material properties) should be identical as well. Originally, I had thought there was some spring mechanism in the metal types that required only light and quick force to open the valve, but since they must also be closed quickly, that wouldn't work--it would just make closing harder.

I'm thinking about taking a good look at a ball valve (either PVC or metal) and designing a new version that can open/close quickly either manually or electronically. After all, how hard is it to use a motor to turn a ball with a tube inside a valve? I should be able to find somebody to machine it or try to build one myself, though building one would probably call for the durability of metal...

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Silence
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Post by Silence » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:46 am

When you select the smaller PVC diameter sizes (1/2" or even 3/4"), they are shorter as well as narrower. It would be nice if the smaller sprites were the same length as the longer ones, while being narrower, so the diagrams don't always look disjointed and separated. I've been using thicker sizes and while pretending they're smaller to avoid this, but it would be nice to have long but narrow pieces.

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Lightbulb41
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Post by Lightbulb41 » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:21 am

This isn't a bad program... I just wish that It would come with more sizes and fittings. Also I agree with Silent guy's opinion on this topic. They should be uniform
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_Sniper_
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Post by _Sniper_ » Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:31 am

This is really nice...Will have to show my friend this...

Could we bug you to make another version/addon to this one?

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radman
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Post by radman » Thu Aug 24, 2006 6:24 pm

This program is great but, yes could you make some new parts like 45 degree elbows and such. Other than that it is a great program. :)
Radman

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StormGlorious
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Re: PVC Designer

Post by StormGlorious » Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:14 am

This Program is just what I have been looking for lately.
Thanks a ton. :D

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Silence
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Re: PVC Designer

Post by Silence » Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:02 pm

Send him an email. His profile page says he last logged on in September.

The PVC Designer is good for some things, but not others. If you want a basic design using PVC pipe and fittings, then it's a perfect tool. It's also great for quickly making a flow diagram. But more complex designs, with custom cuts, materials, valves, etc., obviously require more complex modeling, drawing by hand, or just an idea in your head. :cool:

EDIT: He's blocked email from here, but I think the email form at WaterWarfare.com should work. Go there, search the members list (or go to page 4), click on his profile, and click on the email link. If you want to.

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Commander Soakage
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Re: PVC Designer

Post by Commander Soakage » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:29 pm

scavenger, if you are the creator of this:MAKE ONE FOR LINUXben said he doesn't need it but I DO what's your f***ing reason not to make it for linux. it shouldn't take much to modify it to be compatible with. I f***ing hate windows, and my dad wont get me a mac.(now to ask nicely) would you please make a version for linux.
Last edited by Commander Soakage on Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SSCBen
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Re: PVC Designer

Post by SSCBen » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:41 pm

I've never had success running this under Wine. I've also read that it doesn't work under Windows Vista. I don't think there's anything you can do about it unless Wine lacks some DLLs it needs. Run it from a terminal and post what errors you get. I'll compare it to what I get and see if I can figure anything else out.

It would also be a better idea to post about this at the Wine forums: http://forum.winehq.org/

We know water guns... not Wine. ;)

You also can try VMWare or QEMU and run it in there. I run Linux and between Wine and VMWare I've covered all my Windows compatibility problems.
Last edited by SSCBen on Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

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