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Making cool stuff out of cheap materials is great, but as I understand it, PVC itself is nasty stuff (even compared with other plastics) that we should probably
by elihu 3y ago
Making cool stuff out of cheap materials is great, but as I understand it, PVC itself is nasty stuff (even compared with other plastics) that we should probably be avoiding if we can.
I'm not sure what would work as a good general-purpose replacement for PVC for making things out of though. I'm not sure if ABS is available in the narrow diameters that PVC is. Pex is more bendy. Bamboo is strong, but not uniform. Wooden dowels or aluminum tube could work for some things, but it'd be more expensive.
- userbinator 3y agoBurning PVC is very toxic, but ABS is no better in that regard, nor are most other plastics with the exception of pure alkanes. AFAIK the health scare is mainly around the plasticisers used to make PVC (very) flexible, but rigid PVC pipe does not contain any plasticiser.
- mardifoufs 3y agoIs that true for PEX too? If so what's the alternative for piping?
- elihu 3y agoI don't know. I think that may have other issues with the additives to make it flexible, but that's outside my knowledge. The East Palestine train wreck recently was carrying a big load of vinyl chloride among other things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Ohio_train_derailment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinyl_chloride https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinyl_chloride Maybe other plastics are just as bad, but it seems like not making stuff out of vinyl chloride if we can possibly help it might be a good move generally.
- Metacelsus 3y agoVinyl chloride (the monomer) is very different chemically from polyvinyl chloride.
- elihu 3y agoIt's apparently mostly used to make PVC though: > "This colorless compound is an important industrial chemical chiefly used to produce the polymer, poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)"
- bluGill 3y agoPEX is generally too flexible for these projects. I won't use anything else for fresh water plumbing though.
- iancmceachern 3y agoWe can wax on about what plastic would be ideal, but ultimately this is about making things from stuff you can find at a local hardware store. So rather than go down this path, the way to go is to lobby hardware stores to carry "better" (by whatever metrics your judging PVC). It's not like we, as average humans, have unlimited choices in building materials. We choose from what's available at the store. PVC is at the store now.
- elihu 3y agoWell yeah, that's kind of why I brought it up. PVC is cheap, available, and easy to use. Is there some other material that could replace PVC but made from less environmentally undesirable materials? Is it available at hardware store? If not, could it be?
- Too 3y agoWood. Most, not all, of the examples from the page would have been equally easy and cheap to build with a set of rods or 2x2 beams. Looks a lot less tacky too.
- iancmceachern 3y agoAwesome example, also bamboo depending on where in the world you are
- iancmceachern 3y agoIf you have a suggestion I'm sure it would be welcome. Generally, if there were a better solution we would be using it. If you know of one, you should share it with us. If you don't, maybe work on finding one.
- ethanbond 3y agoGP made multiple suggestions and personally I read their comment as “here are some ideas, does anyone else have any?” Not an indictment of people using this material or a statement that there must be something better and everyone must switch to it. Your comment comes across a bit off-tenor. Also keen to hear if folks on here have other ideas (before you ask: I don’t have any). > Generally, if there were a better solution we would be using it. If this were actually the attitude people adopted, literally nothing would improve ever.