Need tips for making a giant DIY version of the game Suspend
February 26, 2016 2:27 PM Subscribe
I love the game Suspend and want to make a scaled-up version that can be played outside staked into the grass instead of tabletop. I'm looking for ideas, suggestions for materials and best practices for how to bend metal rods and general DIY tips for working with bending metal.
In theory this seems like it should be simple enough—get some metal dowels or stiff wire, cut it, bend the hooks using a custom jig and then plasti-dip the ends... but I have no experience working with bending metal so what am I missing? What is the best choice for metal rods that can be bent without fancy equipment but won't bend during normal game play of hanging and locking the pieces together? How do I make a good jig for bending the pieces? What is the best scale to make the pieces so that they are over-sized but still can be handled comfortably by players? Ways to keep the cost of materials low are also great (I was thinking I could maybe reuse the metal frames from political yard signs). I have a workbench with vice grips, basic woodworking tools and a hack saw but nothing specifically for metal working. Thanks!
In theory this seems like it should be simple enough—get some metal dowels or stiff wire, cut it, bend the hooks using a custom jig and then plasti-dip the ends... but I have no experience working with bending metal so what am I missing? What is the best choice for metal rods that can be bent without fancy equipment but won't bend during normal game play of hanging and locking the pieces together? How do I make a good jig for bending the pieces? What is the best scale to make the pieces so that they are over-sized but still can be handled comfortably by players? Ways to keep the cost of materials low are also great (I was thinking I could maybe reuse the metal frames from political yard signs). I have a workbench with vice grips, basic woodworking tools and a hack saw but nothing specifically for metal working. Thanks!
Another option is microbore copper pipe. Tools are available to put nice smooth bends in it, so you wouldn't need a jig. For the coloured wrapping bits, heatshrink tubing can be found in various colours.
posted by pipeski at 2:49 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by pipeski at 2:49 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm thinking a 3' length of ½" conduit dropped from a couple feet up could do some damage if it lands on its end, on a foot. Before you settle on a particular material and scale, you might want to get a length of it to test with, and drop it from the maximum expected height onto a potato or cardboard box or something a few times, to see if it looks like a hazard.
posted by aubilenon at 3:17 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 3:17 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: So silly question: What size are you thinking for the pieces, and what length of tubing and radius for the bends does that translate into? I think that very much impacts the recommendations we're going to make...
For reference the longest piece is 12 1/4" long with 7 hooks and the shortest is 5 3/4" with 3 hooks. The hooks are 1/2" tall and 1/2" wide. The metal rod is 1/8" wide.
Ideally I'd like to make it as comically large as materials, budget and safety (thanks for the reminder aubilenon) will allow but above all it needs to be usable as a game. Doubling the size seems like it might be the sweet spot (and makes the math easier) with the biggest piece at a little over 2' that's big enough to feel like a lawn game to me. I also want to add new pieces as well so the size of the final sculpture once all the pieces have been placed may be bigger than just scaling up the 24 pieces in the home game. The yard sign stakes look to be just slightly thicker than the 1/8" pieces but they are what I can get cheap/free so I'm tempted to use those and only scale up the length but not to hook size. I like the idea of using copper since pipe will be lighter (so safer I think) and it could get a nice patina from being outside but it looks like it would take more care to bend correctly and cost more.
posted by metaphorever at 4:51 PM on February 26, 2016
For reference the longest piece is 12 1/4" long with 7 hooks and the shortest is 5 3/4" with 3 hooks. The hooks are 1/2" tall and 1/2" wide. The metal rod is 1/8" wide.
Ideally I'd like to make it as comically large as materials, budget and safety (thanks for the reminder aubilenon) will allow but above all it needs to be usable as a game. Doubling the size seems like it might be the sweet spot (and makes the math easier) with the biggest piece at a little over 2' that's big enough to feel like a lawn game to me. I also want to add new pieces as well so the size of the final sculpture once all the pieces have been placed may be bigger than just scaling up the 24 pieces in the home game. The yard sign stakes look to be just slightly thicker than the 1/8" pieces but they are what I can get cheap/free so I'm tempted to use those and only scale up the length but not to hook size. I like the idea of using copper since pipe will be lighter (so safer I think) and it could get a nice patina from being outside but it looks like it would take more care to bend correctly and cost more.
posted by metaphorever at 4:51 PM on February 26, 2016
You could probably build a pretty good bending jig for 1/8" cold rolled round rod, and I bet if you hit up your local more industrial hardware/steel supply store you could get 3' or 4' lengths of that for a buck or so in relatively larger quantity (certainly less than $2.50 each at your local more-local-than Home Depot big box store (ie: Menard's, Friedman's, etc)).
4' would give you your 2' overall length plus enough to capture the bends.
I'd make a bending jig with "two-by" material, drill holes in it and drop in short lengths of either a thicker solid rod, or a relatively beefy pipe (black iron gas pipe?). I bent 1/4" stainless rod for some pot holders for dish drawers, and it was relatively easy to form...
posted by straw at 5:00 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
4' would give you your 2' overall length plus enough to capture the bends.
I'd make a bending jig with "two-by" material, drill holes in it and drop in short lengths of either a thicker solid rod, or a relatively beefy pipe (black iron gas pipe?). I bent 1/4" stainless rod for some pot holders for dish drawers, and it was relatively easy to form...
posted by straw at 5:00 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think very stiff thick copper wire or pipe would be enough to make this game work without having to bend real pipe. After all, the heavier the material, the stiffer it has to be to not bend over it's own weight. The main central pole could just be wood with nails in it.
posted by miyabo at 8:38 AM on February 27, 2016
posted by miyabo at 8:38 AM on February 27, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Unfortunately I think my conduit bender has a radius of 8" or so, so this may make for a kit way bigger than you wanted to build...
So silly question: What size are you thinking for the pieces, and what length of tubing and radius for the bends does that translate into? I think that very much impacts the recommendations we're going to make...
posted by straw at 2:43 PM on February 26, 2016