What would you do with a cardboard tube?

January 11, 2007 8:34 AM

So I have a buttload of cardboard tubes...what can I do with them?

They are 3 feet long, 4 inches across on the inside diameter, and about 1/4 inch thick (sturdy).

I was thinking maybe building some rockets or a launcher of some type, but I would like more ideas.

Links would be helpful and appreciated. Thanks!

posted by Totally Zanzibarin' Ya to grab bag (32 comments total)

You could make a cool looking cardboard assemblage and paint it. Also, there are lots of sites describing assorted cardboard furniture, and those sound ideal. Last suggestion: art prank.

flickr pics
posted by craniac at 8:45 AM on January 11, 2007

Oh wait, I blew it. The right answer should have been:

"eat more fiber."
posted by craniac at 8:45 AM on January 11, 2007

1. Place one end towards guitar amp or other type of speaker.
2. Place mic at other end.
3. Record.
4. Adjust placement and volume to get different sounds.

You can also join multiple tubes end to end to get weirder sounds.
posted by chillmost at 8:48 AM on January 11, 2007

Extraordinary Uses for Cardboard Tubes
posted by Pastabagel at 8:49 AM on January 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

Build a fort!

And that's not snark...I'm dead serious. Spend some time acting like a 6 year old again...it'll do ya good.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 8:50 AM on January 11, 2007

Lots of cardboard tubes? Build a cardboard Internet!
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:53 AM on January 11, 2007 [2 favorites]

At least a few of them should be destroyed via cardboard tube sword fights.

The cardboard tube samurai would approve.
posted by utsutsu at 8:57 AM on January 11, 2007

Pinhole Camera
Room Divider, stuff them wth sound mufflers and link 'em up.
Or just let the work of Shigeru Ban inspire you.
posted by Sara Anne at 8:57 AM on January 11, 2007

Call up your local primary or middle school art department and see if they could use them. Then pat yourself on the back for contributing.
posted by orangemiles at 8:59 AM on January 11, 2007

Any local daycare centers nearby would have to have a portion of your buttload. Kids can think of all kinds fun ways to use them.
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 9:00 AM on January 11, 2007

Find someone with lots of pet hamsters / gerbils / rats / mice. Donate.
posted by afx237vi at 9:03 AM on January 11, 2007

Err, 'love to have'. (Or, yeah, what orangemiles said.)
posted by and hosted from Uranus at 9:05 AM on January 11, 2007

Make a pixelator.
Here are more links. They are what the kids call "cool."
posted by SassHat at 9:05 AM on January 11, 2007

Please refrain from using the words "buttload" and "tubes" in the same sentence in the future. Please. Think of the children.

Second the daycare idea - there's nothing so much fun for a five-year-old as a cardboard tube for some reason.
posted by Aquaman at 9:08 AM on January 11, 2007

codpieces.
posted by andythebean at 9:10 AM on January 11, 2007

I used a collection of similar tubes (about 12" long) as shelf organizers....

I stacked them so that their open ends were accessible from the front of the shelves and each one made a cubbyhole into which I could insert long skinny things.. in my case, stone carving tools, clay sculpture tools, a pile of metal bars, short dowels, ear plugs, safety glasses, ad nauseum. Every thing was visible, protected, sorted, accessible and the shelf volume much better utilized. Instead of a jumble of crap on the shelf, I had 50 little holes to stick things in. Loved it.

Perhaps they'd work similarly in a pantry, though you'll have to shorten them.
posted by FauxScot at 9:27 AM on January 11, 2007

Wow! Thanks for the buttload of responses! Keep 'em coming!
posted by Totally Zanzibarin' Ya at 9:29 AM on January 11, 2007

Make some chairs, a la Joe Colombo.
posted by hydrophonic at 9:45 AM on January 11, 2007

I remember having a couple of those around when I was a kid and I loved them. I would cut them up and use them as toys in all sorts of ways, it was great. Definitely see about the arts & crafts donation idea. I don't think they're quite suited to rocketry as from what I remember they were extremely heavy due to the wall thinkness.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:09 AM on January 11, 2007

That collection of tubes is going to be very, very, deceptively strong. You could probably set them all up together and make something that looks like it could never be held up by mere cardboard, but will actually end up being as sturdy as if it had been made by 2x4s.
posted by anildash at 10:12 AM on January 11, 2007

I had a boyfriend once who built me a four-poster bed out of cardboard tubes (I think they were from inside industrial-sized rolls of fabric). It lasted for about a day and half, before collapsing beneath its own weight in a hilarious fashion. Romance+Comedy=Profit!
posted by hot soup girl at 10:13 AM on January 11, 2007

Speaking of reliving your childhood, you should smear at least one with peanut butter, roll in bird seed, and make the biggest cardboard tube bird feeder ever!
posted by textilephile at 10:29 AM on January 11, 2007

Create a cardboard model of the intarweb.
posted by !Jim at 11:03 AM on January 11, 2007

At least a few of them should be destroyed via cardboard tube sword fights.

It would be an epic battle as these are very strong.

That collection of tubes is going to be very, very, deceptively strong.

I can stand on one and it will barely deflect!
posted by Totally Zanzibarin' Ya at 11:10 AM on January 11, 2007

For some reason, this reminded me of the Monty Python skit involving 3 inch lengths of string.
posted by norm at 11:52 AM on January 11, 2007

Build a time machine.

Those fools at the Academy thought I was mad to try it. But here I am posting from 2037! Who's laughing now!
posted by tkchrist at 12:55 PM on January 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

Actually. We use them for dog toys. Tape it up with a piece of bacon inside. They go nuts over it.
posted by tkchrist at 12:57 PM on January 11, 2007

Relive your teenaged years: fill with black powder, cap the ends with glue, insert fuse, test on neighbor's mailbox.

Oh, hello Mister FBI man.
posted by toxic at 4:31 PM on January 11, 2007

If the tubes are rigid and you have some time, you could make some unique furniture.

Like shelves... (some imagination with same size tubes might make some interesting designs) or you could make a telescope or a pinhole camera with a tunnel effect.
posted by Benway at 5:01 PM on January 11, 2007

I nth the idea of donating them to a grade school art or music teacher: maybe suggest a thongaphone orchestra...
posted by eve harrington at 5:08 PM on January 11, 2007

Ask Shigeru Ban.
posted by xod at 9:26 AM on January 12, 2007

Geodesic dome?
posted by jobby at 8:38 AM on January 14, 2007