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Tube Experiments

Nov 11th, 2008
by rich.

$150 invested in industrial tubes from McMaster-Carr.  Here are my results so far.

Polyethylene is the standard hoop tube.  Of all the tubes I’ve tried, in my opinion, it’s the best tube for most hoopers.  For those who hoop extremely fast, I think High Pressure Polyethylene (HPPE) is a better tube.  It’s slightly lighter and slighty stiffer.  Polyproplyne is also a great tube.  It’s even lighter than HPPE but springier and less stiff than HPPE.  It almost feels like kids hoop tube.  If you have questions, feel free to send me an email.

Attached you can find a table of the 9 tubes I’ve tried so far.  I’ve attached weight information so you can compare how heavy the tubing is.  I’ve used 120 in. lengths of tube as the comparative length for weight as my standard large is around 120 in. in circumference.

See a pdf of my tube table here.

Posted in: Classes, Hooping, Process.
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Facebook comments:

  • http://people.tribe.net/bethanderica beth lavinder

    Ever the scientist, Rich. I love you.

    I personally use 1/2″ (exterior diameter), polyethylene tubing. My hoops are 99″ in circomference, or about 31″ in total diameter. The springy-ness and weight seem to be just perfect for my body and style of hooping. I’m very interested in finding some clear tubing that will make a good container for and LED hoop. I just don’t like the rigidity and weight of the LEDs I’ve tried so far. They have a kind of dead, luggish feeling to me. Any ideas?

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  • http://www.hoopsiedaisy.com Natasha

    Rich, you ROCK! As someone who loves spreadsheets and lists, I love your experiment in principle and as someone who hoops, I love it in practicality. Effing awesome!

  • rich
  • Victoria Aquino

    Great work-where do you buy these tubes? Thanks

  • rich

    Oh yeah… McMaster-Carr. They’re great. You order and they ship that day. It’s taken about three business days from the time of ordering to receive my tubes.

    http://www.mcmaster.com/

  • Laura

    First, let me say that Rich- this post is super helpful. Thanks for the notes on all the different tubing!

    Second, I am wondering where the best place is to find insert connectors (online or in the Bay Area)… and how exactly they are worded when you go to a store. I was looking at the McMaster-Carr website, but am not sure if the tubing connectors I was looking at are the correct ones (it said that the tubes would need to be clamped to the tubing once in- ack!)

    I’m new to hoop making and would love any advice. Thanks!!

  • rich

    I’ve been using a tube of smaller diameter. Basically it’s what Patrick does for the PSI Hoops… If inside diameter of the hoop is 3/4″, I use a 3/4″ outside diameter tube and slide it into the hoop. About a 4″ length piece seems to do the trick. It also helps eliminate the flat spot on the hoop since the connector is curving like the hoop.

  • http://hoopTdoo.com(comingsoon) anne

    Great idea about sliding a smaller diameter inside the larger diameter hoop….do you glue it? or, does it stay in place? or is it removable so that you then could have a travel hoop?

    Thank you for all of the research on the tubes!

  • rich

    I’ve been taping. I want to move toward glue but I haven’t had time to play with what glues work yet. Good luck!

  • dimples

    HI Rich

    Just wanted to take a moment again to thank you for all of your hard work putting the camp together. Everything was fabulous especially the shade structure…and well of coarse all of the wonderful people!

    Still thinking about your magical hoop that I had the pleasure to play with and wondering if the tubing is the High temp or the high pressure? Also is it OD: 3/4 and ID: 5/8? Still not sure how you connected it. Please let me know as soon as possible b/c we are leaving on vacation soon and I would love to have my new hoop to play with. Your hoop has really inspired me again. Have been feeling very stagnant with my hooping. Thank you for letting me play!

  • Victoria Aquino

    Hi Rich,

    I read this article about your tubing comparison years ago when I was a novice hooper. I have made progress since then and much better at it. I have several hoops, haven’t made one myself. Now that I am at a level where I can do all those reversals (I am a Jonathan Baxter fan) I feel like I want to make my own hoop. At the back of my mind, I knew your article existed somewhere and w/ Google I found it-voila!
    I watched your video-are you hooping w/ HPPE? My black PVC 100 PSI needs upgrading!
    Thanks

    Victoria

  • Mum of Many

    Thank you so much for the tube table and the other advise and suggestions you’ve posted . I just purchased a few different tubes from the site you recommended and I am looking forward to making some hoops with my family. Give Thanks!

  • Rachel Rad

    Thanks for sharing the knowledge and also for linking to McMaster-Carr! Was gonna drive to Livermore, but if they ship same-day then I’ll just order now. :)

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  • Audge

    Thank you so much! I had been looking all over for the right tubing and wasnt sure about most websites because they didnt explain enough. I just put everything i needed into this site using most of the info you gave me and found the exact tubing i need. I havent received it yet but ill let you know how it works! Im making an LED hoop in an electronics class of mine at college. this should be fun =]

  • Susan7si

    Hi Audge,
    how did your LEP hoop making go? which tubing did you choose . are you willing to share your knowledge ? i too would like to make my first LED HOOP.
    SUSAN