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Cryptex Drawings for Geocaching Community


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Well, Soxter & Bellinni, I made my cryptex using your drawings.....it's a hideous beast but it works! HAHAHAHA! I definitely learned some things while making it and will figure how to make my cuts more accurately such as yours.

 

What was the most tedious part of it all? Sanding that freaking 3/4" pipe down to fit inside the 1" pipe.

 

Biggest trial and error? Getting the holes spaced correctly with the (now obviously) crooked cuts that I made. HAHAHAHA!

 

I was going to have the same number of dials that you have but decided to go with 5 on this one. I now know what to do to speed along the process for my next one. Thank you again for the detailed prints! They were so good, in fact, they convinced me that this would be a two hour project at most. I'm afraid to think of how many I actually put into it......make that embarassed. HAHAHA!

Edited by Casting Crowns
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Well, Soxter & Bellinni, I made my cryptex using your drawings.....it's a hideous beast but it works! HAHAHAHA! I definitely learned some things while making it and will figure how to make my cuts more accurately such as yours.

 

What was the most tedious part of it all? Sanding that freaking 3/4" pipe down to fit inside the 1" pipe.

 

Biggest trial and error? Getting the holes spaced correctly with the (now obviously) crooked cuts that I made. HAHAHAHA!

 

I was going to have the same number of dials that you have but decided to go with 5 on this one. I now know what to do to speed along the process for my next one. Thank you again for the detailed prints! They were so good, in fact, they convinced me that this would be a two hour project at most. I'm afraid to think of how many I actually put into it......make that embarrassed. HAHAHA!

 

No worries CC! As with any new project your time would improve with each new version. I checked my time on the drawings alone and it was over 7 hours. I was building the cryptex at the same time and was going back and forth from drawing and building so my time on the cryptex was probably in the 6 to 8 hour range also. When it is a labour of love and your boss isn't breathing down your neck you'll always put in the little extra you need to make it happen.

 

My cryptex final was released this weekend and I received great feedback from the cachers that have been doing the series. Here is the series...

 

Stage 1 GC237VW

Stage 2 GC23RJ8

Stage 2 GC23WYG

Stage 4 GC23WYH

Final GC23WZO

 

Email me a picture of the completed project and I will post it on this forum...soxter-n-billini@shaw.ca

 

Cheer

Soxter

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My cryptex final was released this weekend and I received great feedback from the cachers that have been doing the series. Here is the series...

 

Stage 1 GC237VW

Stage 2 GC23RJ8

Stage 2 GC23WYG

Stage 4 GC23WYH

Final GC23WZO

 

Email me a picture of the completed project and I will post it on this forum...soxter-n-billini@shaw.ca

 

Cheer

Soxter

 

WOW! Just doing the puzzles are awesome!!! Sure you don't wanna move down here to Fort Worth, Texas?

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My cryptex final was released this weekend and I received great feedback from the cachers that have been doing the series. Here is the series...

 

Stage 1 GC237VW

Stage 2 GC23RJ8

Stage 2 GC23WYG

Stage 4 GC23WYH

Final GC23WZO

 

Email me a picture of the completed project and I will post it on this forum...soxter-n-billini@shaw.ca

 

Cheer

Soxter

 

WOW! Just doing the puzzles are awesome!!! Sure you don't wanna move down here to Fort Worth, Texas?

 

No thanks but we do love the State of Texas and have a friend who lives in Marble Falls. Now that we have started geocaching I will look forward to caching in other parts of the world.

 

Cheers

Soxter

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Also, just discovered that a 1" pvc pipe fits perfectly inside of an 1 1/4" pvc pipe. The pipe is Electrical schedule 40 pvc pipe. This will delete the MUCH involved labor of sanding down the conduit to fit inside of each other (unless you own a lathe as mentioned by an earlier post). The only thing that I can think of off the top of my head would be that you may need longer screws for this to work.

 

I emailed watchdog2020 to see if his design would require any sanding (a 2 1/2" pipe inside of a 4" pipe) but 4" isn't readily available at my local box store.

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Ok....but I warned you!!! [:anicute:]

 

You have nothing to warn people about! I think they look real sweet. The hardest part will be placing it in a cache after you did all that work and hope that no one steals it

 

Here are some pictures of Casting Crowns Cryptex and a big thanks for posting them to give other members encouragement with their builds.

 

If anyone else has pics please post them on this forum post or send them to me and I will get them online.

 

Cheers Soxter

 

Frankenstein (I didin't name it)...lol

 

Frankenstein.jpg

 

BrideofFrankenstein

 

BrideofFrankenstein.jpg

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Got a couple questions to help me clarify things:

(Before reading these, bear in mind that I'm a complete idiot when it comes to handy man stuff)

 

1 ) In drawing # 7, showing the key ring sections, how loose should the 1" slip into the 1 1/4"?

Mine has a lot of room between the inner wall of the 1 1/4" and the outer wall of the 1".

I'm thinking this will make it difficult to glue?

When I cut the gap in the 1" ring, should I use the wedge to expand it until it gets snug, and then glue it?

 

2 ) In drawing # 4, the internal key tube, can you give some more detail on how to tighten the screws? Should I punch a hole on the bottom of the tube so I can squeeze a screwdriver thru?

I see your plans call for a magnetic screwdriver, but I'm not sure what that is?

 

Thanx!

 

-Sean

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Got a couple questions to help me clarify things:

(Before reading these, bear in mind that I'm a complete idiot when it comes to handy man stuff)

 

1 ) In drawing # 7, showing the key ring sections, how loose should the 1" slip into the 1 1/4"?

Mine has a lot of room between the inner wall of the 1 1/4" and the outer wall of the 1".

I'm thinking this will make it difficult to glue?

When I cut the gap in the 1" ring, should I use the wedge to expand it until it gets snug, and then glue it?

 

2 ) In drawing # 4, the internal key tube, can you give some more detail on how to tighten the screws? Should I punch a hole on the bottom of the tube so I can squeeze a screwdriver thru?

I see your plans call for a magnetic screwdriver, but I'm not sure what that is?

 

Thanx!

 

-Sean

 

Yes....there is a small enough gap between the two rings that it won't glue firmly. When you make the rings you will need to cut a gap wide enough for the nut to slip passed once everything is put together. I put PVC glue on the inside of the 1 1/4" ring and placed the 1" ring inside and THEN put the wedges in to hold it snug against the inner wall of the 1 1/4" ring. Does that help? I'm on my third Shiner Hefeweizen.... :anicute:

 

As far as the "magnetic screwdriver".....you can buy them magnetized BUT, if you have a strong magnet at home, you can drag the magnet across the length of the screwdriver (I used a flathead screwdriver) from the handle to the tip. Do this several times and it will magnetize the screwdriver long enough for it to be affective. *waits for Snoogans sexual innuendo comment* :laughing:

Edited by Casting Crowns
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Got a couple questions to help me clarify things:

(Before reading these, bear in mind that I'm a complete idiot when it comes to handy man stuff)

 

1 ) In drawing # 7, showing the key ring sections, how loose should the 1" slip into the 1 1/4"?

Mine has a lot of room between the inner wall of the 1 1/4" and the outer wall of the 1".

I'm thinking this will make it difficult to glue?

When I cut the gap in the 1" ring, should I use the wedge to expand it until it gets snug, and then glue it?

 

2 ) In drawing # 4, the internal key tube, can you give some more detail on how to tighten the screws? Should I punch a hole on the bottom of the tube so I can squeeze a screwdriver thru?

I see your plans call for a magnetic screwdriver, but I'm not sure what that is?

 

Thanx!

 

-Sean

 

Hey Sean,

 

Great to hear your working on your own cryptex and I will try to answer you the best I can from what I understand of your questions...

 

When I made my cryptex I probably had a tighter fit between my 1-1/4 piece and 1" pieces but if your fit up is a bit looser, I wouldn’t worry. Use the wedges after gluing to get a tight seal for the glue to set and to keep the rings together. If your split ring gap gets a little bit bigger, the nuts will just have a little more wiggle room when the combination is inline.

 

As far as you second question goes a magnetic screwdriver will only work if you’re using magnetic series stainless bolts. If they are not magnetic then use anything flat, even a tongue depressor will work. What I do is balance the machine screw on the flat surface and holding things steady feed it up inside the tube and thru the hole I'm aiming for. I will hold it there with a bit of pressure while I put the nut on finger tight. Now once the nut is past the end of the machine screw and down semi tight I grab the end of the machine screw, that is sticking up, with pliers or vise-grips and hold tight while I finish tightening the nut to the tube with a wrench.

 

I’m on the road this weekend but will post a few shots when I get home on Monday or Tuesday.

 

Cheers

Soxter

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Yes I do plan on hanging this somewhere to mark my first year of caching. I sealed around each bolt before putting the nut on. I hope this keeps the water out. My real concern is how it will handel very cold weather, I'm wondering if the pvc will get very brittle. Only one way to find out. :anicute:

Edited by Ligum
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Just another up date on a monster cryptex I made for Androit Seeker and a multi/puzzle series he place in Burnaby,British Columbia called B10: Gold Star - Graduation Day "Foundations" GC26Q3Z

 

This large cryptex was a labour of love and was built using the same design principals as the drawings you see on the forum topic just to a larger scale and with larger pvc pipe.

 

Here are some pictures from start to finish....

 

Foundations-01.jpg

 

Foundations-02.jpg

 

Foundations-03.jpg

 

Foundations-04.jpg

 

Foundations-05.jpg

 

Foundations-06.jpg

 

Foundations-07.jpg

 

Foundations-08.jpg

 

Foundations-09.jpg

 

Send me some more pics of your cryptex's and I will post them here.

 

Cheers

Soxter

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Just so folks know - the white container is a Cryptex built according to the specifications. The brown cryptices were constructed with PVC pipe that was 1/4 inch smaller (1/2" pipe, 3/4" pipe, 3/4" bushing, 1" bushing). All other demensions are the same. I was able to put a bison tube at the end of the inner barrel on each.

 

We'll see how they hold up to the elements. I'm hoping that keeping them off the ground will keep them in proper working order. All are placed in trees - the preferred tree being a Redwood.

 

Things I learned:

1. If you don't have access to a lathe, then use a coarse wood rasp to file donw the inner barrel. It took me 4 hours to sand down my first barrel. A couple of barrels after that I decided to try a coarse/medium wood rasp and cut my time down to under an hour.

2. I used a piece of thread to tie around the end of the screws to pull them through the hole.

3. I used a powered mitre saw (chop saw?) to cut the dials (inner and outer). A hack saw did as advertised - it hacked up the plasic.

4. Teeth placement on the inner most barrel seemed to be the most critical issue. If the hole wasn't quite correct then I ended up filing the bolt down so the dial could turn easier. I'm sure a drill press and cross slide drill vice would be invaluable.

 

Anyone heading past south Sacramento on Interstate 5 or Highway 99 can make a quick detour to pick up the series. I hope to make more in the future (with better tollerances so the dials turn better).

 

I look forwad to seeing more.

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First off, thanks for the great drawings!

 

i stopped at the hardware store this afternoon and picked up the necessary fittings (i had the pipe already) and managed to get the 3/4" piece sanded down with the help of some scraping with a chisel. Still needs some sanding.

 

My next challenge will be the slot in the 1" pipe. i have homemade router table, perhaps i will give that a try first (though i am afraid of shattering the pipe and sending shards everywhere)

 

i tried one length of pipe on my table saw with a crosscut jig, but the cuts end up beveled and controlling the exact width of the slot when having to make two passes is not an easy task.

 

So, that's where i am. Tomorrow i guess i will install the screws/nuts while pondering how to get the slot made.

 

Thanks, again!

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Wood expands and contracts with heat and moisture. No way to make it stay in sync.

 

I was checking your profile page for the creative caches and notice you have MarshallOD in one of your pictures. If you see him tell him he is missed here and California.

Edited by Walts Hunting
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How much does it expand and contract? Does it expand with heat and contract with cold? What about metal or steel? If you come across anything like that for metal or steel, let me know. And I'll let MarshllOD know that he is missed. He lives up in Layton right now. I actually had the pleasure of hiking up a medium sized mountain named Mohagany Mountain. It is in front of Mount Timpanogos over in utah county, utah. About a 9,000 foot mountain. About a 3,900 foot climb and about 11 miles up and down.

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When i was a kid, i used to have a bicycle chain lock that operated on the same basic concept of the cryptex.

Now, i know those locks were cheaply made, but we used to be able to open them by pulling the ends apart, putting tension on the rings/pins, while rotating the first ring, until we felt it "engage"...then the next ring, and so on, until we were able to get it open without having to know the combo.

 

Just wondering if its possible to do the same with yours or not?

Sure wouldnt want anyone to "cheat" it open just by feel... [:laughing:]

Without question, this will be possible- it was the first thing I recognized about it. The trick is going to be having the ability to pull the thing from both ends while simultaneously turning the rings-- you need three hands.

3 hands? not really. sitting on your butt, hold one end between knees, pull on other end with hand while turning wheels with remaining hand.

I've found one of these but no need to cheat since answer came with solving the puzzle.

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Hi Soxter,

 

What a great cryptex...I wish I was mechanically inclined but I have no tools nor the skills to attempt.

 

That being said my family would love to buy a finished one from you!! If you are interested in building one/two for me I would be happy to pay for your time and materials.

 

Email me price if you are interested.

 

Cheers, Fonty Family

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After exchanging a few emails with Soxster, I decided to start working on a cryptex tonight.

 

I immediately realized cutting the rings would not be as easy as I thought it'd be, even with a power miter saw. On the first cut, when the ring was nearly completely cut, it flew away and bounced off a wall. Then there were a few successful cuts, followed by another dangerous flying one. I decided to take a break and think up a way to make it a little more safe.

 

This simple solution seems to work well...

 

wtml9.jpg

 

Measure the middle coupling, for where you want to cut it, and then make the cut. Attaching a pipe obviously lets you keep your hands away from the blade, and attaching couplings to the outer edges allows you to push down and toward the guide fence, for a nice straight cut (if you don't use the outer couplings, pushing down on the pipe will tilt your coupling you are cutting, leading to an uneven cut).

 

Depending on how you do the cuts, you may find that you'll need to purchase an additional coupling, but I think the 30-40 cents is worth how easy this makes doing the cuts.

 

Of course, never forget your safety glasses.

Edited by macgruff
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Thanks for the props, S&B. I also made a case for it by taking 3" PVC and cutting it in half length-wise. I duct-taped one side to reinforce the "hinge", and wrapped a vinyl fake-leather around it with Gorilla Glue to cover it. I found in-pipe flush fitting floor drain grating (also PVC) and cut each of them in half. I painted them the same gold color and glued them in as end caps. I then lined it with red felt. The cryptex fits in very nicely! I ran out of steam at that point, and rather than finding and affixing a nice latch I just wrapped a rubberband around it to keep my hard leather case closed. I wish I'd have taken a pic of it to post, but I didn't think of it before dropping the cryptex and case into the final tonight. It looks pretty sweet though! If I have time maybe I'll drop by and snap a pic with my phone.

 

The cache is now placed... GC2CV0T "DeCACHElon!!". It isn't published, as I'm appealing a proximity issue, but it's a ten-stage multi. I have two people ready to play test it, so we'll see how that goes. I am hopeful about the appeal, because only the final has a proximity issue, and it is located inside a public library that partnered with me in making the hide. It's also heavily themed, as you can see from the cryptex, based on the literary "Steampunk" genre, and references material in the background story that can be found there. I've never heard of an appeal succeeding, but I think I've got a good argument.

 

At any rate, here's a tip for anyone as daft as I... I got a little out of order when building my cryptex and did the painting and such too early. Wait as long as you can. Just trust me, it isn't worth the problems you'll have to deal with.

 

Also, the smart person will take a couple of thin pieces of wood, cut into appropriate sized circles with one larger than the outer ring, and one smaller than the outer ring but larger than the split ring. They will then do the math and figure out 1/2 of the difference between the thickness of the outer and split/inner rings and rip the smaller circle of wood to that thickness before afixing it to the center of the larger circle, thus creating a fixture with which to cement the two rings together. That when you insert the split ring into the outer ring you have a uniform depth guage. Not only will your rings be the same from one to another, but the ring will be the same depth all the way around. This inconsistency in mine creates occasional minor binding, no matter how well lubricated or how careful I tried to be.

 

My final suggestion is to use rub-off letters or symbols or write them. I printed decals... 81 decals. It was far, far more work than I expected. It looks nice, but I wouldn't recommend doing it again. ;-)

 

Anyway, when the cache goes live (either at the current location or relocated) I'll let you know. Thanks again for your great design!!

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These crytex's are amazing!

 

Any chance of any of you crafty people out there, making one For me?? I would love to use one of these.. Of course I would pay for time and materials,,,

 

e-mail me at adigitalparadox@gmail.com to work something out

 

B-rad~

 

Hey B-rad

 

I am working with Groundspeak to make a model available for purchase for the caching community. If you can be patient I hope to have something worked out in a month or so. It will be a 4 dial mini cryptex to start with and we will see where it goes from there.

 

There is alot of R&D that goes into making a unit that is cost effective to manufacture and keep the cost low enough to intrest the paying public to generate sales.

 

Stay tuned and if your looking for something custom drop me an email...

 

Cheers

Soxter

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I finally got around to finishing my cryptex the other day, and snapped a couple photos of it earlier using my phone (hence the lackluster quality of the pictures).

 

The cryptex itself isn't the most amazing looking thing, especially when compared to others in this thread, but overall I'm happy with how it came out, and will probably make another sometime in the near future (though possibly on a larger scale).

 

KlRFx.jpg

 

Some random notes:

 

-I bought a package of letter stickers at AC Moore, for 89 cents, and threw those on after painting everything. I liked that they were cut to the shape of each letter, not just squares/rectangles with letters printed in them. They're certainly not as durable as vinyl stickers, but...

 

-I bought a can of Valspar clear enamel spray, with the flat finish, and sprayed that on after putting the lettering on. I'm not sure if the gloss would've been any better, but instead of really adding a layer of protection to the cryptex, it seemed to cover it in a dusty/gritty substance. Not sure I'd recommend it.

 

-Unsatisfied with the Valspar spray, I gave all the outer/exposed areas of the cryptex a nice coating of clear nail polish (which is why it looks shiny again the pictures). I didn't bother coating the innermost tube, because I figured with it constantly sliding in and out, it was going to gradually wear down and scratch the paint away, no matter what I do to protect it. So that part will eventually turn white again in some spots (and, as seen in the picture, already has), but I'm fine with that.

 

As a container, for the time being, I cemented together these two Ziploc containers, with holes cut into the lids, and it ended up being a perfect length for the cryptex (when placed inside, it has no wiggle zoom, lengthwise). I may end up making a container out of PVC instead, but am concerned about how that might look/what it might be mistaken for.

 

eOYwM.jpg

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Hey B-rad

 

I am working with Groundspeak to make a model available for purchase for the caching community. If you can be patient I hope to have something worked out in a month or so. It will be a 4 dial mini cryptex to start with and we will see where it goes from there.

 

There is alot of R&D that goes into making a unit that is cost effective to manufacture and keep the cost low enough to intrest the paying public to generate sales.

 

Stay tuned and if your looking for something custom drop me an email...

 

Cheers

Soxter

 

This is fantastic, would love to have one of these, nothing like this at all here in Japan. Happy to hear they may be available to purchase . Thanks so much for sharing your design, wish I had the tools and skills to make one myself.. Some very clever geocachers out there who can design and produce diagrams explaining it all, way over my head...

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This is fantastic, would love to have one of these, nothing like this at all here in Japan. Happy to hear they may be available to purchase . Thanks so much for sharing your design, wish I had the tools and skills to make one myself.. Some very clever geocachers out there who can design and produce diagrams explaining it all, way over my head...

Thanks Super Naitos!

 

My 4 dial prototype is complete and I will see what the market is intrested in. The prototype size can have any number of dials from 2 to 10. I will have some examples for Groundspeak shortly.

 

Cheers

Soxter

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Just flicking through old(ish) forum posts and came across this one. This is simply amazing and thank you very much for taking the time & effort to create plans that even I might be able to follow.

 

Trip now planned to local hardware store but will have to be a bit inventive as all measurements in UK are metric so will have have to play the 'does this tube fit inside this tube' game....looking forward to the questions about that !!

 

Thanks again for this - hopefully, I'll be able to make the first Cryptex in North West England !

 

MaxiP

Edited by MaxiP
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First I want to Thank You to Soxter & Billini for sharing his drawings and allowing everyone to use them. When I saw the prints I knew I had to try and build one. I have access to a machine shop where I work so it made the job a lot easier for me.

 

DSC05198.JPG

 

DSC05195.JPG

 

DSC05199.JPG

 

DSC05200.JPG

 

DSC05201.JPG

 

DSC05202.JPG

 

DSC05225.JPG

 

DSC05226.JPG

 

I followed the plans and everything fit together perfect! :D

 

Thanks again, a very cool project.

 

Dave

Edited by The Hekawi Tribe
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I'm currently building one as well and hopefully it's going to be the first one in the Calgary area. I modified it a little bit since I wanted the inside of the cryptex to be a bit bigger. There are several plans floating around but they seem to have a lot in common. My inside diameter is now a 1.25" pipe.

 

I have a question though... how do I get the screws in the inner pipe when the space for holding a screw is so tiny. If anybody who has created one could please give me some hints and tips on how to do that, I'd highly appreciate that!

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I'm currently building one as well and hopefully it's going to be the first one in the Calgary area. I modified it a little bit since I wanted the inside of the cryptex to be a bit bigger. There are several plans floating around but they seem to have a lot in common. My inside diameter is now a 1.25" pipe.

 

I have a question though... how do I get the screws in the inner pipe when the space for holding a screw is so tiny. If anybody who has created one could please give me some hints and tips on how to do that, I'd highly appreciate that!

 

What I do is cut down an hex key after the 90 degree end so I have only a 1/4" or so protruding. I then use a button head machine screw that accepts an hex key driver.

 

This allows you to hold the machine screw from spinning while you tighten the nut. You can reach in from both ends to get all the bolts

 

I have attached a 3D image to illustrate...

 

Allenkey.jpg

 

Cheers

Soxter

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here is the one i build . changed the plans a tiny bit for a larger pipe and parts but over all the same. only lasted 5 days and goten muggeled. gonna to a new one this weekend. now that iknow how to build them this one should be MUCH faster and easier to do.

 

IMG_7405.jpg

 

 

Looks like you did a great job!, sorry to hear it got muggled, that is what I am afraid of with the one I built but I guess I will have to take my chances. I really don't understand some people, taking what is not theirs.

 

Good luck on the next one.

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here is the one i build . changed the plans a tiny bit for a larger pipe and parts but over all the same. only lasted 5 days and goten muggeled. gonna to a new one this weekend. now that iknow how to build them this one should be MUCH faster and easier to do.

 

 

Saw your story on another link and was sorry to here out it being muggled. It does get easier the second time around. And the 3rd...4th...5th.......

 

Cheers

Soxter

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