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Alvin Ice Tube


bearden6521
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What length have you guys cut your alvin ice tubes to? What did you use for end caps? I know Mike mentioned that he fabricated ones out of styrene...any alternatives or suggestions on how to fabricate them with styrene?

the overall length really depends on what's the size of your main boxes. If you're using Seth's boxes, I thought 29in. x 2in. was a good length.

I actually attempted to home-vac some end-caps. It's actually kinda simple, too. You get a piece of 2in. PVC pipe, drape a piece of thin plastic over it and heat it up with a heat gun or very hot hair dryer so it slowly begins to droop and melt over the form. It takes practice and finnesse to do it cleanly... involves some pulling, too. Then, stick your vacuum cleaner hose up the end of the PVC pipe, turn it on and apply the heat gun to the top of the end cap to suck it down. Your results may vary but it's a fun endeavor.

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I actually attempted to home-vac some end-caps. It's actually kinda simple, too. You get a piece of 2in. PVC pipe, drape a piece of thin plastic over it and heat it up with a heat gun or very hot hair dryer so it slowly begins to droop and melt over the form. It takes practice and finnesse to do it cleanly... involves some pulling, too. Then, stick your vacuum cleaner hose up the end of the PVC pipe, turn it on and apply the heat gun to the top of the end cap to suck it down. Your results may vary but it's a fun endeavor.

I'll give it a try, what the heck! Thanks for the info once again Mike!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was one of those poor souls who shelled out for an ice tube . Unfortunately, it was too wide for my end caps (AP kit).

What I ended up doing--waste not, want not--was slicing it lengthwise, and then rolling down to the right diameter.

I then riveted it in place and painted it. It came out great. The seam will be facing inwards when it's mounted on the backpack so no worries.

BTW, the tube hasn't been cut down to a proper length yet.

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  • 3 weeks later...

woo hoo i actually found somewhere in calgary(canada) that does the alvin ice tubes, i bought a blue one 37 inches long for 20 bucks cdn better than getting it shipped from the us! woo hoo i think that was the last part i needed now im just waiting for all my orders to come in and hopefully soon an accurate bp will be born! my question is do we keep the diameter at the 2 3/4 inches as i dont really wanna have to cut it open. i know we cut the length!

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my question is do we keep the diameter at the 2 3/4 inches as i dont really wanna have to cut it open. i know we cut the length!

I'm afraid it'll have to be cut, brother. It's not such a big deal anyway...I riveted mine back together before sanding and painting it, and you won't be able to see the seam much at all after it's assembled. The diameter you need depends on your endcaps, but 2" seems about right, as Mike mentioned earlier in this thread.

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