DIY: PVC Perches - *DUW*

This is very simple to do. This construction was done using 3/4" diameter PVC piping, though would have been plenty strong using 1/2" piping. I only used 3/4" pipe because I already had the pipe which i got free. Otherwise it would have cost me only $1.50 for 10 feet - more than enough for this setup. I did also buy a 10 foot length of 1/2" PVC ($1.20) so i could build a climb for my girlfriends BRB. I purchased:

10- 1/2" T fittings
10- 1/2" Elbow fittings
4- 1/2" X fittings
1- 10' 1/2" PVC pipe
3- 3/4" X fittings
10- 3/4" Elbow fittings
5- plastic closet hanger rod sockets sets

total cost= $15

equipment I already had:
saw
tape measure
clear silicone adheasive
3/4" pvc pipe (not that it made a difference though)
propane or mapp gas torch



Now, hopefully you've already drawn out, measured, or otherwise have an idea of what you want to build for a climb setup. I did not, so i was flying by the seat of my pants.

Anyways
start by gathering all your parts


and cut your PVC pieces to length (by this time, I had an idea of what I wanted the finished product to look like. The fun part when measureing and cutting pieces is to keep in mind that all flanges and adapters you are going to add on will also add the to the length of whatever you're putting them on. Plan ahead with all your cuts and make sure you add a little extra lenth to them


now that you have the cuts done, put the pieces together. from there it's time for a test fitting. Hopefully you have cut your pieces slightly longer than you needed. If what you have assembled doesn't fit, it is now very easy at this point to cut the pieces to lengths that WILL fit.


K
now that everything is cut to the right lenth and ready to go, mark where you want to put the climb. This is an optional step. Since this climb does not touch the ground, I have 4 anchor points on the side of the cage (BRB climb will rest on the ground, so this isn't necessary) using the closet rod sockets. Put the setup where you want it, and mark the glass with a vis-a-vis or whiteboard marker.


Now, time to find that silicone adheasive. Put a good glop of silcone on each section of the rod socket, and use the hole in the center to match the mark you left on the glass. it should look something like this



do this on the highest achorable posts on each side
once the silicone has set, toss your climb in and make sure it all fits and doesn't fall. Feel free to put some handpressure onto things and make sure they hold. If it falls apart at the joints, don't worry, we'll get to that later. If it doesn't reach from oneside to the next, go back to elemetry school and learn how to do addition. Hopefully you'll have enough PVC left to add a 1/2" or so to one side or another


Now for the fun part.
take your climb off the hangers and head outside. If you're a smoker, you'll be ready for a smoke break by now.
Time to burn!!


Now, this takes a lil practice. I suggest starting on the underside first so you learn how the PVC reacts to flame. Avoid the fumes. I did this in the rain (as it does in the Pac Northwest) so I got some spotting from the raindrops. It adds character in my opinion.


Once you get the underside done, its time to flip it over and continue on! And do it all! leave no white

All this does tend to expand the PVC, so the joints are going to start falling apart. Don't be afraid to stick things back together and continue on. You want to do this with everything connected so they continue to fit together. If you fire up a joint without the pipe in it, either can deform and not fit together. So, keep things together. Once you're done, its OK if they fall apart


Now it's time to take everything inside and head for the sink. Take all the pieces apart (hopefully you remember how it all went together) and scrub them all VERY well in soapy water. There is a lot of soot on all the pieces that you need to scrub off.
before scrub

after scrubbing


Now that you're done with all the washing, you should realy use a specialized PVC glue to attach everything together. Unfortunately, I thought I had some, but it turns out I did not. Follow the directions on the bottle and have fun. I'll be picking some up soon and will be removing the climb and gluing it all together. Remember when i mentioned about pieces expanding and contracting? everything doesn't hold after scorching like they did before. you will NEED glue after scorching to keep things together.

Now...
Place the finished producted into the cage. You will now be able to line up and install any other side anchors you need (such as the lower pieces in my setup)


Yay
bet you're feeling good now. Just the finishing touches left. Vines, substrate, waterdish, etc.


What snake wouldn't LOVE that setup!!
wait
speaking of snake
time to add that now.





hope ya enjoyed
this whole thing only took an hour and $15 to do....

There are TONS of variations on this you can do. Sky's the limit. Use your own imagination

So Matt, how much did it shrink on you when you torched it?

Craig

Sorry, meant Issac.

Craig

You can also use hot glue to hold them together. Just make sure you use the HOT glue though (the kind that takes your skin off if you accidentally get some on yourself), not the cool "hot" glue as it doesn't hold as well.

I prefer to scrub them outside as it tends to make a big mess unless you are really, really careful. You don't have to worry about spatter from the scrubbing outside, just hose it down! This is true especially if you are a guy. That way you won't have to listen to Mom or your significant other when she sees the mess you have made. LOL.

Karen - haha, i did all my scrubbing the the bathtub I was tempted to use hotglue, but only have the colder hot glue and knew it wouldn't work.

Craig - it didn't shrink much to be honest. I might have lost a total of 3/16" in total lenth, and just enough in diameter to make joints really weak.

PVC shrinks a HUGE amount when you start putting twists in it. After having to heat and pull them back into length after doing all the aesthetic work, I learned to trim my pieces longer.

Nice tutorial, Isaac. I wish I had seen one when I started building PVC perches.

Like the Clarks, I prefer to do all this work outside too.

yeah, the more heat you apply the more it's going to shrink. You can get a good scortching done with minimal shrinking... but, yeah, if you're wanting to get creative with kinks and twists, you will get a lot of shrinkage...

I know this is in the tutorial I wrote for our web page on burning PVC, and since I'm not sure whether Isaac mentioned this or not, I want to mention just for safety's sake that you MUST DO THE BURNING OUTSIDE!!!! The burning gives off noxious fumes and you must be somewhere that is VERY well ventilated when you do this. In other words, either outside of your house totally or if you must do in garage (which is NOT recommended) have a fan blowing the fumes outside.

Also, besides the shrinkage issue, the more heat you apply the blacker the PVC gets, which means MORE scrubbing to get it clean. Isaac's right, you can get a nice golden brown to brown coloration with minimal shrinkage by applying minimal heat. Practice on a couple of scrap pieces before starting the perch pieces. With a little practice, you can scorch PVC with hardly any black stuff on it, which makes it sooooo much easier and quicker to clean.