Seeking Advice on mounting brains to plastic tubes on playa

[RevDusty]

Hi all,

First time art project and I have plastic brains that I want to mount on some sort of (hopefully) clear tube to the playa. The brains would then be about 4 feet above the ground.

The way I envision it, is that the tubes would have thick walls for stability and flanges at the top and bottom. The top flange for mounting the brain and the bottom for using rebar to place on the playa.

Can anyone chime in on this idea and guide me to resources on how best to do this cheaply (or am I dreaming). I would appreciate someone who has some experience with plastics.

Thanks,

[dragonfly Jafe]

We are building some fluid-filled lit-up thingies, we found 6" dia thin wall plastic (pvc I think) for around $10 per foot. Smaller sizes were also available. Look in the yellow pages under "plastics" and start making calls.

How heavy are your brains? How much area (in square feet) are they? Count on at least 50 pounds of force per square foot for wind loading (75 might be a better number to use). The vertical support needs to be able to withstand that (in bending), plus the weight of the brains.

Why clear? if it is to make them appear to be floating, could you use thick wall PVC (cheaper), and paint it to match the playa color?

If your structure is not braced with guy wires, the joint between the pipe and the ground supports will have to withstand a very large load (more than PVC can take). Be sure to go way overboard in design it (say a PVC sleeve set in a 5 gal. bucket filled with concrete, then attach 8' 2x6 boards on-edge out from that).

[robotland]

"seeking advice on mounting brains to plastic tubes on playa".......

I'm just gonna say that over and over, all day.



If they're supposed to appear as though floating, the old 45-degree mirror-reflecting-the-ground trick might work, too. (Mirrored lexan or plexi, or at least glass with safety film over it.)

Beware of LUCITE....it shatters into nasty knifelike shards. How about acrylic rods, perhaps 1" in diameter or larger, set into pipe driven into the playa and sockets in the brains? Not astronomically expensive, but you'll pay more than you'd like to for most plastics these days. With a little tinkering you could then run lights through the rod at night for increased visibility, like giant fiber optics. That'd be pretty.

[RevDusty]

Thanks for the quick replies!

My original idea was that there would be lights (EL wire) going up the clear plastic tube to represent the spinal column. The brains don't need to appear to be floating.

The brains themselves are lifesize and each one weighs less than a pound...they are actually plastic molds that will have lighting in them.

I thought about guy wires at the top for support (w/lighting so no one gets hurt.

I like the idea of plastic rods (perhaps in a base) and I could still run some EL for the spine through that area.

I don't think I am quite understanding the acrylic rods driven into a pipe...can you elaborate further?

Each brain will also have a speaker as they will be speaking to each other throughout the night...

[Nightterror]

Brainnnnsssss braaaiiinnnsssss

[dragonfly Jafe]

The brains themselves are lifesize and each one weighs less than a pound...they are actually plastic molds that will have lighting in them...

This sounds fairly trivial then. You could find some 1" acrylic rods as Robotland suggests, they might even have bubbles in them which when lit would look cool (kind of spinal-cord like). You could also just use a big length of rebar, driven 2 feet or so into the Playa. The small size won't have to much wind loading, and the weight is miniscule. It doesn't sound like guy wires are needed. You could paint the rebar Playa colored, and dangle ELwire down it to look like nerves (that don't quite reach the ground). That would look pretty trippy at night, especially from a little ways off....

[robotland]

How about putting each brain in its own plastic bubble, and then having them kidnap specimens of different species from across the galaxy and pitting them against each other in arena combat?

*pulse* "Fifty Quatloos on the newcomers!" *pulse pulse*


...are these those moulds for making Jello brains, by chance? The wife and I made some at Hallowe'en, even following the recipe for the nasty grey coloring....they tasted fine, but were so unpleasant to look at that nobody would touch 'em. For a week you'd open the fridge and there'd be those damned brains.

How about a center pole and arms, like the bones of an umbrella, suspending the brains around it? You could put solars or LEDs or EL inside the brains themselves, maybe with some stray nerve ganglion a-danglion', (I'm smiling, just typing that!) and run them off their own low-voltage packs. You could, I'm certain, rig something fairly bright that'd run for days at a time. As a backup, you could gut solar lights and have the LEDs inside of the brains with the panels on a wire up on the "tree". Hey- Braintree! There ya go!

[theCryptofishist]

...are these those moulds for making Jello brains, by chance? The wife and I made some at Hallowe'en, even following the recipe for the nasty grey coloring....they tasted fine, but were so unpleasant to look at that nobody would touch 'em. For a week you'd open the fridge and there'd be those damned brains.

That's only going to get you half a brain. Better tahn none, I suppose.

[RevDusty]

You folks are great...I so appreciate the input.

The brain molds are the top half of a brain (not whole unfortunately...unless someone has a source???). Their original usage is for jello molds. I've seen 1/4 brain molds, but I did 100% better than that!

So...I like the acrylic rods...that is very cool. Now I have to figure out how to mount them. I am thinking of a box on top to the rods to hold the speaker and probably some batteries.

So, how to securely attach rods to box? I could use the adhesive/cement they sell at plastic store...I'm just concerned about the strength of the bond. Plus mating the end of the rod to the top of the box seems like it won't hold that well. Perhaps drilling and screwing (!!!) would be best.

I think central re-bar w/acrylic is the way to go. Then dangling spinal cord (w/ganglions!).

Y'all are gonna have to come to our camp and let me toast your help when we are on playa!

[robotland]

If you need to mount the box right to the end of the plastic rod I suggest drilling a pilot hole and then using a coarse-threaded screw with a washer (or broad head) to secure it....Maybe even a dab of GOOP along with the screw. (The acrylic is strong, but brittle, and can break if you're not gentle with tapping it out.) A stronger connection could be arranged with a piece of metal pipe or conduit that the rod fits into, snugly- That would spread the strain over a larger area. You can get cast iron floor flanges and pieces of gaspipe nipple in almost ANY size, and the flanges have four handy screwholes. EMT fittings work well too....When I need to solve a mechanical-connection-issue I'll often go to the hardware store and just walk down the electrical and plumbing aisles....The right pieces can often jump right out at you!
Sounds like this is going to look cool when finished...I'm looking forward to seeing it! So those WERE Jello brains! Where'd you get BOTH hemispheres of the brain? I didn't know they made both! (Being an artist, I was mad that I had to settle for LEFT brain hemispheres only....)

[robotland]

oops...first time with the EDIT function.

[the_iconoclast]

I suggest contacting Mister Jellyfish... he has brains mounted on a rotating tube... we won't even talk about his art project...

[RevDusty]

I've got a feeling that there will be a lot of brains floating, rotating, speaking, and probably doing some other things unthought of for brains on the playa very soon.

I'm gonna get some acrylic rods and drill and tap them this week and see if it all works out. I think I've got the idea from all your help:

rebar in the ground. PVC of some plastic tube over it. Surrounging the PVC will be 5 (or so) acrylic rods forming a tight circle around the tube. These will be tapped and attached to a box housing the speaker and electronics. The brain will be mounted on top of that. I think it will work w/o guy wires (as was suggested). I'll check it out here at home and see how it works.

Now...I'm gonna start a new thread soliciting participation (of a small and easy sort) for this project. Check it out...I'll call it "Floating Playa Brains want your dreams!"

Here's the link for the source for the top hemisphere of the brains I am using. If anyone knows of a full brain, please let me know.

http://www.scienceartandmore.com/
(Note: I have no affiliation with the company).

Come visit us on the playa...I will arrive late Wednesday and set up the brains on Thursday. We are Mohammed's Mini Martini Camp & Erotica. Last year we were at 9:00 & Esplanade...we are trying to locate there again this year, but won't know for awhile.

[robotland]

Hey, there's some GREAT playa names on that site! I especially like "Budget Brain" and "Mr. Thrifty Skeleton".

[RevDusty]

Hmmm..."budget brain" sure sounds like someone got shortchanged. Although maybe that's the way we feel by the end of the week.

Check out my other thread and send some dreams. The brains need to speak!