World exclusive: Crius Quad stripes for low cost custom furniture, building and construction

From the Real Lows Innovation Lab

Previously, you can build furniture using PVC pipes or rigid conduits. This is because the pipes can be joined by coupling and tees that fit together. Not so much for emt conduits.

It's a shame that emt is only about two dimes per ft. There are fittings but not designed to couple pipes together rigidly. Also, an elbow cost a few dollars. I am not aware of any tees.

One day I screw 4 EMT stripes together and put them around two EMT conduits at a cross. The rest is history. Contrary to intuition, the cross joint is as rigid as you get, even though the stripes are a little flexible. It is difficult to put the pipes in position even before the screws are tightened.

There is no movement in any direction. You can't even twist the pipes. I don't know how much load it can carry before slipping gradually over a long time. But I think you can support body weight with ease. And you can design around this possibility of slipping by using load distributing for example. And the load can be born by the length of the pipes instead of the joints, such as legs of a table.

The cost of each quad is about 5 dimes. Not too bad that is about twice of a PVC tee.

Imagine the possibilities! You can build anything from a small stool to a swing sofa in the yard. The joints are not as neat but it is much easier to design and build without the need for tees. It's much stronger too.

If you just need to fix two pipes in position without much load, you just need two one hole stripes instead of 4 two hole stripes.

I'm pretty surprised when I found out that my hardware store has an innovation lab online! I don't know how long they have it. But my impression is that they are trying to move away from hardware as soon as they can. The all important section is the appliances. Then anything connected to expensive remodeling.

A sq ft of flooring cost a few dollars. A can of paint can be over a hundred. They are just not interested to stock pipe fittings and emt fittings. Last year or the year before they ran out of EMT pipes around xmas, causing their competitor to mock them with the sign "always in stock" by the pipes. And for a long time the 25 pack of emt stripes are not restocked.

Once I was in the middle of a project in the midst of thanks giving. I ran into the store on black friday morning and caused a sensation. The guy in the pipe fitting section was very unhappy as if I jinxed their black friday. They had high hopes when I came in but I can hear him murmuring "stupid fittings".

I bet very few staff knows they have an innovation lab online.

Another great tip: you can sand the zinc coating with a sanding block (or paper) to give a brushed stainless steel finish! There's very little effort and the coating remains stainless. I bet it will take paint well too.

I discovered craft acrylic paint. They come in small bottles so you don't need to waste money or storage for a small job. They have all the colors, from pink to metallic copper. The brushes are truly washable with water. All are non-toxic with little or no voc. They are tough and some claim to be dishwasher safe ?! Some even use it outdoors and let it weather. You can also protect the color with some clear outer seal.