Looking for weird part

Hi folks:

I'm looking for something odd. I want to find wooden or plastic cylinders about 3/4-1 inch in diameter and 2" or 3" long, with a small (1/4", 3/8") hole drilled through the axis. They have to be super cheap. (I've ruled out metal because that won't be super cheap.) Color and finish not important.

I'd settle for 1" long if they were super-super-duper cheap.

Any help will be most appreciated. McMaster-Carr doesn't seem to have anything like this, and I don't know where to begin looking.

Peace,
Paul

Can't use PVC pipe, hole too big?

check the dollar stores or toy stores for net , Broom handles , or wands
or that idea

Maybe Hobby Lobby or similar, or Michael's (an artsy craftsy store--don't know if you have them in MO). Do they have to be premade? You could buy a fat dowel down at the Ace & cut & drill.

sewing thread spool maybe.

What quantity? -Is it manufacturing-scale quantities?

The local surplus store has lots of things which I think can do what you describe, but I don't know what number you're talking about.

Keith

How about some dowling of the right size and cutting to length.

lots of places sell acrylic rod as well...

Home Depot

Perhaps extruded plastic tubing?

JR

Specifications are a bit vague, but couldn't you cut lengths of 3/4" or 1" PVC pipe (thick wall if you need the strength) and then glue end caps on them (drilled to the diameter you want? The end caps are typically not flat, but they are thick enough that you could make a flat area with careful employment of a belt sander. Now you've got me curious about the application!

A P

I don't think pipe or tubing will work for me. This has to sit tightly on the rods, but bear some weight from the things that sit on the cylinders.

And they need to be something I can go out and buy, not craft myself. I no longer trust my hands with power tools, and I need those hands. Okay, once in a while I'll use a drill press, but that's as far as I'll go. I'm way too klutzy to mess with a power saw.

Thread spools are probably the closest I've heard so far, but I suspect the holes are too small. The rods would have to be pretty thin, and won't be adequately rigid.

No, what I need are (ideally) molded plastic cylinders or cut-and-sanded wooden ones, with flat ends and holes through the middle. Cheap. I'll need maybe 100-150 of them, which is why they gotta be cheap.

Peace,
Paul

As I said, Home Depot is your friend: take one 2x4 peace of wood (wall stood), 1 inch long hole saw put in a drill press, and make your cylinders already with holes in centers. One press - one cylinder. Easy! I have lot of such cylinders left from drilling holes for speakers, but they are 3/4 inch long only and 4 inch in diameter. I can post a picture.

rubber/pvc doorstops/doorbumpers may do the trick.

when I build marimba mallets, I use polyurethane rod and drill a hole doww the shaft. 1' quantities are available at McMaster, but PEI urethanes is MUCH cheaper if you get >$100. They'd probably even drill the hole and cut them into pieces for you.

drilling a bunch of 3" deep holes with those hole cutters would REALLY suck I don't care how soft your wood is. Burnsville.

[quote author="Mbira"]when I build marimba mallets, I use polyurethane rod and drill a hole doww the shaft. 1' quantities are available at McMaster, but PEI urethanes is MUCH cheaper if you get >$100. They'd probably even drill the hole and cut them into pieces for you.[/quote]

McMaster would? Or some other supplier?

Thanks!

Peace,
Paul

[quote author="RogerFoote"]
One of the preferred methods is to first drill the center hole in a drill press, chuck it up in a lathe and turn the outside diameter to the desired dimension.[/quote]

That makes a (w)hole lot of sense. Let the center hole determine the outer radius. It accounts for a multitude of initial errors.

[quote author="RogerFoote"]Those hole saws totally suck at making cylinders. The coupon almost always cracks and they are brutal to remove from the saw. [/quote]

I thought they are totally suck at making holes for speakers, because they make cylinders that I do not need, and they are hard to remove from the saw. :green:

Teflon... Hmmm.... I like the idea of teflon front panels for speakers! Where to get it cheap? :roll:

Edit: found some; $1,000 for front panels for a pair of studio monitors. :green:
http://www.mcmaster.com/itm/find.ASP?tab=find&context=psrchDtlLink&fasttrack=False&searchstring=8545K145

Don't know if McMaster would have the right inner hole diameter for you-they don't for me. But if you need a bunch of these go with PEI. Otherwise, drill the hole on a drill press through the urethaine-it's never exactly centered that way though.

I tried to link the Mcmaster page, but they have a weird way there with no seperate pages on the website. Do a search for polyurethane and you'll see rod and tubing.