PVC blades are an excellent, quick, light, cheap and very easy. So how do you make them?
Choose the right size.
First you need to go through the usual "how big do you need them". Once you have decided the length you need to go and get your pvc pipe. It goes without saying you need to buy the same length as the blades. What size is governed by a bit of common sense. But incase you are not sensible, your pipe should be about 1/5 as thick as it is long. eg if you have 50 cm blades the pvc pipe should have a diameter of 10 cm. One length of pvc pipe can can make four blades.
So now you should have bought your pvc pipe and carted it back home. For my example, I'm going to make a set of 50cm blades. So here is my pipe.
Quarter the pvc pipe.
First of all we want to quarter the pipe. Now drawing straight line and measuring on round surfaces is hard, so the best method is to get a large sheet of paper. If you wrap the sheet tightly around the pipe you get a straight line round the pipe. If you line one edge of the paper with this line you can get straight lines going down the pipe. With the paper wrapped round the pipe you can mark the circumference. Then you can fold the paper in half and mark half way round the pipe. Then in half again and get quarters of the pipes. With these methods you should be able to draw good straight lines all over the pipe dividing it lengthways into quarters. Now run your saw down the pipe to cut it in half. Like so.
And then again into quarters.
Shape each quarter
Now for each of our four quarters we want to do two things
1) Cut out a rectangle from the base about 5 cms in, so we can easily attach it to whatever we want to. Before you do the cut, drill a hole in the corner to improve the structural integrity of the material. Once the hole is drilled cut the rectangles out being careful not to cut past the hole.
2) Cut from the high tip of the base to the point.
All Done
Then we are all done. We have four blades ready to use.
