So, I got fed up with the constantly breaking 8-way joint at the top, so I decided to make one with metal with my friends at 23b Shop in Fullerton. Somehow, every project I bring there inevitably comes to involve welding...

Bad hair day at Industrial Metal Supply, but I am feeling very industrial metal...

I was going for the best possible fit *inside* the PVC pipe. The inside diameter is somewhere between 9 and 10 16ths of an inch. I looked at everything they had, but the only 9/16" I could find with anything approaching a decent fit was in the "thick walled" pipe section. It is still a little loose, but I think if we put a little tape on each pipe it will have enough friction to stay put.

Each tube is about 40", and I bought 5, so about 16.6' of pipe.

23b has a lovely specialty saw for cutting metal pipes that I made great use of. I made the long parts about 7" long, and the short ones about 3.25" so that when put together they should be about the same length.

This fellow didn't want to be named, but he helped by welding the 8 way joint for me.

Booyah! It is an 8 way metal joint!

PVC pipe fits on it!

I had to wrap the ends in blue painters tape in order to get a friction fit with the PVC.