It's Arts & Crafts Time! (Marker Stands)

So last night Mkeeks came over so we could do some full rebuilds and field strip some markers. At the end of it all, it was sprung on her that there might be arts and crafts to do as a surprise gift for the holidays.  Little did she know, I bought enough materials to make 2 marker stands!

HOLY MARKER STAND!

Going with a couple of designs that were on the web I decided that we'll be building the traditional triangle stands out of PVC.

Utilizing two 5 foot lengths of 3/4" PVC pipe, two T connectors, and six 90° elbows, we started in on measuring and cutting the pipes.

Parts:

• 2 - 15" pipes
• 5 - 4" pipes
• 2 - 5" pipes
• 6 - 90° elbows
• 2 - T connectors
• 3 - 2-3/4" pipe insulation sections

Assembly:

Morty Approved!

• Connect two 90° elbows with a 4" piece, repeat
  (Slide an insulation piece between the elbows)
• These will be your bases
• Connect a 4" piece to the two T pieces
• This will be the barrel rest
• Grab one of the bases and connect the 5" pieces
• Take that assembled piece and connect it to the barrel rest
• Connect two 4" pieces to the other side of the barrel rest
• Take the other base and connect the 15" pieces
• Use the remaining two 90° elbows and connect the 2 halves together

There you have it... With a little measuring and sawing, you now have a quick and dirty PVC marker stand in a few minutes!

HOT BONUS ACTION!

It needed some sort of zazz!

Aesthetics:

Not being one that is content with a plain white/generic stand with manufacturing print all over my creation, I took it a step further. With the power of vinyl (from my vinyl cutter) I measured out the open pipe length and diameter. While I had crazier colors on hand, I went with my basic red and black color scheme. The red came from gaffers tape since the pipe insulation will be taking more of a beating with the tank base, free base, and barrel rest.

Stabilization:

Cut down on the wobbly bottom.
Flatten your insulation!

As it was pointed out by a few people, the pipe insulation is a bit beefy and causes the whole thing to tip with an almost fully loaded marker. Fearing that this will cause the very thing that the stand is supposed to prevent, I opted to  get out a utility knife and do a clean slice off the bottom to match the diameter of the 90° elbows. This totally did the job! (Make sure to do this BEFORE wrapping the insulation, for obvious reasons.)

Glue up:

Flat Pack!

Not a fan of it creaking everywhere with a little weight, I opted to reinforce the design. Using a sanding block to rough up the connecting areas that hide inside of the connectors, I was ready for glue up. While I could use PVC primer and glue, I decided to just go with what I had on hand. I spread CA glue on the exposed pipe and accelerator on connector. Everything was glued and re-squared back up but I left the 90° elbows on the 15" pieces unglued as well as the pipes connected to the tops of the T connectors. This will allow me to do a quick breakdown for storage. 

• Pull the 15" pieces off
• Twist the 90° elbows inward
• Stow!

So here is our take on the traditional marker stand. Make your own with the base measurements we've provided and deck it out! Show us what you've built!