Monster Playstand Tutorial

[Birdman666]

With a single, it's even easier, because you just have four posts, so it eliminates a lot of fittings.

Just use one of those 2 foot sections, then you can do the six inch and end perches directly into that.

For the lower perches, you can make a box with a cross in the center, and that will be very stable.

The middle perches will be the same as the base, only using four way connects instead of T connects.

And the top will have four arms, instead of six.

Like I said, I kept the design simple, so it's stable, easy to construct, and easy to scale up or down.

You can do this...

 

[JamJar]

Sandpaper irritates their feet. I don't like using sandpaper perches. Gorilla tape works really well. It holds up, and the birds don't chew on it. You just have to wrap slowly, one at a time. It's not like vet wrap, where you can just do the whole pipe in one sitting. I used to use vet wrap, but it gets nasty fairly quickly, and you end up having to re-do the whole thing every 3-6 months. That gets old, fast.

I used I inch PVC pipe.

I use the half inch for conure sized birds, one inch for the larger birds.

Thanks for that! il be starting mine tomorrow il add some pics up on the forum for people to see

1" i think will be too big for my Zon I'm prob going for 1/2"

thanks !

 

[Psittaciformes]

Is electrical tape safe to use instead of gorilla tape? Saves lots of money, but if it's not safe I'll just use rope instead...

 

[Birdman666]

Is electrical tape safe to use instead of gorilla tape? Saves lots of money, but if it's not safe I'll just use rope instead...

I don't know. They might chew on it.

I'd go with cloth athletic tape before I'd go with electrical tape.

I've used gorilla tape before, on the old one, and it held up well and they didn't chew on it. That's why I went with that stuff.

 

[Dopey]

Mark - that is awesome.

 

[Birdman666]

Mark - that is awesome.

Thanks.

My "best ever" is the one I'm still building in my head. This table idea is a good one... And I'm actually thinking it's going to be better than any commercially available playstand on the market...

But we'll let the forum decide...

If it turns out the way I think it will, I may make 6-8 of them, and take them to the next bird fair. See if I can sell them...

 

[Dopey]

I ended up using gorilla tape as perch wrap, but it was late at night and the only color they had was black. Well, it turns out every single one of my birds is terrified of black perches... So today I redid it again using gorrilla camiflage colored tape, which turned out really cool.

WHAT is Gorrilla tape and where can I get it?

 

[Birdman666]

I ended up using gorilla tape as perch wrap, but it was late at night and the only color they had was black. Well, it turns out every single one of my birds is terrified of black perches... So today I redid it again using gorrilla camiflage colored tape, which turned out really cool.

WHAT is Gorrilla tape and where can I get it?

I got mine at Walmart next to the paint department. It's gaffers tape. Which is like duck tape only much, much stronger.

About four or five years ago, I got sick of replacing the vet wrap on my old one, and replaced sections with gorilla tape. They didn't chew on it, and I never had a problem with it in all that time. It was a quick fix that lasted...

 

[Dopey]

Hmmm, I guess now I have a reason to go to Walmart. I thought I had finished my shopping for this week. Although the natural color vet wrap works really well for my birds.

 

[Anansi]

Great tutorial! And I can see how that playstand would keep several birds well entertained. Either when the time comes to replace my two java stands, or when I figure out where I could put another large playstand, I'll definitely be referencing this thread. Already bookmarked!

Thanks for taking the time to share, Mark.

 

[Birdman666]

Sarah just called me.

They just dropped off a load of grapewood at the house...

The next one is gonna have to wait until after the superbowl, and after I finish my desperately needed housecleaning...

Give me a few weeks before I go overboard again, but I am even more excited about the next project...

 

[Birdman666]

Oh, Man! These things are awesome!!!

Enough to do a quadruple grapevine table, with two matching end tables!!!

How cool is that?!

 

[June2012]

Okay. Photos are up... My work here is done. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP WENDY!

The new play table may actually end up being TWICE as cool as this... I'll do the same thing with that one.

MAN OVERBOARD.

HAPPY CRAFTING...

Is there a way I can see the pics? I saw the tutorial part of putting it together. I would love to see the end result!

 

[Anansi]

All of the pics, including the finished product, are all on the first page.

 

[Runzbarrel]

I stumbled onto this DIY project by searching for a DIY parrot stand. I went out and bought all of the supplies to start making this for my new Macaw "Crackers". I was working outside in the driveway so I had plenty of room and a flat surface. I laid out my pieces and got the glue ready cause I wanted to glue the base together. When I got to adding the 6" pieces it became obvious that my elbows weren't level. No big deal I thought. I started on the other end. Same thing happened. Thank goodness PVC is cheap since I have to start over. The only pieces I'm going to worry about gluing is the straight pieces. I also called Pacific Fiber and Rope today and ordered a 6x4 cargo net. Very nice people. Hopefully I'll have this thing built by the weekend. This Macaw likes to be out of his cage but needs something to keep him busy so he doesn't wander around the house terrorizing everyone else lol

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hi Runzbarrel, and welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear you ran into some 'little' issues with the playstand. Good luck with it, and I'm sure you big mac will love it!

 

[Birdman666]

Yeah, the glue dries almost instantly...

And the folks at Pacific Fibre and Rope really are good people, and you get a good quality product, custom made, and fairly quickly.

Can't say enough nice things about them, and way cheaper than bird store prices...

 

[Runzbarrel]

Grrrrrrrr! I officially hate PVC! When I first started making it all I had was a hand cutter so my cuts weren't perfect. Yesterday I got a ratcheting cutter that made things so much easier. Today I got the fourth level made and it wouldn't go on. Everything was off by more than 2in. When I forced it on the bottom popped apart. So now I'm taking everything apart to redo the base. Ugh.

 

[Birdman666]

Well, I guess this is a bad time to mention the table saw...

With the right saw you're done with all your cuts in five minutes, and they are all identical.

Doing this by hand would be a pain...

 

[Runzbarrel]

Pain is an understatement. We don't have a table saw unfortunately.