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StudentPermalink Reply by Trish of Sirenhoops on February 15, 2012 at 8:51am

Similar to your situation, I had a bunch of 1/2" polypro left (from using as inserts for 5/8"), and decided to make some twins (I think they're 26" in diameter) because my shoulders give me trouble and I was thinking that the 1/2" would make a pair of the lightest hoops possible for twin work. To connect, I slit a 3" piece of the tubing vertically so that it can compress, and wedged it into the end to connect the hoop. I haven't even bothered using a rivet or anything to hold them; the tubing expands to hold in place. I can still pull them apart if needed. I sanded the inside. They're about 130g each, quite a bit lighter than a set of the same size made with 1/2" PE.

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StudentPermalink Reply by Elizabeth K on February 15, 2012 at 9:47am

Brilliant.  Thanks :)  

Yeah, I've switched to polypro but I don't want to just toss the HDPE in the trash.  Plus having a non-melty pair of minis to keep in my car in the summer will be nice.

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StudentPermalink Reply by Elizabeth K on February 16, 2012 at 7:57pm

I did it!!  It worked perfectly.  :)))

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ModPermalink Reply by Martika* of MartikasMysticDesign on February 15, 2012 at 8:53am

HHmmm well if I were in your shoes I'd try using a wooden dowel the size connector you need and screws made to screw into wood. This will add weight. Since your using very light weight tubing it may not matter much :/. However, it may off balance the hula hoop depending how heavy it is.But it's worth a try, wooden dowels costs less than $3, not sure how much wood screws cost though. Not sure of a place that sells hdpe tubing that small but i'll look around.

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StudentPermalink Reply by Elizabeth K on February 15, 2012 at 9:36am

Hmmm... I definitely don't want unevenly weighted hoops.  But maybe I'll give this a shot if Trish's idea doesn't work.  Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Satyam on February 15, 2012 at 9:57am

I've used wooden dowels on HDPE.  The dowel connectors are light, hoops are not imbalanced.

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