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ModPermalink Reply by SaFire* on September 29, 2009 at 9:30am

I LOVE THIS TOPIC!!!! What a great idea. I'll take the information posted and include it in the FAQs section. Well done Eternal Voyageur!!

Much love,
SaFire

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Permalink Reply by Eternal Voyageur on September 29, 2009 at 1:42pm

Oh I'm glad this took off ! SaFire, thanks !!!
You could maybe also include likes to regional hooping sites, like the Berlin Myspace page for Germany, and so on !

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Permalink Reply by Omwoods on October 1, 2009 at 10:47am

FINLAND

Some time ago I spent many days trying to find proper tubing and connectors in Finland and here are my findings. Other Finnish hoopers may want to add some more details.

The best tubing I used was called "poly" tube. Also it may be called PEM-tubing (PEM-putki in Finnish). Ask for it in K-Rauta, and other stores like that. Interesting thing was though that I couldn't find it in any of the biggest hardware stores in the city areas (Helsinki, Jarvenpaa, Vantaa, etc.) - only in the little bit more countryside hardware stores! I got tubing from two different places, and both places they kept that specific tubing in storage areas outside the actual store, so you have to ask for it - they may not have it on the shelf. You can buy it as much (or little) as you need, they will cut it for you - I got about 3m for one hoop. It's about 1-2e/meter. They have various thickness in this tubing, so you have to see which one you want. I recommend the smallest I saw, about 2,5cm wide.

Connectors (liitin in Finnish) you can find from Etola stores that specifically have a big selection of plastic tubes and accessories for industrial use (all of the Etola stores DO NOT have this selection) - I got a lot of connectors from one Etola store in Vantaa. Bring a piece of your tubing with you so you can make sure you get the right size connector. Also, some K-Rauta stores have plastic connectors for about 2-3e. You want them to be plastic, don't get the copper connectors, they weigh the hoop too much... The size of the connector I used was 22mm.

Tape (sahkoteippi) you can find in any hardware store, K-Rauta, Etola too, any of them. It costs from less than a euro to a couple of euros, depending on the size and amount.
These guys may have some shiny stuff for 5e (I didn't try this) http://www.spelektroniikka.fi/product_details.php?p=67.

Hope this helps! Happy hooping!

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Permalink Reply by Steph South on October 5, 2009 at 10:10am

England :D

I havn't made one, but I'm close to a place which does and for a good price, and will make one for how you want it.

There's a company called firetoys, they sell online but have a warehouse you can freely go down to in moulscomb. (Near Brighton, in the UK). If you wanted they'd let you buy an aluminium base and they have a variey of tape there. Also make fire and travel hoops, and are currently designing their LED ones.

(http://firetoys.co.uk/)

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StudentPermalink Reply by Bee on October 12, 2009 at 3:15pm

UK

Tubing: Plumbcentre- I've bought it in both sizes, 20mm and 25mm although i'm still not sure how the PSI works?! This tubing is the only one i've used and it works fine for me!

Tapes + connectors: fancy-tapes is the only place i've been able to find the straight connectors- and they have a huuuuge selection of tapes- they're amazing!

If anyone knows where i can get clear tubing i'd really like to make a glow simple hoop!! x

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Permalink Reply by Zbena on June 1, 2010 at 2:51pm

Canada.
I buy everything at Canadian Tire, with the exception of pretty things that I find elsewhere.
They usually run out of tubing often, but they've always got connectors and bungee cord and tape.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Potums on June 9, 2010 at 12:56pm

BELGIUM
(we are with very few here so I don't think it makes sence posting this :P )

After long searching for the right tubing, I now know the name for our tubing: it's called PE80 and has a blue stripe on it. In some DIY stores you can buy PE40 per meter, but that's way to soft! I had to buy 50 metres in PE80. For a connector I use a piece of pipe that's 1 or 2 mm bigger than the inside of the piping, after heating it wil fit. I don't use glue, but would advice to ductape it at the end.

I found gaff tape on stageservice.be,but I haven't tried it yet, and I've heard that you can use contact paper instead of mirror tape, so I'll certainnly try that in the future :)

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StudentPermalink Reply by MUreshii on March 3, 2012 at 10:46pm

Germany:

I found a Germanhoopshop that sells Tape and Tube too:

Happyhooping

Didn't try it out (have quite a lot still) but thought it could help :)

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StudentPermalink Reply by Tracy Phua on March 4, 2012 at 3:25am

NZ

I got my tubing and connectors from Mitre 10 Mega.  I don't have any professional hoops to compare with but these are pretty light, larger hoops made from this won't work well for breaks and reversals, but otherwise its working pretty well for me.

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StudentPermalink Reply by Tink in Tokyo on March 4, 2012 at 4:32pm

JAPAN

Read all the details here: http://spinmatsuri.com/2012/02/01/hoop-supplies-in-japan/

ポリエチレンパイプ　PE Pipe

1/2″ recycled black polyethylene is soft and flexible. Good for springy hoops no larger than 90cm. This is the pipe was are using to make charity hoops for Tohoku and the Peace Boat. It’s economical, only 9000 yen/120m roll, but you must buy two rolls or more.  http://www.omn.ne.jp/~do/per.html PER-12 内径16.1ｍｍ×120m

架橋ポリエチレン管 PEX tubing

is stiffer than PE, so it makes good hoops for off-body, breaks, and larger size hoops. There are several Japanese manufacturers, including ONDA and Sekisui. The standard sizes we use are 13A (17mm OD) and 16A (22mm OD). 100m of 13A costs about 15,000 yen. http://www.meguro-seiwa.com/shop/25.html

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StudentPermalink Reply by MissCephalopod on March 8, 2012 at 3:15am

What a great topic! I just bought a hoop and pair of minis but now I realised I absolutely need more hoops (of course...) so I'm trying to save up and get myself some basic equipment to make hoops. This thread is so useful!

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StudentPermalink Reply by Melissa on March 29, 2012 at 11:14am

CZECH REPUBLIC

We have an array of DIY stores in Prague, all the ones that originated in Germany in fact: Hornbach, OBI, Baumax, Bauhaus...

The best tubing that I've found I usually get at Hornbach, but I've seen it at some of the other stores.  It's irrigation tubing and found in the Gardening section.  Here's a link to the product.  They have a stiffer, thicker one that comes in about 50 m sections, and is fairly cheap.  I've worked with the thinner one as well, and made some decent, if springy, minis from that.  

Connectors, though, are an entirely different story.  There USED to be the perfect (well, as near perfect as could be) connectors for the thicker tubing.  But as we all know, makers of irrigation systems don't create connectors with Hula Hoopers in mind (think outside the tube, people, please! ;) )  So, long story short, I can't find those connectors anymore.  Someone else in this forum posted photos on how to cut scrap of the same size tubing for a connector.  I prefer to use scrap bits of a slightly smaller tubing and bulk it up w/ duct tape.  This seems to give me a solid connection, and I also tape the seam with a bit of duct tape, to be sure.  And believe me, I'm no graceful princess when it comes to my hoops.  I drop them all over the place, on all manner of hard surfaces.  I lean on them, kick them when missing my timing on jumps, and in general BEAT THE LIVING HELL OUT OF THEM!  So far, so good, I'm happy to say :)

I also want to add that I bought my first hoop from an online shop in the UK that (at the time) had decent prices and the shipping wasn't so bad.  http://flamesngames.co.uk/

Tape, well, whenever I see electrical tape on sale (Lidl, of all places), I stock up on it.  Duct tape and electrical tape can be found at the aforementioned DIY stores.  I also picked up something that I like to call contact paper (also at Lidl).  It's a whole sheet of decorated plastic w/ adhesive backing.  It's fairly similar to glitter tape.  It just comes in a big, rolled sheet.  So if one had a tape slitter or blade from Fancy tapes, one could easily cut this into strips and pretend it's really a roll of glitter tape.  I also got some with zebra stripes!  And I like that there are other possibilities with such material, for instance cutting out shapes (I'm partial to the Jolly Roger ), and these could be used to create even more interesting hoop designs....

Thanks again to Eternal Voyageur for starting this thread!

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