Rope,cord,string from Recycled Water Bottles!

This Instructable will show you how to craft rope,cord,string ,from used Water Bottles !

Step 1: What we will need.

Empty water bottle scissors,blade.

Comments

[casey321b]

Wonderful idea. I'm going to put this to action really soon.
A few thoughts would be--
•Use gardening gloves on one of your hands to avoid getting cut, and being able to hold the 'cord' away from the other while you cut.
•The other idea, from listening to everyone else comment about size, sharpness, and straightening the cord after you finish: Get someone else, or fashion up a rig to hold one end of the cord, so you have two hands available, and pull the cord above a flame. If you get the tension of the person holding the cord correct, and find the right speed for pulling it through the flame, you could straighten it, stretch it slightly thinner, and melt those sharp sides.

[Delo97]

For straighting it, put a weight to the end and fix it to a 2nd/3rd floor window

[birchtree]

@santy22: hi! i'm curious on what type of device could cut PET bottles into uniform strips & has a stopper? what is it called? thanks =)

[Pamcuracao]

i love the simplicity of the idea, and of the slide show. Thank you

[imshanedulong]

I like this idea. But with the video, did you really need the instructions? It is after all, simple.

[Grey_Wolfe]

A lot of the members here prefer written instructions and tend to chide people for posting only a video. Still, doing both is a good way to cover the bases. Neat idea, Bara. Doubt I would have thought of it myself.

[imshanedulong]

Personally, I prefer a video.

[zleebme]

I will normally skip a video for a couple of reasons 1. Most people play really annoying music to make themselves look cooler 2. Reading requires no buffering 3. You can go back and take more time

[starrymirth]

 If you live in a third world country, and have slow internet with limited bandwidth, then text is MUCH more preferable. 

Between my mother, sister and I, we share 1GB a month at 386Kb/s. Loading and watching just a few short YouTube videos wipes out our internet connection pretty fast!

My university has a slightly better connection, but they restrict YouTube a lot because of the videos, with certain caps and quotas.

Anyway, to the Instructable - it's a really cool idea, but the words don't always seem to follow clearly (especially between step 2 and 3). 
How versatile and strong is the resultant product? What happens if you put too much tension on it?

[spark master]

I know many people here in USA with slow bandwidth. When broadband was first being offered they advertised some huge number of people were signing up. Those were buisenesses , because the actual number was about 10-12 % , but they hyped like soon everyone in America would have it but you. The numbers still are not as big as one would think. Many people in this country can't afford mortgage payments and rent money is getting hard to come by, thanks in big part to Mr Bush's War. So one of th efirst things that goes is cable. That being said many people I know have gone back to much slower speeds. If they need to see stuff that requires big bandwidth, they go to a pubic library. On groups I am on we used to fight people quoting other people's messages with 4 pages of commentary all of which is uneeded, and then add their terse 2 word commentary, "I agree". But, video's are nice too, and sometimes seeing it done is better then print, but still image instructables, done well are really good maybe better sometimes.

[Genises]

hmm i might just make an instructable on how to make a homemade version of that ribbon cutter thingy...

[spark master]

did you ever make the instructable on this, it would be neat. One does need to be careful with this as it is very very very sharp. I can't imagine using it for jewelry UNLESS you flame the edge making it safe. think paper cut on steroids. nifty instructable though. sparkie

[Genises]

i made the rope cutter thing but the problem is that the string itself isnt fine at all I didn't want to put up an instructable on this only to have a bunch of people mad at how the string sucks :P

[urbanwoodswalker]

In Brazil, clever artisans have designed cutting tools to quickly spiral the bottle around, while it cuts the exact width "cord" from stat to finish. Does anyone have these plans to buid one?

With this way posted above, one cannot truly get the same width exactly all the way through.

[tomio_kito]

the following, link exchanges pet bottle

http://artesasdalinhaentrerios.blogspot.com/

 

contact:  [e-mail]

[tomio_kito]

the following, link exchanges pet bottle

http://artesasdalinhaentrerios.blogspot.com/

 

contact:  [e-mail]

[tomio_kito]

Feleti machine, easy to cut strips as you need for recycling.

link:

http://www.anunciegratis.com/anuncio-cortador-filetador-garrafa-pet--88481.html

[DeadlyDad]

1) Hammer a finishing nail into a piece of wood. 2) Stab a utility knife blade into the wood beside the nail, the desired strip-width away from the nail and tape both together. 3) Use scissors to start cutting a strip. 4) Thread strip through gap between nail and blade. 5) Pull on strip until done. C'est facile, n'est pas?

[hishealer]

I wonder if I could cut it thin and even enough to use for jewelry string?

[almateus]

http://www.utsumi.com.br/pet/English/filetador/index.html
Here you can find a machine that cut the bottle into different sizes of ribbons, perfect for crafts. It was developed here in Brazil, very interesting system.

[hishealer]

Very simple and elegant. I bet someone could recreate that here in the US... maybe on an instructable even... (Throws hints) I bet those strips are a little less sharp, but not much

[Whitedude0728]

Great instructable, whish i had bottles without designs to try this

[cowscankill]

2 liter soda bottle? Usually they don't have designs.

[tracyandrook]

I just made some of this. Owww, the scissors creates sharp snags that can act like razor wire. Will try masking tape next. Cordage must be kept from the crazy playful cat or surely she will hang herself in it. Could make for a bad morning.

[avaistheone]

Very innovative idea. How would one secure this ribbon or rope if you used it for packaging?

[Shadowfury]

Melt it together?

[Mattrox]

very clear good instructions. but what can you do with th "cord"

[bodelon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hc3KGR0bks&feature=related

[Grey_Wolfe]

That's awesome. Very fast and easy.

[macrumpton]

I wonder if you could use an electric can opener to cut the strips? Just cut off the bottom of the bottle and stick the bottle sideways against where the can usually goes and press down on the handle and go. You might have to start the cut manually with scissors so it will make a spiral rather than a ring of plastic.

[macrumpton]

There are a kind of metal shears that have 3 blades, with the two outer blades attached to the upper handle and the middle blade connected to the bottom handle. The blades are thick enough that it cuts a 3/16 wide strip out of the center of whatever material you are cutting. I use it on aluminum flashing, but it would work fine on this.

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

there is a tool that can cut leather into thongs, it would have some good application here, resulting in even strips and allowing the maker to vastly speed up the process. I wonder if you could use one of those handheld apple peeler thingies if you mod it out a bit? I see them at thrift shops all the time.

[mum]

Could some1 make 1 (not me, but would try if someone came up with the idea? Cath

[bodelon]

find www.contenidoneto.com FER

[Valche]

Is that a "Mr. Beer" bottle?

[santy22]

here in argentina, someone created a special device for doing that. its the size of a kiwi and has a blade with a stopper that lets you range from 3 mm to 1 cm. Also, we make chlothes with that.

[rightbraincreative]

Very interesting idea. I saw an artist's installation exhibit where the artist used the same concept, but wider strips, and weaved a whole blanket. Not exactly "comfy", but made for an interesting hanging. He also cut rings from the bottles and made chains similar to those you create in grade school from strips of colored papers. Keep thinkin" green!

[scavanger]

I'm thinking that scissors may be easier to keep the width uniform? Not sure what to use it for but.......braiding or twisting the strands and then heating it up may yield some interesting results.

[wiley coyote]

I've done this and they can be useful. You could restring a lawn chair possibly. I've used masking tape, in the past, to mark an even spiral down the bottle and then cut following the tape. It produces very uniform strips or straps. You can make them wide or thin. They are very strong, but don't tie well because they are flat. There are other ways to secure it. Once secured you can also heat shrink it to tighten the strap.

[dung0beetle]

Where was this when I was stranded on that Island and had to make a raft, but I had no rope? I had to strip the bark off of saplings and braid it all together. It drove me insane. I started talking to a volleyball. His name is Wilson. Nice guy, but he's a liar, don't listen to him....oh, um... that wasn't me...sorry...I think I'll go now.