diy bear canisters?

I was thinking I should add a bear canister to my gear. Quick look at prices got me thinking.How would pvc pipe work as a bear canister? Pvc pipe with a cap and screw on lid. Maybe a smaller one to carry in pack. And a larger one to leave at camp. Pvc drain pipes come in large enough sizes.
Is pvc strong enough? Does a bear canister have to be odor proof? Will be adding loops for ease of hanging away from camp regardless. Any other possible ideas for a diy canister?
Thanks.

A DIY bear canister out of pvc pipe will only work if a bear never tests it out. In other words, the moment a bear lays paws on it, but especially jaws on it, it will fail. Not fail just a little, but completely. If you have the wherewithal to make a steel bear canister at home, it would probably work, but it would be much heavier than the commercial canisters.

There is a good reason why the commercial canisters are expensive and DIY canisters are for all practical purposes non-existent. Bears are extremely strong, highly motivated and very smart. Commercial canisters are tested by filling them with tempting food and giving them to a grizzly to play with. It is a hard test to pass.

Bear canisters have to go through a testing and approval process, so a DIY canister would be illegal.

Biggest problem with PVC pipe is that it is too small in diameter--bears can get a 6 inch pipe into their jaws. And once that happens, it's over.

I agree with all of the above. This is a bad idea. To answer some of you specific questions:



Terribly



Not if it is a small diameter and if it is a large diameter then end caps will not be strong enough



No. A bears sense of smell is greater than a blood hounds. Hiding the smell of food from a bear is like hiding the smell of drugs from the TSA dogs on the border. It doesn't work.



As others mentioned DIY most likely will be heavier than commercial products; it probably won't work; and it will not be compliant with regulations. If bear bag hanging is legal where you hike, you can do that DIY.

ABS in a large enough diameter that Mr/Ms bear can't get their jaws around, and end caps equally sturdy that cannot be gnawed off, might possibly work or more to the point, for bears that recognize and ignore canisters might dissuade them from trying.

But I'd stress out myself worrying and in required areas it would not be regulation-compliant.

OTOH for places where other, smaller critters are a problem it would be just fine. Plenty of folks lose food to squirrels, raccoons and the like.

Cheers,

I like the way Rick is thinking about this. Don't use it in required areas, and only use it for mini bears.

What do y'all think about 3d printing one in ABS?

The other issue with PVC is how you open and close it. If you don't glue it shut, the bears can open it easier then you can. If you do glue it shut...well...

3d printed container for minibears might work out nicely, but there are a lot of cheap repurposed items that fill that niche. Paying someone else to print it would be expensive, but if you have the printer and the requisite CAD skills you could probably come up with some neat ideas.

One issue could be that most 3d printed objects come out opaque. I like the transparency of my BearVault when looking for snacks at the bottom.