Prior to putting the components together I laid this out to show how the hot band would slip over the stopper and then the cold can with "PAM" would be tapped into the band, stopping at the wood insert. Notice that I had 4 pairs of can's with narrow bands joining the cans bottom-to-bottom. Now it is time to join these pairs of cans with wide bands, with the cans oriented top-to-top.
I only ran into troubles when I attempted to tap a set of cans into place, but I tapped against a band. They are just not stiff enough to take that abuse and that resulted in a split band. Always start with any can combination as shown above, and then connect groups of cans by tapping them together, with the band between the cans.
Although the "pipe" is meant to just be a ventilation duct, there is benefit to the pipe being able to at least maintain it's shape. As a test, I wrapped the 4 x 4 wood block in a towel and hung it at the mid-point of the cans as they were supported on each end by the chairs. There was very little deflecton so in the hot environment of a solar collector, just supporting it's own weight, which for aluminum is pretty light, I suspect these "pipes" made without glue, fasteners or tape will do quite well.
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