Building and Construction - Simple tent frame structure question

Author

Simple tent frame structure question

Robert

2005-07-30, 7:21 pm

I am looking to create a rectangular tent frame, roughly about six feet
wide, four feet deep, and six feet high. I need the top to be flat.

I was thinking of purchasing tent frame, which I believe is usually narrow
diameter aluminium or plastic tubing, and then connect this tubing with
3-way joints. The joints would need to allow three tubes/poles to connect at
right angles.

The simplest plan would look like a frame of a table: I'd use four poles to
make the roof frame, and another four poles as supports. This structure
would only require four of the 3-way connectors. If this turns out not to be
strong enough, I could add a floor frame with another four poles at the
bottom; this plan would require a total of 12 poles, and 8 of the 3-way
connectors. Should be fairly cheap and easy to make, right?

Well, I spent some time at Home Depot, but I was unable to find any 3-way
right-angle connectors (which I found a bit odd.) I also went to a local
Eastern Mountain Sports, but there too I was unable to find anything. All I
could find were complete kits for tents, none of which allowed for a flat
top, and were of the wrong size. I've done a bit of searching on the web
through Google, but not knowing the precise terminology, my searches turned
up far too many hits. I looked at a couple of dozen sites, but didn't find
anything suitable.

Could someone suggest where I could purchase materials needed to construct
this rather simple frame? (From stores or websites.) Any help would be much
appreciated.

Thanks,

Robert

Andy Asberry

2005-07-30, 10:21 pm

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 22:16:32 GMT, "Robert" <rkscience100@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>I am looking to create a rectangular tent frame, roughly about six feet
>wide, four feet deep, and six feet high. I need the top to be flat.
>
>I was thinking of purchasing tent frame, which I believe is usually narrow
>diameter aluminium or plastic tubing, and then connect this tubing with
>3-way joints. The joints would need to allow three tubes/poles to connect at
>right angles.
>
>The simplest plan would look like a frame of a table: I'd use four poles to
>make the roof frame, and another four poles as supports. This structure
>would only require four of the 3-way connectors. If this turns out not to be
>strong enough, I could add a floor frame with another four poles at the
>bottom; this plan would require a total of 12 poles, and 8 of the 3-way
>connectors. Should be fairly cheap and easy to make, right?
>
>Well, I spent some time at Home Depot, but I was unable to find any 3-way
>right-angle connectors (which I found a bit odd.) I also went to a local
>Eastern Mountain Sports, but there too I was unable to find anything. All I
>could find were complete kits for tents, none of which allowed for a flat
>top, and were of the wrong size. I've done a bit of searching on the web
>through Google, but not knowing the precise terminology, my searches turned
>up far too many hits. I looked at a couple of dozen sites, but didn't find
>anything suitable.
>
>Could someone suggest where I could purchase materials needed to construct
>this rather simple frame? (From stores or websites.) Any help would be much
>appreciated.
>
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Robert
>
>

Google for tent and awning frame.

MikeP

2005-07-31, 12:21 am

In article <4%SGe.516136$cg1.324403@bgtnsc04-
news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, rkscience100@yahoo.com says...
> I am looking to create a rectangular tent frame, roughly about six feet
> wide, four feet deep, and six feet high. I need the top to be flat.

http://www.tentsupply.com/connectors.html

or google something like, tent frame corner connectors

Puckdropper

2005-07-31, 1:21 am

MikeP <noyb@noyb.com> wrote in
news:MPG.1d55f965ab86c1429896bc@news.dallas.sbcglobal.net:

> In article <4%SGe.516136$cg1.324403@bgtnsc04-
> news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, rkscience100@yahoo.com says...
>
> http://www.tentsupply.com/connectors.html
>
> or google something like, tent frame corner connectors
>

If you don't need all the posts lined up to form the corner, you could
use a 90 degree corner that immediately connects to a "T" connector.

It would be kinda like this:
*-T-----> <-- T-*
| |
| |

The * represents where the pipe bends, the Ts are the T connectors and
the lines are the tubing you use.

Puckdropper
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