Originally Posted by
WhollyHamaca
Hi folks, Just an update and an afterthought re. my low-tech, no-time-to-ship "quick-fix" for a snug fit of 3/4" poles into 1" emt sleeves: My nephew called to say the JB-Welded flashing spacers held up fine last night, and he's just set up again for tonight. Close assembly fit, no wiggles, and came apart easily to pack up again. The flashing spacers are still firmly glued onto the pole ends. He's pleased that I could make his stand portable on a few hours notice with materials I had on hand, and he's bestowed extra brownie points on his favourite auntie. Good enough given the time crunch, but not entirely to my satisfaction because the flashing was a pain to cut and roll tightly around the poles to get a good fit while also messing with the glue.
So (too late) I've thought of another way. It's not nearly as slick as the sleeve tubing suggested above, but I think it will work if you just don't have time or cash to order the tubing before your next trip out, or if your pole joints are too loose for whatever reason. And it may be stronger than the Al tubing sleeves?
I've repaired loose antique wood furniture and woodwind instrument joints by wrapping the tenons with thin linen cord and hard wax. Clearly that won't work well for anything exposed to weather or rough use, BUT it occurs to me now that I could have filled the gaps in the emt joints more quickly and easily with WIRE epoxied in place, wrapping the wire in a smooth single layer around the 3/4" pole end for 4" starting very near the end (so it will fit halfway into an 8" long sleeve of 1" emt) and leaving unwrapped spaces for the rivet holes. It might suffice to wrap the wire with some space between the coils (so it looks like a stretched spring wrapped around the emt), and epoxy the wire in place. The gauge of wire needed for snug joints probably is trial and error due to the tolerance range in the actual (not just nominal) ID and OD for the readily available big-box pipe & conduit. I think I'd rather use bare wire instead of insulated. Either way it will get covered with epoxy. I'll let you know how it goes when I get a chance to try it.
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