lbagley112: You have been infected by an insidious disease, and are on a downhill slide, for sure! Welcome to the club!
1.) Your son seems bright.: )
2.) Slippage issues: This is my recent challenge, too. My early naive attempts to use tape to stop slippage have eventually failed, leaving a messy adhesive smear. It was a slow fail, however. More recently I use tape only to hold on a patch of rubber shelf liner in place while I can lash over it, then bound that VERY tightly with my many lashings. I currently use mason's line for lashings, with about 12 wraps - a good inch, then frap very tightly. It still slips over time. The smooth conduit, combined with a relatively vertical stance of the legs we are using for indoor application causes this. Bamboo slips, too; some much worse than others. This has puzzled me, because I will use a bamboo stand many times, then suddenly it begins to slip. I have about decided that humidity, or even drying bamboo may be a factor. Someone suggested dipping the ends in that rubberized coating used on tools to coat the ends like chair leg cups, but I wonder if this coating might also curtail slippage of the lashings.
Although I don't like them, I have added screws and small nails just below the lashing. With my most recent version, I plan to drill holes above and below the lashings to run a small line or wire around the whole lashing area, in line with the conduit, trying for a smoother profile. I don't do drilling in metal, so I am waiting for that to be a priority on my honey-do list. We finally got the new furnace installed last weekend so it has moved up at least one notch!
3.) Laying in the woods is generally best! Seriously, I am not sure what you mean when you write, "It doesn't seem to lay the same as in the woods." Each stand is different, and the thinner, lighter materials definitely have a tentative feel to the sturdiness and steadiness. Once they are loaded, if all is well, they settle in But, IMHO and experience, you should continue a watchful eye. Your wife is right; she is a keeper. We ARE pushing the limits of sanity here in our pioneering to get smaller and lighter and portable in a rarified field of study. Indoor applications are hard because of slick floor surfaces, tight rooms, valued belongings, and folks around to see what we are doing, etc. Be safe as you explore the options. Stealth mode may be your friend.
Additional thoughts: Have you tried the chain link fence top rail? I think you will find it lighter than the 1 1/4" EMT conduit, and probably the connections will feel more secure. The fail mode scenarios of the top rail falling on or impaling me, with considerable force, worry me more than failure of the legs. I also try to think about the travel trajectory into walls and surrounding furniture. Experience is a good teacher? I have been lucky. Failure happens fast, and can be very noisy.
What kind of coupler did you use on the legs? I decided on the internal connection using the dowel for the legs because I wanted to spread out the area of conduit that would be contributing to carry the forces of that joint's tendency to bow under the weight, and the irregularity of how the metal cut edges would meet. I decided on 6 ".
I completely understand the fear of the top rail failing I kept touching it last night and it worried me to the point that I inserted a dowel just in case the die cast coupler decided to fail it would give me time to get out of the way. as far as the leg connections I used a pipe cut guide to keep my cuts straight them used my dremel to knock the sharp edges off. I think I may have a solution to my slip issue by using copper grounding straps under the lashings. they should be functional and aesthetically pleasing. The sad part is now I want to build old dogs stand too. an idea came to me last night about using a metal sleeve on his 2x2 wooden legs to make them easier to transport.
wow just realized what was causing the problem with my hang I didn't attach my ridgeline to get my 30 degree lay. sometimes I have to tap the forward assist.
I joined the club and feel like I really should add a link to my report. I call it the TurtleDog stand since it really is a combination of the two and probably wouldn't have happened without both (well... olddog is pretty inventive and might have come up with it but with this thread he didn't need to reinvent the tripod based hammock stand )
I'm out to lay in my hammock on the stand before it gets too warm out.
Here is my thread.
Dave
The best things in life aren't things. -- Art Buchwald
I want a TurtleDog Stand!
After the discussions with lbagley about sliding lashings, I hit the road Friday, my birthday, having packed my smallest portable conduit stand that had served me well 3 1/2 weeks in Pennsylvania and New York in October, for 2 1/2 months of life in Nashville TN in December - February, on my recent 9 day road trip to Florida and a plan to test my newest theory.
I had a fail of the wooden dowel leg section connector as I was cautiously testing my rig for the night. I arrived at my friend's house late, racing a thunderstorm, and with an addled brain from the day of packing my truck and getting ready for a face painting day for Military Families, and training new staff for the season. Several things contributed to the fail. The afternoon and evening had been very hectic. I decided to try out the idea of spreading the legs further than I usually do. I had "camped" in this living room many times before with bamboo stands and knew the old log home had slick hardwood floors. I trusted my rubber chair cups to handle the job, without adding the rubber shelf lining squares I usually pad the bottom of my bamboo legs with for this type of floor. I raised the spread limiters as high as they would slide on the conduit legs -- to the screw pin that stops the dowel connector. It was a very low hang. The fail was slow and I was unharmed when the dowel broke.
The hardest challenge was to get the dog out of my face so I could stand back up! She needed much assurance that I was okay. Upon examination, I found that the rubber chair cup on that leg was cut through by the conduit. Oh, NOW I remembered I had noticed that when I put the stand away after camping five nights on the concrete balcony of the high rise when I visited my sister in Florida. I had neglected to replace it. I suppose it is worth carrying the weight of steel rod connectors my wonderful friend Tom insisted on making, but which adds so much weight to the bag!
I stay with this friend and co-worker several times a year. It is time to for this Turtlelady to build a TurtleDog stand to leave at this house!
Joyfully, and Grateful for all the improvements on my original idea,
Turtlelady
Wow, this is a very cool stand idea. They're light, portable, and some look like they might be even easy enough for me to make
Are some of these stands sturdy and stable enough to be used indoors every night? If so, which of those designs might be easiest to make? Do you think they could be made to work with the larger Mayan or Brazillian hammocks?
YoYO: I use my TL stand every evening in the living room. It's been a fixture since last summer and hasn't failed yet. Mine's of tulip poplar saplings. Instead of spread-limiting lines, I used smaller sticks screwed to each leg to prevent both spread AND "collapse-inward". I'm sure you'd have no trouble making a semi-permanent stand for your every-night use. Good luck!
"Pips"
Mountains have a dreamy way
Of folding up a noisy day
In quiet covers, cool and gray.
---Leigh Buckner Hanes
Surely, God could have made a better way to sleep.
Surely, God never did.
Thanks Pipsissewa.
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