Hello, curious what portable easy to setup/teardown lightweight frames people have already seen/built using EMT/Printed/Wood/MakerPipe/something(s)?
Funny thing is I could just bring a concrete drill, Maslow 4 and rigid foam boards to somewhere with reasonably flat concrete slab. Or quickrete + anchors if setting up on dirt/soil. That would be very minimal, but, assume making holes in existing slab/flooring isn’t an option, then…
Am curious what’s the minimal viable portable frame that will have Maslow 4 angled 15 degrees from vertical, but not more than 30 degrees from vertical. Like, throw into back of a truck portable, and still have plenty of room for other tools.
For me, leaning against the vehicle (when assembled) in a non marring/destructive/damaging way is ok, however, isolated self standing structure is preferred. Ideally the structure fits into a 6’ x 4’ truck bed / cargo area. So, a single piece of superstrut isn’t possible, could use multiple, but would like to keep cost down so EMT would be nice if it’s up to the task. Trying to minimizing weight and cost, so, $$$ carbon is not possible. Will only be cutting 1/4" to 3/4" plywood. Full sheet capable would be perfect, but cutting smaller than full sheet 6’ x 4’ is was better than nothing.
You would have to modify it to get down to the space you want it to fit in, but this could easily be scaled down and have swing-out legs added to put it at an angle.
Thoughts on ladder based frame, with telescopic square tube and CNC’d/Printed mounts to align and space them?
how tall are you going to be able to get with that (which will affect the
resulting cutting area), you should play around with this calculator to show you
what you can cut well with a given frame size (green is known good, red and
white are different types of errors starting to show up the deeper into the area
you get)
Have limited time, and bed truck space 4’ x 6’, for getting something ready for opensauce.com next week. Will do what I can, and likely extend/mod later when setup at home. Have to bundle my Maslow4 and V1E LR3 into truck bed during transit…
I would really question whether you will get the rigidity you need out of that set up, but would love to see it work - I’ll look for you at open sauce!
My experience on aluminum step ladders of the well-used variety is that they barely stand up on their own! M4 is not hanging on chains, its actively pulling the corners together. Someone earlier posted that they were having calibration troubles and that when tension was applied that the M4 was ‘floating’. I imagine that was due to the frame flexing into a bowl from the tension.
I would go for a variant of the butterfly/wishbone noted above. And instead of trying to minimize material usage, make 4 identical 4x6 torsion boxes with the corner outriggers and then bolt them together on site. Maybe skinned on both sides with 1/4" plywood so they are light and foam spoil board on top of that. And some access openings to bolt together, but getting it to be flat from there without milling the interfacing parts might be tricky. Basically that hourglass design bisected in both directions. That might exceed the enclosed height of your transport though.
This condenses down to 27"x54"x9" and is basically just a mini version of the wooden frame recommended by Bar with a 24" square working area and can be stood up or laid down. Not sure if you need a larger work area for this venture. I’m told the cross braces on the top and bottom of the frame might be overkill, but I wanted maximum rigidity.
Appreciate the input from folks. Really like CPL’s hour glass and the variants people are designing/building. Also like the idea of reusing doors I have left over from remodeling at some point for a workshop based setup.
Am likely going to make bunch of time and rigidity compromises to make this thing portable and fit in the truck bed.
My goal is to show it’s possible to cut 4’ x 8’, even if that means going slow and only using upcut bits, until if/when have time to make reinforced portable frame.
Torsion box is neat idea, am thinking whether I have enough time, 2020 extrusion and hardware to throw something together that reinforces ladder ends.
Bought some cheap 10mm pins, am trying out the “Triangle Anchor” linked on The Not Shop — Maslow. Looks like several folks are using PETG-CF. I don’t have a hardened nozzle, so am seeing how bad regular PETG will end up…
What’s recommended nozzle, infill, layer height, walls, (top|bottom)-layers, etc… for Triangle Anchor? Am trying 0.6mm nozzle, 0.32mm layer height, 40% infill, 3 walls, alternative extra wall (to help bind infill), 4 top/bottom layers.
Are folks printing with support structures, or do they have really well tuned bridging configured? EDIT: Nevermind… yes people print with support enabled. I just saw alternative corner model that can print without support (Layer lines not ideal orientation though near hole for 10mm pin? ) Corner anchor 3D Printable, no supports
You could easily scale up the idea that I put forward if you place the bolt holes in the right places to keep torsion down. I would assemble it, make sure it’s planar and clamped, then add t-nuts and bolts so it screws back into being planar naturally when you reassemble it.
If instead of doing half and half, you did 4 quadrants, you could fit a full 8x12 frame in a 4x6 truck bed.
This is the very beginning of an idea, but since you want “mobile”. Use your car/truck to your advantage. Perhaps fabricate a couple custom “things” that you drive onto (so your cars weight anchors to the ground" and then use roof rack rails to anchor to the top. Add a few upright 2X4’s to the design. And you could have a pretty easy mobile setup.
Thoughts on a portable minimal, no table, no frame setup… Parking high clearance truck (electric) on 4 corner plates that anchors attach to? Using rigid foam spoilboard, fix stock position somehow…
Good point, will try to figure out repeatable layout, and rely on cybertruck weight through the tires to pin down and rigidfy overall structure including spoilboard/stock.
. If I had more time, would try $ round EMT with printed and/or Maker Pipe fittings.
