Hello, am hopefully getting my kit soon, and have seen the majority of the talk about building a frame. I saw some builds using unistrut, but has anyone used plain old steel framing? Like this kind:
I was thinking about using this so that there was less chance of warping, without the weight and expense of unistrut.
I was imagining a hybrid-type approach, where the build would mostly be made of wood, but a stud-metal frame would be behind the cutting area, so that there was a very flat base, but wooden legs, and either a wood or unistrut top beam.
I use these in the UK for lightweight partition walls. On their own they are nothing, easy to twist and bend by hand, but skinned with something like plasterboard or another sheet material they create a uniformly flat, rigid surface. In conjunction with something stiff for the top beam, perhaps also a frame around them to anchor, it could be a good idea for certain installations.
Certainly worth adding to the pot! (Although I don’t know how many more frame designs I can take!)
Those framing members assume that you are fastening them into the channels at
the top and bottom and assume that you have drywall on the walls to keep
everything in place.
the maslow isn’t sitting at the normal square angles that it’s designed for, so
you would have to make sure you keep everything in place.
Unistrut is signficiantly better for the maslow frame, but you could make this
work.
I would not use the materials you propose. Without careful engineering they will twist if your sheet goods do. They are designed for top and bottom channels and for gyspum board which won’t twist like a sheet if pine ply.
Welcome to our group. I would suggest if you going ot do this you make it a double sides module. Build it with top and bottom channel 1 inches on center but use OSB or Plywood on both sides. Just remember you want to be carful when cutting to never go all the way through and cut into a stud. The front side would be a permanent waste board.
My running idea is to NOT do this… build a frame, and if there is a problem with warping, this could be a solution. Here are the two ideas I had:
with a default or “bar bolt” frame, either cut grooves that could accept the steel studs, and then glue a backer board onto it. Shove some construction adhesive into the slot since I have weakened the leg. I suppose I could sister the leg with a bit of plywood on either side if I’m worried about strength.
Originally I was thinking along the lines of the drawing on the right, where I would make a sandwich of plywood to hold the metal studs away from the legs. However, this seems like both a lot of work, and it would require the top beam to be cantilevered an additional 1-1/4", which seems bad.
