Fabricating Tent / Awning poles from EMT Conduit, A How To

[rayra]

So last night and today I built a new set of tent / awning poles, using EMT metal conduit. I'd previously made a set out of PVC -
http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...compact-flexible-design?p=1864380#post1864380
and while those worked great, their overall volume was more than I wanted. I'd only made the PVC set because I couldn't find an affordable set of the old Coleman-style metal poles. I found some online but their pricing + shipping etc was just ridiculous.
The other day while cleaning up and re-arranging my garage workspaces I was messing with some conduit scrap and a subsequent discussion with my electrician-neighbor gelled the idea to make a set out of EMT.

The idea uses 3/4" ID EMT for the lower / outer half and 1/2" ID EMT as the upper / inner half, the riser. I found a variety of pipe-end plastic guard (meant to keep the raw pipe from chewing thru wiring) which fit close with the inner pipe in place. This was mostly to limit rattle and noise. The nice finished look is a happy byproduct.

I swiped the link-pins from the fatter PVC set mostly as a cost savings, but the larger size also provides a big hoop you can hang things from, like a wet towel, etc. They have a 5/16" dia steel pin, so I drilled all the holes at 11/32" to give me a little play for misalignments and such.

I used a V-notch block in my cheap drill press to help me center the holes in the pipes. I also center-punched the drilling locations to help start the 1/8" pilot holes. Stacked up some scrap to support the other ends of the poles as I did the drilling. Took some work with a bastard file afterwards to clean up all the flash and raised lips in the drilled holes.

To make a protruding pin at the top of the pole, I used some 1/2" OD wood dowel in 1" lengths to fashion end plugs and drilled their centers to pass thru a 1/4"-20 carriage bolt, 2-1/2" long. Gives me a pin that sticks up about 1-3/8". These were glued in place w/ caulk. I was going to use epoxy, but held off in case I figure something better to use for a pin. All manner of things would work.

Then ends of the 1/2" pipes were wrapped in masking tape to bring them up to the inner diameter of the 3/4" pipe. Also to control rattle / noise.

The 1/2" pipes were drilled with a hole near the top, as were the 3/4" pipes, so the sets can be pinned in the 'closed' position. Then the 1/2" pipes were drilled in 6" increments for variable height settings for the poles. Down to about 9" from the bottom.

I sized my sets to 48" for the 3/4" pipe and 51" for the 1/2". About 52-1/2" overall, collapsed. Which will fit fine in my future 54" drawer platform. Fully extended they're a little over 7' tall, just fine for my vehicle awning project. Total cost for this set of 4 poles is about $33 and half a day of fooling around.

 

[pierceg]

Nice job.

 

[patoz]

That made a nice looking set of poles, and I'm sure they are very strong also!

Over the years, I have made several sets of poles myself, and mine were very similar to yours. I understand the reasoning for the tape on the bottom of the inner pole, but watch out when it rains. If the tape makes a fairly snug fit the outer poles fill up and the water cannot drain, which can cause rust if they sit very long even though they are galvanized. If nothing else, you'll get a nasty surprise when you go to pack them up at the end of your stay.

I also started with using wooden plugs to mount the 'spikes' at the end of the inner poles, but eventually upgraded to using Well Nuts in place of the wood. Well Nuts are normally used like this...

They come in all sizes and I found some similar to these that accepted 1/4-20 bolts, and would just slip into the ends of the poles I was using.

Then using all Stainless Steel hardware, I threaded a nut onto a 1/4-20 shoulder bolt to form a jam nut against the shoulder, added a washer the same outer diameter as the pole, then threaded it into the Well Nut. Once the Well Nut is inserted in the end of the pole, the bolt assembly is threaded down causing the rubber Well Nut to expand and lock itself into the end of the pole, making a strong and watertight connection. You could also add a little sealer around the rubber if you wanted to make it even more secure. Once all of this is done, cut the head off of the bolt and dress it with a grinder.

 

[mhiscox]

Thanks for posting the useful information. I'm sure I can make good use of it.

 

[rayra]

ah thanks for the well nut info. I'm familiar with similar products for plugging larger pipes and for tie-downs for vehicle stakebed pockets, didn't occur to me there would be some in these EMT pipe sizes. That would be just the thing, just need some threaded rod and a couple nuts.
The masking tape wrap is loose enough the pipe slide without drag, they shouldn't trap water (much) and I'm operating in the SoCal high deserts, water is pretty much not an issue in that regard. And the bottom of the pipes are open as well. They have the plastic guards on them as well.



The large hoops on the link pins also add some nice features.

The poles can be nested into each other into a compact bundle without any extra ties or bag.

But it would be easy to add a pair of velcro straps or even paracord to one pipe base and use that to lash all four together. But since I'm sewing stuff with ripstop nylon I can readily make a stuff sack for them, along with their cords and stakes.


The hoops can also serve as a hook.

Also easy to add an extra pin set or some S-hooks thru the extra holes in the riser section to hang string lights, lanterns, or even mount a side wall panel as a wind break or privacy screen

 

[chet6.7]

Nice work.

 

[tarditi]

Excellent DIY

 

[patoz]

ah thanks for the well nut info. I'm familiar with similar products for plugging larger pipes and for tie-downs for vehicle stakebed pockets, didn't occur to me there would be some in these EMT pipe sizes. That would be just the thing, just need some threaded rod and a couple nuts.
The masking tape wrap is loose enough the pipe slide without drag, they shouldn't trap water (much) and I'm operating in the SoCal high deserts, water is pretty much not an issue in that regard. And the bottom of the pipes are open as well. They have the plastic guards on them as well.

A lot of people wouldn't think of that, but I can see now this is not your first rodeo with these things!

The large hoops on the link pins also add some nice features.

The poles can be nested into each other into a compact bundle without any extra ties or bag.

But it would be easy to add a pair of Velcro straps or even para-cord to one pipe base and use that to lash all four together. But since I'm sewing stuff with ripstop nylon I can readily make a stuff sack for them, along with their cords and stakes.

I started with using two bungee cords to keep them together, then two nylon straps with buckles, and finally just built a long slender bag out of some light aqua green Sunbrella material I had and added a drawstring at the top made out of 550 cord, with a nylon cord lock to open and close it. This works great, looks good, and keeps any water or dirt on the inside, and not spilling out in your camper or storage compartment. I also made it a little larger in diameter, so that I can add additional poles if I need too also. If I built another one though, I would also add a a wrap around style nylon webbing handle just to make it easier to carry with one hand when you have a whole armload of stuff.

The hoops can also serve as a hook.

Also easy to add an extra pin set or some S-hooks thru the extra holes in the riser section to hang string lights, lanterns, or even mount a side wall panel as a wind break or privacy screen.

Currently, I'm using a different style of adjustment for the poles I have, but I can definitely see the advantages of using the pins in your system as well. I love things that are, multi-functional in their purpose.

 

[rayra]

That is exactly the kind of pole design I was seeking to emulate / replace. But didn't look too hard for the friction lock device. Cheapest I could find the poles was about $15-16ea, shipped.

I also considered something like the mechanism used in swimming pool broom handles, the asymmetric plug that binds up when you twist the two tubes. But a brief search only turned up the larger pipe sizes and I wanted to go small. So I defaulted to the link-pin sets I already had on hand. I'm probably going to sharpen the end of the pin using my grinder, make the pin end more of a truncated cone, make it even easier to insert the pin without getting the alignment just right in the first place.

 

[patoz]

The ones I have now, like the one in the picture, work very well and are not affected by dirt or sand, but they are bulky and do not pack up into a tight bundle very well. They are also infinitely adjustable, which can be a blessing sometimes.

Yeah, I can see how getting two holes in two poles that can rotate and move up and down, and a pin to line up in two places can be a real pain, especially in bad weather. Tapering the ends of the pins will probably help a lot!

 

[SSSSTFIRE]

Excellent write up on the OP. Many thanks.


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[rayra]

another topic rescued from Photobucket's clutches

 

[spc15t]

Awesome.