I've seen some nice frames done with arrow shafts. And of course I'm looking to emulate.

Having diffilculties finding a solution to joinery of the shafts. I could machine something, AL or Peek, but really, I'd like to find something at the hardware store, somekind of plastic elbow.

Any bright ideas? Am i missing the obvious?


Many thanks! Great site!

Deleted by Dan. Too quick on the draw

Edited by zelph on 11/02/2009 11:38:59 MST.

you could check out kitebuilder.com

they have some joining options for small diameter tubing, mostly made of plastic though, so they would be the weak links in the frame

Reading over at Kitebuilder they recommend using solid carbon tubes to join hollow tubes. I have no idea how well this works for a tent though.

> they recommend using solid carbon tubes to join hollow tubes. I have no idea how well
> this works for a tent though.
Strong enough, but an unworkable idea. Being solid you can't get bungee cord down the middle, and you NEED bungee cord to keep the joints mated.

Cheers

threaded 8mm barstock fits the inner diameter very nicely. This coupled with a cold weld (jb) would be quite satisfactory.

This is not an easy solution because I lack the proper manf tools to make the kinds of bends I want with the 8mm steel. The radius winds up being very large, then when you factor in I need 8 of these, you're talking about 18" of steel. Not light. Not satisfactory.

I'm not making a tent.

This is for framing on a backpack.

These AL shafts DO bend ok, along 2 axis, and all I need is to drum up a joinery solution of these pieces. Maybe I will saw on 45 deg andles and directly abut and JB weld them. This is my best option so far.

Will check out kitebuilder when I can.

Thanks for your help.

As long as you have a handrill (drillpress) and only require 90* bends....think about bonding the shafts inside a hole rather then overtop a cylinder.

Buy some dice (dice - yes, the ones you roll) and drill a hole (same size as the arrow shafts - OK, just a tad bigger) in adjacent sides. Put JB weld in hole, place arrow shaft in hole - voila!

Why dice? I was going to recommend plastic or aluminum but dice are super cheap, very hard, ultra light, and if you go to a games shop type place, they come in all types of sizes.

Anyway, that's what I'd do :)

I have bent aluminum tent poles with a tubing bender and a little heat from a torch. Quest Outfitters sells pre bent elbows in 45 & 90 degrees.

you could find a talented aluminum welder that could tack your 45 cuts together

just make sure they have a lot of experience welding thin aluminum, as it isn't easy.

Some notes:

Tube od = .349+ wall thickness = .012".


Kitebuilder did not have appropriate offerings. The JB Weld was also a consideration of mine but I went with a solution by chance.

PEX tubing, found at the local Ace hardware store, was OD 1/2, ID 350. Lo, this had a snug fit to the arrows. (I had brought them into the store). It is also very stiff. I could also create radius as I wanted them.

And! twas only 3.49 for 48". Plenty.



I ran into other problems. Bending these arrows. What a showpiece pain in the butt.


I eventually did it, but i burned through a half dozen shafts to get it just right.

Pics will come when i get a digital camera. I suppose i could take one with the cellie and email it to myself and then go fetch it and put it up, but i'll wait till the packs done.

Thanks for the feedback everybody, I heartily recommend you check out PEX tubing if you're ever tasked to do this and happen to have Walmart's Hunter's Edge od350 AL arrows.

Depending on the size of arrow you are using you can use a piece of a smaller diameter shaft to put inside. You then glue it with Ferltite or epoxy and she's all done. If you want it to be a collapsable frame just glue one end and then the other will pop apart when needed.

Mike

How about this guy.

http://www.fibraplex.com/tentpoles.htm