Tent stability?

[shishkaboy]

I am designing a new diy tent. My last one used wood for its frame but I want to do a pvc pipe frame this time.

My concern is the structure not being stable enough to support the weight of 3 fixtures.

Someone suggested instead of long runs of pvc cut them into shorter 2 foot lengths connected by t's and elbows.

I like this idea because I could prolly take it down in no time if needed and maybe even scale it up and down to fit wherever I need it.

What yall think?

 

[I wood]

Eye hooks in the ceiling above each light with a wire fastened to tent structure gave me piece of mind in a similar situation.
Works nice if you can deal with several small holes in the ceiling.

 

[queequeg152]

just use EMT tubing.

EMT is not especially strong structurally... but speaking flexurally its a shit load stronger than PVC.

for the elbow fittings etc. you can just use PVC elbows + large grub or set screws, or just run a bolt all the way through.

you could also use an EMT bender and EMT fittigns... bender is like 50 bucks though, and EMT fittings are pretty expensive as they are all die cast zinc aluminum w/ threads cut, gaskets etc.

pvc is so soft you probably would not even have to cut any threads... jsut get the right size drill bit and dont torque the fasteners too hard as it will pull out far easier without proper threads cut.

you could also just use wood for the connectors, but im guessing you dont have a drill press or a proper forstner set.

 

[queequeg152]

oh yea regarding the conduit bender, i was referring to how you can also use IMC with EMT. keep in mind thin walled conduit does not hold screws well so you would probably want to run bolts through instead of grub screws.

i forget which dimensions fit inside each other though, you would need to check first but i think the 1/2" EMT just barely fits inside the 1/2" IMC.