Out of the Blue

[rebapuck]

I was on the road today, listening to the radio, when out of the blue came an idea about solid sides on a pop-up.

Try to picture this. A fixed strap runs from the bottom of the hinged wall, through a slot at the bottom of the pop-up top, to the top of the wall. As you lift the top, the strap slides through the slot, lifting the wall. Except for the weight, would this work?

[wagondude]

Google "Rolite camper". They were similar to what you describe, though your strap system would be unique. There is a Rolite near me that has been permanently fixed in the raised position. When lifting the top, the front and rear walls would pull up with the top. Then the side walls could be raised into position.

[OP827]

If the folding wall is connected by some strap in the middle and then the strap is connected to the bottom of the lifting roof, then it will work, similar to the video, look at the front folding wall there: https://youtu.be/BuK47--luPY

[rebapuck]

Thanks. I like the video method. All I really wanted to know was if it would work. I don't know why the strap thing popped into my head.

[jandmz]

The Apache popup had hard sidewalls that raised when the top was cranked up. It used a roller in each end that ran in a track in the roof. It seems that it would be a more simple method of raising the side walls. The link below shows the process starting at about 3 minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJfShH6lvB4

[les45]

Coincidentally I am building something similar to what you are talking about. My concept is to have the light weight wall panels stored inside and manually put in place after raising the roof. The biggest challenge with having the panels to raise automatically is trying to clear the telescoping lifting legs on each corner. I have started a journal of my build in the Build Journals Section ("A different kind of pop-up").

[WizardOfOdds]

Try to picture this. A fixed strap runs from the bottom of the hinged wall, through a slot at the bottom of the pop-up top, to the top of the wall. As you lift the top, the strap slides through the slot, lifting the wall. Except for the weight, would this work?

Hummm... I’m not sure of your scheme, so let me restate what I think the arrangement is:

The strap (cord) is anchored at the hinge and the top of the hinged wall but through an eyelet on the inside of the elevating top. In the down position the eyelet is at the hinge. In the raised position, the eyelet meets the top of the rotating wall.

This will not work because the cord will be too short while the top is being raised. Here is an example: Say the rotating wall is 30 inches high (i.e. the top elevates 30 inches). Now consider the triangle formed by the hinge, eyelet and anchor point on the top of the rotating wall when the top is half way up. The side of the triangle from the hinge to the eyelet is 15 inches (vertical). This leaves 15 inches of cord between the eyelet and the rotating top wall. Since the wall is 30 inches, the triangle has sides of 15, 15, and 30. The only triangle with these sides degenerates to a straight line, which is not possible for this configuration