electrical conduit frame.

[sumo]

Has anyone ever used electrical conduitto frame the skeleton of a teardrop, I have made may things out nof conduit over the years I cannot see any reason it wouldn't work, it is cheap, light and strong if braced correctly, what do you all think.

[Shadow Catcher]

A great deal depends on the type of conduit ridged or bendable aluminum or steel. I don't know I would want to use it for the main frame but certainly everything else.

[sumo]

I was thinking of just using it in the wall construction in place of fering strips.

[WizardOfOdds]

People make a lot of things out of EMT, but I understand it is not easy to weld. I used EMT (Electrical Metallic Tubing - or ‘thin-wall’ conduit) in my experimental construction. I did not start out with that in mind; here is how it evolved:

In 2009 I decided to “frame up” 3 different pop-up designs to compare how well they worked in practice. To keep things simple, economical (cheap), and light, I used 1x3 pine strips for the movable top frame using an “overlap and bolt” approach rather than creating butt joints. (Initially it was overlap and clamp at many of the joints with bolts only where I wanted to create a pivot or where a clamp interfered with pivoting). After I would get one side frame to fit and work as I saw adequate, I would make the twin for the other side and connect the sides with cross members to see how well the framed top held its shape during top elevation and lowering. At one point I decided to use a piece of 1/2 inch EMT for one of the diagonal cross members because I had good luck using it as cross bracing on several shelving units. The choice was driven in large by the fact that it matched up well with the overlap and bolt construction used on the side frames - all I needed to do was flatten the ends, drill holes to fit the joint bolts and bend the ends as needed. It was so strong I decided to use EMT for all cross members.

Eventually I wanted to road test one of the tops (skinned with 5 mm underlayment) but was concerned the 1x3 frame was not adequate in some areas. So I reinforced those key segments with EMT. The resulting combination of EMT reinforcement and cross members worked quite well, and I have taken that trailer on 4 trips totally about 850 miles with very good results.

[sumo]

People make a lot of things out of EMT, but I understand it is not easy to weld. I used EMT (Electrical Metallic Tubing - or ‘thin-wall’ conduit) in my experimental construction. I did not start out with that in mind; here is how it evolved:

In 2009 I decided to “frame up” 3 different pop-up designs to compare how well they worked in practice. To keep things simple, economical (cheap), and light, I used 1x3 pine strips for the movable top frame using an “overlap and bolt” approach rather than creating butt joints. (Initially it was overlap and clamp at many of the joints with bolts only where I wanted to create a pivot or where a clamp interfered with pivoting). After I would get one side frame to fit and work as I saw adequate, I would make the twin for the other side and connect the sides with cross members to see how well the framed top held its shape during top elevation and lowering. At one point I decided to use a piece of 1/2 inch EMT for one of the diagonal cross members because I had good luck using it as cross bracing on several shelving units. The choice was driven in large by the fact that it matched up well with the overlap and bolt construction used on the side frames - all I needed to do was flatten the ends, drill holes to fit the joint bolts and bend the ends as needed. It was so strong I decided to use EMT for all cross members.

Eventually I wanted to road test one of the tops (skinned with 5 mm underlayment) but was concerned the 1x3 frame was not adequate in some areas. So I reinforced those key segments with EMT. The resulting combination of EMT reinforcement and cross members worked quite well, and I have taken that trailer on 4 trips totally about 850 miles with very good results.

EMT if braced correctly is very strong. I have welded it for years and have made many different things out of it. I started building my teardrop toy hauler and chose to go with 2x2 for framing mainly due to the fact it would be much easier to attach siding and ever thing else to the flat surfaces. I will be using EMT to build a lot of the other components of my mini toy hauler. I already have a rack built that made out of EMT and play to use it on some other things. Here are a few things that I built over the years out of EMT.

[MtnDon]

The main issue with welding EMT should be personal safety. If the galvanized coating (zinc) is not all ground away from the weld area the heat of welding will release zinc vapor. Breathing that is very bad for you. VERY bad! Once probably won't kill you but don't take chances with the health of your lungs, etc.

Maybe ya'll knew that but I know self taught welders who were not aware of the dangers.

http://www.toolboxtopics.com/Gen%20Industry/Welding%20on%20Galvanized%20Metals.htm

[sumo]

Good point. I have welded it in the past but always do it out side where there is plenty of air. Welding in general is not good for you lungs.

[Bikerman]

I'd consider taking a hammer and flaten a spot on the tubing to match up with another flatened piece and bolt them together or sheet metal screws. When I was a kid we made a small boat and used them as posts to stretch tractor inner tubes around and bolted the deck on like that. A kid's inflatable.

Good looking little cats above, they look very functional!