WizardOfOdds wrote: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.
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