That is a 3 foot section of 2 inch PVC and a PVC coupler to serve as the guying collar. I drilled three holes to accommodate the CamJams at more or less 120 degrees from each other. I didn't have a protractor to measure it exactly, so I had to eyeball it.
The CamJams come in sets of two, so in reality, I could have made four holes, 90 degrees apart from each other, but I've always been taught that the triangle is the sturdiest and strongest geometric shape that there is, so I went with that.
The Jackite fits in nicely and the CamJams actually take up enough space to eliminate a lot of the "play" between the inside diameter of the PVC and the outside diameter of the kackite. So far, this has come in under $20.00. The CamJams were $7.48 per set of two, the PVC pieces were about $3.00.
The local sporting goods store did not have the tent pegs that I wanted so I ordered them from Amazon:
I had an Amazon gift card that my sister had given me for my birthday, so these didn't cost me anything. It was $7.00 for a package of 10, so if I had to purchase everything, this still would have come in at just about $25.
A much more "elegant solution" (my old boss at Sinar Bron, Ulrich Krahenbuhl liked that phrase - he was an engineer) than what I was using and a much easier way to insure the Jackite is as vertical as possible. Thanks again, Dave!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
> I drilled three holes to accommodate the CamJams at more or less 120 degrees from each other. I didn't have a protractor to measure it exactly, so I had to eyeball it.
ReplyDeleteNext time you won't need a protractor and you won't have to eyeball it.
> I could have made four holes, 90 degrees apart from each other, but I've always been taught that the triangle is the sturdiest and strongest geometric shape that there is, so I went with that.
A little more geometry and here's the elegant solution. If you start somewhere on a circle and find another point on the circle as far from the first as the circle's radius, they will subtend an angle of 60 degrees at the center of the circle and you can join those two points and the center to get an equilateral triangle. Now continue the process around the circle and you'll wind up with six points each one 60 degrees away from the next one. Use every other point to get 120 degrees. How do you find the center of the circle, or how do you find the radius? Lay a ruler across the inside of the circle with one end on the circle and swing the other end around to find the furthest point on the circle from it. The distance you measure is the diameter and half of that is the radius. It probably would be better to trace out a replica of the circle on a piece of paper, fold that in half, fold the result in half, and that will find the center for you. Then you can find the radius.