Tensahedron Stand

[donig]

There go the patent rights due to preexisting technology.

[P-Dub]

That is so cool!!

[GreatBigDave]

Precolumbian petroglyphs establish the ancient alien provenance of tensahedron hammock stand technology.





Not my photos: pinched from KL in FB Hammock Camping forum. Happy to attribute fully upon clarity that KL wants naming in an otherwise anonymous forum :-).

Everything old is new again.

There go the patent rights due to preexisting technology.

Clearly not an example of prior art. The petroglyph is not registered and would not be acceptable for registration as it does not describe the materials and methods for construction of this tree free hammock hanging device. At worst the Tensahedron stand is an improvement and as such can enjoy the protection afforded by a patent.

[captaincoupal]

If you're following this thread because you're interested in the product, check out our latest podcast - Mark and I interview Cheryl and Todd: https://www.hyohpodcast.com/tensa/

[CaptainGravity]

Awesome, am listening now. And having "played" with this, and having read the forums, I understand the concept. But it's hard to explain with nothing but words! Maybe this:

1) Start with 4 8-foot* poles
2) Arrange in a square, "lashing" each end together with some kind of flexible/variable connection. Corners A B C D.
3) Now connect two opposite corners (call them A & C) with a 6' chord. This is the base/ground connection line. Your square is now merely a rhombus, since (for now), the other corners (B&D) are over 15 feet apart. <>
4) Connect B&D with a chord 10.4' long. This will force these two corners up. This is the ridgeline. (The baseline between A&C still runs along the ground). The struts and chords are forming a tetrahedron.
5) Finally, attach only one of B or D (let's say D) to something. This is your foot end. B is your head end. It should be a bit lower than D.

*My attempts always use 8' tree stakes or pioneering poles. The 10.4' and 6' dimensions correspond to pole connections/lashings that result in a 7.5' strut (effectively, with lashings 3" in from each end of the pole). With 18" sit height, 30 degree hang angle, can be used for any hammock up to 12' according to my math)

[brianb]

I explained it to my buddy like this. Two people face each other standing toe to toe. They grab each other’s hands and both lean back. They can open their stance wider or narrower as long as they stay toe to toe. When they get it, start discussing how that translates to the stand.

[lightbulb]

This is my first post after lurking around for years. Please forgive me if it’s too long, too short or too anything else.

Being blessed and cursed with a one-tree-only garden, I was keen to try out tensa stand concept. Budget restraints meant that I wanted to utilize the tree and go with half-a-Tensa for starters. I was aiming for something light but not necessarily back-packable. Something compact, car-stowable and easy to put up in the garden.

First try with the whatever-i-got-in-the-garage approach: Two steel curtain poles from IKEA. It worked well. For about 5 Minutes. Then one gave away. No biggie, next iteration should be stronger. But it worked!

Living in Europe (Southern Germany) I found out that the local caravan store had some neat aluminum poles that telescope from 170-260cm (5'7-8'8). As I didn’t know the dimensions of the Tensa (I do now after reading through the German discussion) I went for the “safe” solution, getting 32mm (1.26 inches) diameter and a wall strength of 1.6mm (0.063inch). Incidentally about the same size of the middle part of the official Tensa. Cost point is around 15-30$ per pole depending on diameter. Mine ended up at 60$ for 2 poles. Not cheap, but not too expensive either..

All I needed to do was drill a couple of holes and fashion some pins to make the telescoping action firmly stick instead of sliding - a couple more holes at the foot-end to add a string to adjust the spread below. The poles ended up at about 255cm (100’) each with an overlap of 100mm (3.9’) in the telescoping joint. Secured with a couple of stakes in the ground it is working really well! Due to budget restraints I’ll keep off on the second half until next month, but it’s the logical next step.

The poles are available in three strengths. 32mm (1.26’), 28mm (1.1’) and 25mm (0.98’). All with a 1.6mm (0.06’) wall. (Possibly the smallest one could be strong enough, but still not light enough for backpacking in my opinion.) They break into three pieces, two measuring 110cm & one 60cm (2 x 3’7 and one right around 2’). Weight? Just around 1020g (36oz) per pole which would give me a full tensahedron coming in at about 4100g (9 pounds).

The setup is good enough for garden use and as a car-based solution. For backpacking, my holy grail would be below 2 pounds, small enough to fit in a backpack and affordable. I guess I’ll stick with what I’ve got until I get the Graphene-version from Tensa Outdoors

IMG_0001.jpgIMG_0003.jpgIMG_0004.jpg

I've been playing around with this setup the last day or so. Figured out that a lower hang improves balance. A wider spread ditto. It lies so well!

[CaptainGravity]

lightbulb, I think that's a lovely implementation of the two pole Tensa stand!

I was going to ask if the base chord is redundant, if you have stakes... but as I think about it, I think I like it:
1) Intuitively, it seems to provide additional "safety"... (though I'm not sure if this is correct)
2) It's at least a reminder to sit in the hammock to the "head-end" side of that chord
3) You'll need it any for your four-pole implementation (assuming you don't use stakes)

Weather permitting this coming weekend, I hope to implement a wood 2x2 version, and your pictures have inspired me to include a base chord, clove-hitched to the 2x2s, terminating in bowlines (to put each stake through)

[muledog19]

Thanks for all the ideas! This is my first attempt at the stand. I spent $6.84 total on the eight foot 2x2s (they were $1.71 each at my local Lowe's). I had some natural fiber cord (it might be jute?). I looked up shear lashing videos and put it all together last night. I'm about 150 lbs and it's been solid. It fits my smaller hammock, not my big one. I'm sure I'll be fiddling with it more over the next couple weeks.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[lightbulb]

lightbulb, I think that's a lovely implementation of the two pole Tensa stand!

I was going to ask if the base chord is redundant, if you have stakes... but as I think about it, I think I like it:
1) Intuitively, it seems to provide additional "safety"... (though I'm not sure if this is correct)
2) It's at least a reminder to sit in the hammock to the "head-end" side of that chord
3) You'll need it any for your four-pole implementation (assuming you don't use stakes)

Weather permitting this coming weekend, I hope to implement a wood 2x2 version, and your pictures have inspired me to include a base chord, clove-hitched to the 2x2s, terminating in bowlines (to put each stake through)

The stakes help against the horizontal force towards the tree, as the "fulcrum" idea is only working with both halves of the tensa stand. The end of the poles dig into the ground but needs extra support to not slip. I just use the stakes as stoppers, and still use the line to control spread. I guess I could replace it with firm mounting points on the pole-feet, but I like the added safety. Also, it helps with setting up the stand with my preferred spread once I've got it dialed in