Four legged turtledog

[Spoutch]

I'm trying to conceive the more portable stand I Can, steady enough to hold a winter tarp with Doors and freely standing.

I'm interested in the XX design, but still reflexing.
And, the shorter the poles, the lighter the stand...
The Rigging lines Will Always be lighter than a struts.

So, I began with the turtledog stand and suppressed one foot at each end.

I made a model with short metal pipes from a wrecked baby folding bed (so, I didn't choose the lenghs of struts; the proportions are a little weird).

I made a small hammock from an old towel and and a heavy tin Can. (Very heavy: I melted several kilos of lead inside.)






I think it may be steadier than the turtledog stand; with fully deployed legs and tensioned cords. On a turtledog, the stability basis is one tripod width.
Here, it is the full lengh and width of the stand.

I shaked the top pole on each direction. As long the legs lines keep in tension, nothing move.

The X rigging cords may seems annoying for entering the hammock, but keep in mind it's supposed to hold a closed tarp.

So, Do you think it deserve to go to full size making? Do you think to some improvements?

[tlfillingim]

I can't comment on the stand design, but I'm impressed with this type of prototyping. Good job!

[cougarmeat]

Note that 4-legged hammock stands have been presented in this DIY sub-forum and sold by the once viable Hammeck company. They hold up without the "guylines" but those lines probably reduce a little sway when you first get in/out of the hammock. Hammeck's design had the legs angled as you have. Other DIY styles use a right-angle coupler to the ridgeline pole so the legs come off at 90°.

[HarveyM]

Was interested enough to find this link to the Hammeck stand:
https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ighlight=stand

[TieDownKing]

I havent been on this forum for a long long time so i can't speak for previous design iterations in other threads.

With that being said I think this is an interesting design spin if the only real change would be adding those support lines. Did you see if you need the X lines or can you get away with a perimeter around the bottom? i.e. the X strands go along the bottom like how the lines are on either end of the feet. The X strands seem like they would be good to help keep a tarp from coming in from wind or snow depending on their tension. Its seemingly a way to provide more structure without a tarp sagging in the middle. I could imagine this being collapsible sort of like the tensa 4 but a sturdier structure. I would take a right angle coupler and weld or otherwise attach a receptacle for the ridge pole and use that as a means to attach the poles together

[cougarmeat]

TieDownKing - Just a note that if you search for those 4-legged stands you'll see they don't need any cross bracing at all. They do need a line connecting the two legs at each end so they don't spread (that is, the line is perpendicular to the ridge pole).

Look someplace like this: https://canopiesandtarps.com/canopy-fittings.html
For hardware.

One mistake that can be made is not figuring out all that is needed on the first order. The shipping is not free so it pays to get as much right on the first (and hopefully "only") order. For example. I ordered connectors for the legs. Later, I believe I found out the vendor also had connectors that would angle the legs a bit - instead of 90° to the ridge pole. Had I known, I would have probably bought those. Also, I later realized that by using a coupler in the ridgeline, I could break the ridge pole into three 5 ft sections. For a gathered end, I'd only need two; for a bridge, three.

You can guy out your tarp to the legs of the stand.

[TieDownKing]

Thanks for that insight. I got a little overwhelmed with the amount of threads what had "4 legged" in them so i only saw a few examples of the stands. One thing i did not notice is any sort of collapsible pole structure. Ill look into those folks to get the hardware. The hard part (costwise) will be finding pipe that is structurally sound and has sizes that fit into each other. I think in any case that a collapsible structure would have more flex and less stability than using some sort of string or other stabilizing braces would be good to minimize creeping or a potential structural failure of a prototype though.

[Salt]

I'm SOOO excited about this design. I've been trying to figure out a decent way to make a structure that looks like a period-appropriate A-frame from the outside, while supporting a hammock inside. This seems to fulfill that well!

The sturdiest/lightest/expensivest free standing frame I've seen is the YOBO Cricket. Note that it provides side-to-side support.

I feel like mocking this up with Tensa4 poles and a ridgepole. Then again, I still have plenty of trees.

Edit #: found this design drawing, it uses the sort of connectors that @cougarmeat mentioned.

I'd been thinking of making a DIY version of the Cricket before finding out about the Tensa4. Here are my sketches describing the components. I may go back to it at some point, but there are so many unfinished projects ahead...

Attachment 188434

I keep editing this thread but...:
From the above thread, the Twerp Stand has an additional ridgepole and adds some width.

[Clown Pusher]

Very cool. I had no idea what a four legged turtle dog was so you got my attention pretty quickly as you can imagine. What are you thinking to make the poles out of?

[cougarmeat]

I believe "fence rail pipe" is the usual material. Unfortunately, in the last two years, the Home Depot price has jumped from $9.98/pole to about $17.95/pole. These poles are 10 ft long with about 6 inches of taper at the end. If you can get by with 5 ft legs, you'll need two poles for the four legs. The 10 ft ridgeline pole would ft the usual 11 ft hammock but NOT an 11 ft tarp. Also, for portability, you'd probably want to cut that ridgeline pole in two or three pieces. That way, the whole shebang can be a bundle about 5 or 6 ft long.

If you used 6 ft legs, that would be four poles total because you could use three of the remaining 4 ft sections to make a 12 ft ridge pole (using couplers).

Understand temporary vs permanent. With the legs at 90° to the ridge pole, there is no lateral bracing. So when you first get in the hammock, there will be a little "movement" depending upon how gently you do it. That's temporary. Once you are in the hammock, it is not going to keep swaying.

As far as strength/flex. I'd think three short sections, held with strong couplers, would have less flex that one long 10 ft. ridge pole.

I made my first "T" stand out of steel pipe. I thought it was beautiful. "Others" thought it was ... what was their word ... Oh yes, "eye sore". Though the individual components were strong. I couldn't help but think how it would feel if one of the couplers broke and the jagged end of the steel pipe landed on me. But that was only a momentary thought. Once in the hammock, I slept fine.

Alternative to 4 leg stand.

Pipe2.jpg