Collapsible flats

[J Pearce]

Even if the roof rack stayed on the roof, and the roof stayed attached to the car, you are going to lessen your grip on the road which gets dangerous.

 

Adding wings to your car is NOT a sensible idea...

 

 

[kerry davies]

OK, full story.

I was down in Cardiff at the HTV studios and the ex-wife called me to say she was taking a spare wardrobe to some friends from our home outside Monmouth. She did not tell me that she would be driving 40 miles and half on motorway class roads. She got one of our tame hippies to help her strap it on the roofrack on her beloved Saab 96 estate.

 

Tootling round the lanes was fine but she went and filled up in Monmouth before heading south along the A449, the fastest road in Britain. She went into the Trafalgar Tunnels at about 50 and before she got out the other side the wardrobe had torn the roof rack and bits of the rain guttering off the car. The bonnet of the car had compressed the airflow under the flat surface and built up unbelievable pressure.

 

The truckers behind her had a good belly laugh and helped her clear the debris but what would have happened to a car? Or, God forbid, a motorcyclist? The door mirror could have decapitated someone.

 

Ask Steve in the SU, if I won't do it then it must be more than bonkers.

[hoyes]

The most portable set I've seen was a Cambridge footlights tour set, which was about three 8x8' flats and two doorways, which all fitted into a single holdall. It was 1" aluminium right angle edges that folded up into 2ft sections, and bolted together at the corners, with stretchy cloth covers, so that the frames were held together and the folding bits held in place by the tension of the cloth. The clothes were starcloths as well with about 8 circuits of LED and multipin connectors between the flats.

 

I just stumbled across this and I thought I'd say something given I made it (thanks for the mention Tom - hope you're doing well!). Tom's described it very well, but I'll add some pictures:

 

http://dl.dropbox.co...lightstour1.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.co...lightstour2.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.co...lightstour3.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.co...lightstour4.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.co...lightstour5.jpg

 

 

We had similar requirements - a set that we could use at multiple venues without having to spent lots of money on transport. It cost a few hundred pounds (plus many hours of my time!), took about 30 minutes to put up/take down once everyone was familiar with it, and it did the job very well for us - we transported it in the back of a car, on the train to Edinburgh and in the hold of a plane to the US. Let me know if you want more details, and the bits still exist if you ever happen to be in Cambridge.

 

Peter

[musht]

Looks really neat, how do the uprights assemble into longer lengths without bowing or rattling around?

 

seems to assemble really quite rigidly.

 

Thanks

[hoyes]

Looks really neat, how do the uprights assemble into longer lengths without bowing or rattling around?

 

In each vertical joint, one of the members has an overhang of about 10cm, and the horizontal members of the braces were located such that they bolted through the frame at the end of this overhang, thus clamping the vertical members together. You can just about make it out in picture 4 above if that wasn't very clear!

[ojc123]

Looks an impressive set-up. I've used plastic drainpipe and drapes before though I'd now look more carefully into fire issues than I did then.

 

Take care with the roof rack idea. Here's another story to put you off.

I carried two 18mm 8' x 4' plywood sheets on the roofrack of my car some years ago.

 

"It'll be fine.", I said.

"It's only a couple of miles on quiet roads.", I said.

"I'll take care.", I said.

 

Only doing about 20mph and a football came out from a side street. Experience tells me this is often followed by a child. Quick stop, not an emergency stop, and plywood, straps and roofrack came off as a unit and landed just where the child might have been had he been quicker. Roofrack mountings and the bonnet were significantly damaged but I considered I got away with it.

 

Now I'll pay for delivery. That's significant given I'm a Scotsman who's lived in Yorkshire for nearly thirty years. Both places have an (undeserved) reputation for tightness with money.