Homemade tipi and pullouts

[Bulldawg]

What pole did you use for that tipi and where did you get it?

How hard do you think it would be for someone to pick up a sewing machine and build one of these that hasn't sewed before?

 

[aron]

Thanks for all the info. This is something I would like to try and tackle but keep pushing it off.

 

[colonel00]

What pole did you use for that tipi and where did you get it?

How hard do you think it would be for someone to pick up a sewing machine and build one of these that hasn't sewed before?

Obviously I haven't made something as big as a tent yet but I can offer a little advice. Start small. Make some pullouts and stuff sacks. Get used to working with the thin, slippery materials. From there, it just takes patience. This isn't rocket surgery. Just take your time and go at a comfortable pace.

 

[coop2424]

Anyway you can post pics of the seams, tie off point and stake areas so we can see how you did them?

 

[Ehiggins]

I'll get some pictures of the seams, stakes and guys put up, might not be till early next week though since I'm heading out of town tomorrow. They are basic flat felled seams for the large panels and just plain straight seams for everything else.

As far as picking up a sewing machine and going colonel is right it's not rocket surgery. I had barely sewn up until January of this year. I bought some cheap fabric local that was as close as I could find to silnylon then borrowed my grandmas sewing machine and made 6-8 trial pullouts most of which turned out to be useable. I ordered the silnylon for the pullouts in the first picture 1/29/15 and the silpoly for the tipi around 3/1/15. So my sewing history is short to say the least. Just practice on some cheap and thicker material to get the hang of it before switching to sil because it's a little trickier due to being thin and slick. Also read through colonel00 and manofsteel's thread on making pullouts they were essential for me. (Thanks both of you)

The pole is a .742" Easton pole I think from quest outfitters. I picked up a 1.1" adjustable tarp pole from REI I think I'm going to switch to though because it's adjustable and much more rigid although it's about 8 oz heavier if I recall.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Eric, nice call on the adj'ble pole.
But even if a pole doesn't adjust, you can still slip a flat rock of appropriate size under it to tighten up the tent. I have to do that w/ my Beckel TT anyway, even though the pole's adj'ble, just so it doesn't sink into soft ground.
Hunt'nFish

 

[Ironman8]

I used Google sketchup for the design work. It's really useful for laying out how to cut the pieces in order to waste the least amount of material. I'd be happy to help if you are interested. Just let me know what shape/size dimensions you are looking for and I can draw something up for you.

As far as cutting I made a triangle frame out of galvanized corner bead so I had a repeatable pattern and used a laser level to make sure the sides were straight. After everything was traced I used a pocket knife and cutting board for the cuts. You don't need to make those perfectly straight if you use felled seams since the edges will be hidden just make sure you measure the seam/stitch width when putting it together.

Eric, very nice to offer that. I actually downloaded Sketchup a few months ago but have no clue how to use it. How did you learn it? If it's something that's super complicated, then I may take you up on your offer to run my measurements...

Interesting way to cut it. I'll have to look into doing something similar. How much seam allowance did you use when making the felled seams?

 

[Ehiggins]

Here are the seams, guy points, stake points, zipper and the stuff sack. The white stuff in the first picture is the water soluble double sided tape I was talking about to hold the seams together until the first pass of stitches was complete. As you can see my stitching isn't the greatest but it's functional. I made a test seam with 2 pieces of silpoly about 12" long using the flat felled seam after it was finished I tried as hard as I could to rip it apart with absolutely no luck.

 

[alann]

Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ehiggins]

Eric, very nice to offer that. I actually downloaded Sketchup a few months ago but have no clue how to use it. How did you learn it? If it's something that's super complicated, then I may take you up on your offer to run my measurements...

Interesting way to cut it. I'll have to look into doing something similar. How much seam allowance did you use when making the felled seams?

I used Solidworks/ NX a lot in school but buying those for private use is a bit pricey so I started using Sketchup for personal projects a couple years ago. It's pretty straightforward to learn, just takes some time messing around.

Like I said if you give me the shape and dimensions you are looking for I can put something together in 20-30 minutes pretty easily with the overall design and the layout for the cut pieces. That's the least I can do as a thank you for all the help and info I've picked up on here.

For the felled seams I used 1/2" for the short flap and 1" for the long flap that gets folder over. That resulted in about 1/2" wide seams, although there are a few places that are a touch wider or narrower due to material shifting/bunching etc.

 

[Zricky]

This was a great read, can you post the dimensions of the pannels you cut for this tipi?

 

[mrbillbrown]

Awesome work. Thanks for sharing. Bill

 

[Ehiggins]

This was a great read, can you post the dimensions of the pannels you cut for this tipi?

Thanks. The panels were 60" wide across the bottom of the triangle and about 122" along the side. Sorry I don't remember the actual distance from the base to the apex. It's pretty easy to figure out, but it's too late for me to do math.

 

[mauidiver]

Eric, this has been a great read and really making me want to give this a try. Your selfless help with this is another aspect to keep me reading on. Looks like your goodies came out really nice. My mother-in-law is a master seamstress, but she said her machine wont do the thick stuff like the corners and straps. Which machine did you use for this? And have you ever worked with cuben fiber? And wondering if this material has any stretch to it like the material you used. I'm thinking not so much, but as far as strength and lightness, what do you think of this product? Thanks again for a great thread sir. Really appreciate your help.

 

[Ehiggins]

Eric, this has been a great read and really making me want to give this a try. Your selfless help with this is another aspect to keep me reading on. Looks like your goodies came out really nice. My mother-in-law is a master seamstress, but she said her machine wont do the thick stuff like the corners and straps. Which machine did you use for this? And have you ever worked with cuben fiber? And wondering if this material has any stretch to it like the material you used. I'm thinking not so much, but as far as strength and lightness, what do you think of this product? Thanks again for a great thread sir. Really appreciate your help.

Thanks for fhe kind words I really appreciate it.
I borrowed my grandmas old kenmore sewing machine, I'm guessing it's from around 1990. It's nothing special or heavy duty and I had no trouble sewing through the material. Even the stake points which have 2 layers of rubber coated nylon, a layer of silpoly and a layer of grosgrain were easy to sew.

I have no expierence with cuben fiber at all. The only things I've used are silnylon, silpoly and some coated polyester I picked up locally for practice. From what I've read it sounds pretty good, but very pricey. Although as colonell00 pointed out earlier in this thread, no stretch can be a bad thing. I know they make a tape for it that can be used instead of sewing, but where's the fun in that lol.

If you need some design help or any other questions just let me know and we'll figure it out.

-Eric

 

[mauidiver]

Right on! Gunna be a few weeks till she gets back, then I'll have a machine. I'll check on some of the same fabric yall used, and get ready for her. Thanks again, Aloha!