DIY light suspension

[ricoishere]

Aaron also showed us how to do a suspended light out of electrical conduit. Here's a picture of what that looks like:

Cool,another sample. Thanks Kris

[Ltrepeter2000]

Ghaz,

End caps using what he is planning might be difficult. He is planning to go with a thin iron angle so you could probably do some edge shaping to taper off the look at the point which the lights hang down from to give you a clean look. Might want to talk with Aaron, Jen Williams guy, on how to machine it to look professional.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Doh. I missed the part about the "flat steel bars". I zeroed in on that picture instead.
Anyway, still interested - worst case Im down a few bucks.

[ricoishere]

Doh. I missed the part about the "flat steel bars". I zeroed in on that picture instead.
Anyway, still interested - worst case Im down a few bucks.

My original intention was to use the square tubing. The source is the same as for the flat tubing. Price is $20.00 for a 3/4 x 3/4 x 20' 16 gauge tube. That's very cheap. The cost comes in bending without kinks. To bend 4 tubes like the pics I have here the shop was going to charge approx $150.00. That's kind of defeats the purpose of the DIY. Now, if someone has that ability and equipment, that would be great. I also have a source for square aluminum. It's strong enough to suit our purposes, and might be easier to bend. I'l lsee about the pricing.

[DelawareJim]

Square tubing is kinda difficult to bend.

I remember from high school shop class we used a special piece of equipment that put a dimple or depression on the inside to keep the outside and sides from folding and cracking. Probably why they want $150 to bend it for you. it's not a simple as bending round tubing.

Cheers.
Jim

[DonkeyFish]

Glad Rob told me to come look at this thread

So a couple of questions... basically you're not doing the square tubing because you you don't have access to a mandrel bender (or shop that can do it)? I'll have to ask tomorrow if he's got the tooling, but the guy we use to build cages for the racecars *might*. Probably not, but maybe. If he can, well I'd bet everything I own he'd do it for a heck of a lot cheaper than $150 Especially if I ask, we go way back. LOL.

Is there a reason you don't want to use round tubing? Bending that would be a lot easier, since the tooling is waaay more common, could definitely help you out with that.

So then what's the problem let me know what we can do to help!

[ricoishere]

Jen, that would be great, thanks for looking out.
The reason I started with the square is basically aesthetics/looks. I never expected the square tubin to reguire all the labor. After doing the research, and finding out the costs, i looked at flat steel. The round might not be as easy to drill, fasten and attach either. I'm looking at all possibilities. Please let us know in either case.

Thanks again

[krisw]

With the round, you wouldn't have to drill to attach to the tank. Just use clips used for electrical conduit. Of course, if properly clamped, you should be able to drill it regardless.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

The round is easier to bend, heck i have a pipe bender for bending conduits back from when I built myself a set for my Oceanic cube. Not terribly difficult to drill it either.

[ricoishere]

Questin:
Is there stil interest in pursuing the square tubing option?