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Wall Base Construction


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We are thinking about building wall bases out of steel.  I have seen ones that have a flat piece of steel with pipes welded vertically to hold the 2x2 for a wall.  

 

I was wondering if anyone had any info for me on these? Like how thick is the flat base metal, what ID of pipe to use, and how tall the pipes need to be.

I have a metal fab shop that is a client, and I can get the steel much cheaper, but I don't know what exactly what I need so I can tell them.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Matt

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  • 2 weeks later...

We used a 2"x4" rectangular tube as the vertical supports. The reason was a 2x2 is 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" square. We wanted the inside dimension to be 1-1/2" wide. The wall thickness was determined to get that dimension. We made them 9"" tall. We used seamed material. This let one baracede be stable against the seam when used by itself and we could use one base for the ends connecting two walls or making 90 degree turns with the walls. The flat material we used under the bases was to thin. This allowed the wings sticking out on the ground to bend. Make sure the base materials are thick enough and wide enough. Your steel erector friend should be of some help there.

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  • 1 month later...

We are making some out of "drops" from manufacturing companies our members work at.  2x2" x5/16 and 3x3x1/4".  24" long and 24" wide (give or take, depending on what we have to work with)

 

That seems to be plenty stout.  We are also putting 2 post holding tubes at 90 degree angles to allow for easy corners.

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4 hours ago, johnbu said:

We are making some out of "drops" from manufacturing companies our members work at.  2x2" x5/16 and 3x3x1/4".  24" long and 24" wide (give or take, depending on what we have to work with)

 

That seems to be plenty stout.  We are also putting 2 post holding tubes at 90 degree angles to allow for easy corners.

Is there any way that you could send me a picture?

And to be clear, are you saying that the bottom of the base is 1/4" thick?  

How many of the ones at 90 did you end up making?  I was wondering if we need more corners or just another pipe next to the first one to extend and make longer walls.

I am looking to start making these pretty soon and if you worked any kinks in the system that would be great to know.

Thanks for the reply, Seems like everyone forgot about this post.

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On 2/7/2018 at 1:45 PM, Sporky said:

 

Is there any way that you could send me a picture?

And to be clear, are you saying that the bottom of the base is 1/4" thick?  

How many of the ones at 90 did you end up making?  I was wondering if we need more corners or just another pipe next to the first one to extend and make longer walls.

I am looking to start making these pretty soon and if you worked any kinks in the system that would be great to know.

Thanks for the reply, Seems like everyone forgot about this post.

We are in the discovery phase. Our first season and we are getting our fecal matter into one bucket.  lol

Couple images that may help

 

orca-image-1518121732114.jpg_1518121732407.jpeg

received_10215220820502857.jpeg

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just throwing this out there as a possible suggestion....

 

I have not actually done it myself...

 

I think most metal electrical conduit comes in 10 foot long sticks.  If you have somebody handy with a conduit bender, have them bend some L shaped pieces that are like 6 feet tall.  That should leave about 4 feet for horizontal part of the L.  That actually becomes the top.

 

Use whatever coupling in the middle to join the two L's together.  It essentially looks like a flattened upside down U.

 

If you have to stiffen it up, with everything flat like on a cocrete floor, you could weld a horizontal member  say like 3 feet down from the top...or however wide construction/snow fencing is.  So you have something that looks like a flattened letter A.  Then zip tie your snow fencing to it.

 

As far as the bases go, go with a 3/8ths to 1/2" thick plate of steel that is say 12 inches by 12 inches with holes drilled at each corner.

 

In the middle of the plate, weld 4 cylindrical hollow pipes or tubes  as your vertical uprights.  They will have an inside diameter to accomodate the electrical conduit legs.

 

Weld these pipe "ankles" in like a 4 leaf clover arrangement.  That way with every base or "foot" you have the option of going straight ahead with a line of partitions.  Or you can come off 90*...and since you went with electrical conduit and pipe "ankles" you can swing a partition to any angle from 0 all the way to 180 degrees.  The other benefit to the electrical conduit is it should come galvanized and should stand up to the weather better if you store your stuff outside on a trailer.

 

Oookkkay...now on to a part I actually tried....screwing down your stands.  You can actually use lag screws typically meant for wood to screw your bases or stands to the ground...depending on your soil conditions:

 

https://youtu.be/K1Nt8u4A1Vc

 

If you had a really long extension for a cordless drill and a magnetized socket, you could just stay standing up as you screw the lags into the ground.... no tedious bending over all the time.

Edited by Chills1994
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  • 2 weeks later...

I use 1/4” thick 4” wide flat steel and weld 3/4” solid rod vertical to them. The holes are so they can be staked down. Less to trip over being so low to the ground.

 

Build the walls out of 1x1 box tubing and they slide over the 3/4” posts.  

246D8EB6-F9BE-4BD2-8471-673779ED065D.jpeg

D323D2BB-5F16-43A4-B100-E908E7A142B9.jpeg

Edited by jmorris
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On 2/17/2018 at 10:26 AM, jmorris said:

I use 1/4” thick 4” wide flat steel and weld 3/4” solid rod vertical to them. The holes are so they can be staked down. Less to trip over being so low to the ground.

 

Build the walls out of 1x1 box tubing and they slide over the 3/4” posts.  

246D8EB6-F9BE-4BD2-8471-673779ED065D.jpeg

D323D2BB-5F16-43A4-B100-E908E7A142B9.jpeg

That looks amazing!

The match director at our club says no way to metal wall frames though.  He believes it is a risk for ricochet.

So I am thinking that I will get some bases made similar to yours except the receptical will be round steel tubing and the flat base.  That way 1x treated will just snugly fit into the pipe and I will have a flat base like you have in the picture 

 

IF anyone has a pic of one that I am talking about, Please post with dimensions.

 

Thanks

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Quote

The match director at our club says no way to metal wall frames though. 

 

I’d just let him come up with the solution then, sounds like he already knows what he wants.

 

Any number of way of doing it though. Go to a muffler shop with your stick in hand and see what tubing they have that fits it best.  Now just weld them to a flat plate or if you want something to trip over, weld them to something thicker.

 

I’d also make sure they have holes in the bottom or folks are going to get mad when they dump rusty rain water on themselves helping set up.

Edited by jmorris
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  • 2 months later...
On 2/18/2018 at 5:22 PM, Nathanb said:

For those of you who use metal walls how often do they get shot up. 

We use metal walls and honestly they don't get shot up. This goes back to stage design as if the designer makes a stage where the wall is at risk of getting hit then it is his fault.

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On 2/18/2018 at 5:22 PM, Nathanb said:

For those of you who use metal walls how often do they get shot up. 

 

If a port is at risk of getting its window frame shot up, you put noshoots in front of it

 

If there’s a target tempting people to shoot really close to the edge of the wall as it becomes visible, put a barrel stack or noshoot in front of the post.

 

These are all things you’d do with wood walls, you just ziptie the noshoot in place or put it on a stand, rather than staple into the wooden wall and leave a tetanus hazard for the teardown crew.

 

Metal walls are absolutely no risk for ricochet. If you do hit one, 1” mild steel tubing loses to the bullet every time. It’ll go pretty much clean through.

 

That’s why you see them every year at nationals.

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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