Uncle Dirtnap
Active Member
I am excited to help the local high school with another production - 'Forever Plaid' this time. Wee!
We are going with a very simple set - basically tall, narrow columns. 16' tall, 2' wide, and maybe 8" deep. There will be decorative back about 6" wider on each side, and some side flutes (think deco) further down but these will not really be structural.
My plan is to build 2 boxes (8'x2'x8") out of 1x2 framing and attach them together, attach a 36"x8' strip of 1/2 ply. then I can attach them to a 16' 2x4 with a brace/jack. The other surfaces will be covered with luan, which should stiffen then up.
Should I stagger the joints, and basically make the luan and plywood 4', 8', 4' instead of 8' and 8'? pointless?
The side flutes will 6" wide luan riped 8' and have a pleasant radius on the end. The will be various heights and attach with a 1/2 spacer to the plywood back.
I need to give some thought to the base - I'm thinking 2'x4' ply, or maybe 4'x4'. Hmm.
So am I building this too light? I always want to go light when it is tall, but I never know where to draw the line. At the same time, as always, there is almost no time to build so it needs to stay simple and informative for the high-school kids.
Last question - if I drop the height down to 12, does that change anything? Make it all easier?
Thanks in advance for you opinions!
-RJ
We are going with a very simple set - basically tall, narrow columns. 16' tall, 2' wide, and maybe 8" deep. There will be decorative back about 6" wider on each side, and some side flutes (think deco) further down but these will not really be structural.
My plan is to build 2 boxes (8'x2'x8") out of 1x2 framing and attach them together, attach a 36"x8' strip of 1/2 ply. then I can attach them to a 16' 2x4 with a brace/jack. The other surfaces will be covered with luan, which should stiffen then up.
Should I stagger the joints, and basically make the luan and plywood 4', 8', 4' instead of 8' and 8'? pointless?
The side flutes will 6" wide luan riped 8' and have a pleasant radius on the end. The will be various heights and attach with a 1/2 spacer to the plywood back.
I need to give some thought to the base - I'm thinking 2'x4' ply, or maybe 4'x4'. Hmm.
So am I building this too light? I always want to go light when it is tall, but I never know where to draw the line. At the same time, as always, there is almost no time to build so it needs to stay simple and informative for the high-school kids.
Last question - if I drop the height down to 12, does that change anything? Make it all easier?
Thanks in advance for you opinions!
-RJ
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