Alternative yurt construction with no sheet cutting and 4% tape usage

[Al Noel Sansolis]

Hi guys,

With all the preparations for burning man, I do not have time to build a sexy hexayurt.  I do have time to assemble a rectangular yurt with tapeless joints.

I have engineered reusable joints that slip fit over the edges of 1"x4'x8' sheets; I call them yurtclipz.  They will be made from recycled plastic or aluminum.  Depending on your imagination, the layout options are endless.  The configurations are based on 4'x8' modules all with 8' ceilings.

I'm fabricating a set for me and my friends and was wondering if anyone one else might be interested.  The more sets ordered, the more economical it is but we're aiming for $190/set for the 160 sq.ft configuration, 19 sheets required.  If you're interested, I will deliver the set to you on the playa because they won't be done until the 21st.  I'm in the LA area but I don't mind delivering it to you on the playa assuming 1000 sets aren't ordered! 

 

I'm sure you have questions but I wanted to keep this short and find out if it's even worth mentioning.  I have digital 3D models, drawings, 3D printed models, and quotes.

Please let me know what you think!

 

Thanks for your time,

AlNoel S. 

[Lucas González]

BM happens too far away for me but I'm interested in the idea. Qs: could you send a picture? Can it be used/adapted to hexayurt? Can it be used for walls, plus a (classic) Danger ceiling on top? Can they be counted from the sky, and should they? Anything else we should ask?
Lucas

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[ken winston caine]

I'm with Lucas. Sounds innovative. Would certainly like to see photos
or drawings to get a clear idea of what you are doing and whether it
is something I might like to buy into or adapt or incorporate.

Cannot quite picture your designs for the yurts themselves -- unless
we are talking box with flat ceiling/roof. And have no idea what your
tapeless joint connectors look like or how they work. And am wondering
if they provide waterproof seams?

Photos PLEASE.

Thanks,
ken

[Al Noel Sansolis]

Great Qs!

 

This is a jpeg of the 8x16 configuration. You can see that the smallest configuration is 8x4 but you can get all Tetris and Galaga on the design depending on your imagination.  For example: a 16x16 yurt will need a center post for support.

The yurtclipz are at 180deg and 90deg angles.  The 180deg clipz can be used for the roof.

Hexayurts that have features with the sheets parallel or right angles to each other can utilize yurtclipz.  Made out of recycled ABS with a stock length of 94", they can be sawed to the needed length.

They cannot be used on hexayurt walls because they are 120deg angles.

They can be counted from the sky.  "Should they?" is a loaded question.

Ask more questions!

 

The yurtclips have 1/4" holes at the ends to attach an L-bracket that can be staked.

 

[Sean Glang]

Sorry if I sound silly, can you show us a picture of the yurt clip? 

[ken winston caine]

Sean, Al did post a photo earlier in the thread. See his Aug. 3 posts. The photo shows 2" long examples. The actual clips are about 8' long. 

-- kwc

--

[Aimee O'Shea]

Hi, I'm interested in talking to you about the total cost and use for an H12 design yurt. I have all my boards but, still need all tape and thought this might be a more cost effective option. I also live in LA. Is it possible to talk on phone b4 end of weekend? I have to place my tape order not later than Monday. Much Gratitude!

[Vinay Gupta (Hexayurt Shelter Project)]

Hi!

AlNoel, I'm glad to see somebody trying the extrusions/clips approach. We kicked it around in 2008 or 2009 but instead chose to develop the tape option, largely because of the manufacturing difficulties of getting extrusions made without a substantial market lined up. I'm glad you've figured out an affordable way to do this!

Couple of things we found worth pondering:

1) Tiny variations in materials thickness can make a big difference to clip grip strength

2) water handling - the top edge of the clip can get water under it, which will flow up-and-under to the side of the panel or even inside the unit, again largely depending on grip strength

I hope you'll post lots of pictures of the clips: if it works, it would be a viable option to get them manufactured at the angles needed for the six-sided geometries, which would be great for everybody!

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Vinay

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--
Vinay Gupta
Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest

http://bit.ly/gupta_arc - the Gupta State Failure Management Archive
http://bit.ly/gupta_ark - or see it directly on Archive.org

http://hexayurt.com - free/open next generation human sheltering
http://hexayurt.com/plan - the whole systems, big picture vision

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[Vinay Gupta (Hexayurt Shelter Project)]

PS: sorry for the late reply on this, I've been run off my legs for the last month or so and am X-hundred emails behind.

[Al Noel Sansolis]

Hello fellow yurters!

 

The short update...no production until tested at BM 2013.

 

Vinay: Thank you for the reply!  Considering that you are the father of the hexayurt, I am honored with your response.

 

I've been simulating scenarios with different geometries and have reached a point where it's time to test how well the edges seal out water.  If needed, a more economical tape can be used to seal the roof instead of bi-filament tape which is expensive and can delaminate the skins from the panels when removed.  A tarp/rainfly over the roof attached to the 1/4" holes at the clip ends in rainy conditions is also an option.

 

The hexagonal structure is a very rigid shape; I am picturing a 6-person team to lift the roof onto the walls.  If done this way, the clips do not need to grip the panels but focus on keeping the panels in position.

 

"Affordable" still remains to be determined but with a growing yurt population of 250+ on the playa from 2011 to 2012, the market may now be substantial enough compared to 2008 or 2009.  The feedback from this forum has been priceless!

 

Aimee: The yurtclips need to be tested.

 

Sean: These are the ends of the yurtclips for the 90deg and 180deg configurations:

 

In regards to the tetrayurt, yurtclips at a T-intersection will need a 1.25" strip of tape and 2" at a Y-intersection to fully seal the shelter.  Because the yurtclips are rigid and are anchored with L-brackets, masking tape can be used.
With the tetrayurt having an 8-foot ceiling, bunk beds and/or shelves will fit.

I am finalizing the design of yurtclips at 120deg and 151deg for hexayurts.

 

Having said all that, does someone want to volunteer (in addition to myself) using yurtclips at BM this year?

 

Thank you for all your questions and feedback!

AlNoel S.

[Josh and Cody]

My concern is wind load and panel shift.  An 8 foot tall box with no guy wires or internal structure could be pretty shaky in the wind!

[Al Noel Sansolis]

A legitimate concern.  That's what I'll be testing among other things.

Campers/yurters/end-users have different levels of comfort, they will make the final choice.  Tents shake and RVs rock in the wind; each shelter has advantages and disadvantages.

[Percival du Chat Gris]

Greetings,

  Couple of quick thoughts about this.

For a "standard" hexayurt, with 8' walls, (H18) one would need:

 + walls: 

    - 6 8' long 180 degree clips

    - 6 8' long 120 degree clips

    - 11 pre-edge-taped 4'x8' pieces of Super Tuff 2"

    - 1 pre-edge-taped 4'x8' piece of Super Tuff 2" modified for a door

 + roof:

    - 6 8' long 180 degree clips

    - 6 8.94' long 150.5 degree clips

    - 12 diagonally-cut, pre-edge-taped pieces of Super Tuff 2" (probably shipped/stored in 6 4'x8' sheets)

 + roof to the wall attachment:

    - 6 8' long 120 degree clips

 

For a total clip count of:

 + 12 8' long 180 degree clips

 + 12 8' long 120 degree clips

 + 6 8.94' long 150.5 degree clips

  It occurs to me that if you make some sort of foot-long cap, for the roof-juncture, you could make all the clips 8' long, have overhangs on the cap, over each of the heads of the roof-clips, and have curved segments of a sphere on the top, that one could attach one's ropes to.  And if the clips are a little shorter than exactly 8' long, you could also produce corner-caps, so people don't have to trim/bevel their clips for them not to butt into each other at the junctures.

  You could also have extruded buttons that one could lace the clips to each other at the junction points, and just extend out from the roof buttons as the various tie-down points, instead of having to do rope halos or the like, since the downward force would be transmitted along all of the clips.

  The clips might be deep enough to allow for the stability of the 8' side of the boards to be perpendicular to the ground, which might make putting on the roof a bit of a challenge, involving ladders or stilts.  My normal way of doing it, is to put the roof together, then put the first layer of the wall together, attach the roof on the top of that existing layer of the wall, then put the second layer of the wall together, and lift the roof+wall onto that.  The door is more tricky that way, though.

These clips would be really useful for building the tri-domes and quad-domes as well.  Especially the quad-domes, since, it look like the are basically 4 full hexayurt roofs as walls, with 1 full 8x8 square (as the actual roof), and 4 bisected 8x8 squares (triangles with sides 8'x8'x11.3').

Just thinking,

Percival

[Joshua Keroes]

Scotch has this:

Scotch Performance Masking Tape 2364 Tan, 100 mm x 55 m, 8 per case Bulk

That's 60 yds long and 3.937" wide.

Product link @3M: http://tinyurl.com/nocbuem

Commercial-only shop link @3M: 

http://www.shop3m.com/gt500015711.html

$146/8 rolls ($18.25 ea)

Consumer/retail shop link 1: 

http://www.guardiancatalog.com/3M-00021200445422-p/06270284.htm 

$21.67 ea

Consumer/retail shop link 2: 

http://www.mscdirect.com/product/06270284

$22.65 ea.

8+ for $20.38 ea

Running the numbers:

60 yds * 8 rolls

= 480 yds.

= 1440 ft.

The yurtclipz would need tape for the following:

short roof hinges: 6*8' = 48'

 long roof hinges: 6*9' = 54'

      wall hinges: 6*4' = 24'

        tape ring: 6*8' = 48'

+    tape to tarp: 6*8' = 48'

-----------------------------

                         222' total

A classic hexayurt needs about 400' of tape.

The 8 roll bulk box will tape 4 hexayurts with yurtclipz.

At about $20/roll, you'd need 2 rolls.

You'd have 360' - 222' = 142' leftover.

TL;DR: $40-$50 will buy 2 rolls of 4" wide masking tape. Would that work?

-Joshua

On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 9:05 AM, Al Noel Sansolis <the11...@yahoo.com> wrote:

A legitimate concern.  That's what I'll be testing among other things.

Campers/yurters/end-users have different levels of comfort, they will make the final choice.  Tents shake and RVs rock in the wind; each shelter has advantages and disadvantages.

--

[Julie Danger]

Loving this. I trust the clips for stability once the tape ring is on. If the clips were actually joints that go the length of each yurt-seam (or hinge in my definition), that would be ideal...but that would be a pain in the ass to assemble.

Problem: rain, as mentioned. On-playa assembly time. Possibility of the clips cracking/injuring the panels during assembly (really thick foil tape sealing would probably protect the edges of the panels enough.

[Al Noel Sansolis]

Great responses!

 

I've been busy with playa preparations but I want to let you know that if you're interested in checking out the tetrayurt setup, I'm camping with the NUTZ at 10:00 & I.

 

Happy burn everyone!!

 

AlNoel

[shannette snyder]

I wish you could deliver to an old woman hermit in missouri. They sound great. Could use as a visitor shelter when I get a homeless passing by, or my kids.

shannette snyder

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[)( Paul Keister - LA]

Happy March!!

How did the clips turn out last year? And what's been the progress on development this year? I loved the photo of the two different clip and it got my mind racing, along with all the other useful replies.

Paul

On Friday, August 2, 2013 2:35:14 PM UTC-7, Al Noel Sansolis wrote:

[bmsou...@gmail.com]

Almost BM 2014. How did it go last year, ANS?

[Jeremy Guillory]

I'd love to hear any update on Yurtclipz!