Make an Ultralight 60cm Tent Pole (40g £5-£10)

This project started out as a 'could I do it' idea. It seemed silly to me to spend serious money on a set of ultralight trekking poles if all I was going to do with one of them is use it as a tent pole.

Since I only needed one pole - for the rear of the tent I figured that I should be able to make something out of ordinary Aluminium stock tubing (i.e. not Heat Treated) that weighed a lot less than a trekking pole.

This project may not be cost effective unless you already own the tools required and maybe also have some tubing lying around.

In order to do this project you will need some basic metalworking skills and access to some basic metalworking equipment - either a drill press or a metalworking lathe. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITH A DOMESTIC DRILL.

Tools Required

  • Drill Press
  • Metric drills - 6mm, [6.5mm], 4mm
  • Machine Vice with vertical V-groove (for use with drill press) + Fixing bolts
  • tube-cutter or hacksaw
  • Flat file
  • Hammer :-)

Materials

Note: Tubing and round stock is normally purchased in standard sizes. Typically this is 1M lengths or multiples of this. I tend to buy my tubing from B&Q Warehouses simply because there is one near my house and one near my office. See Metal-Working tips
  • 33cm of Aluminium 8mm tubing (wall thickness is about 1mm)
  • 33cm of Aluminium 6mm tubing (wall thickness is about 1mm)
  • 3cm of 4mm Aluminium round stock (i.e solid)
  • 1cm of 6mm Aluminium round stock (i.e solid) [optional]
  • Araldite (or another epoxy glue or hot melt glue)

Instructions

  1. Clamp the 8mm tubing into the machine vice, centre the tubing on the drill and secure the machine vice to the drill press table
  2. Set up the drill press with a 6mm drill and a drill depth of 5cm. Widen this to 6.2mm (approx). See Metal-Working tips [If you cannot do this then use a 6.5mm drill instead and drill once]. Use lubrication (e.g. 3in1). Lubricate the drill and drill out the centre of the tubing. Do a little at a time and relubricate from time to time. [Wear protective glasses]
  3. Change to a 6mm drill and reset the drill press for a depth of 1cm
  4. Reverse the 8mm tube and drill it out to a depth of 1cm (this is for the base of the plug). Lubricate drill and tube.
  5. Change to a 4mm drill and reset the drill press for a depth of 2cm
  6. Secure the 6mm tubing into the machine vice and centre under the drill
  7. Drill the tube out to a depth of 2cm. Lubricate the drill and the tube.
  8. Coat the 6mm plug with Araldite and tap into place in the 8mm tubing
  9. Coat one end of the 4mm round stock with Araldite and tap into place in the 6mm tubing
  10. File any rough edges
6mm plug fitted inside base of 8mm tube (unfinished)
4mm round stock fitted into top of 6mm tube (unfinished)
Top and bottom poles side by side

Notes:

1. This Pole is JUST strong enough for most things when it is correctly tensioned on a guy rope. Strong winds with loose guy lines could break it.

2. The 6.5mm hole is a little loose. If you can do it then 6.2mm would be better - see Metal-Working tips