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Collapsible skid signs...

Moze

Precision Sign Services
I have a customer that puts these up and takes them down fairly often. They may need three put up or taken down in a given day, which, in the past, has meant handling and transporting six of the upside down shape pieces. Those essentially take up 8' x 8' worth of space. Transport can be tricky unless you have a large trailer, which I don't. Those are heavy, but manageable...but they're pretty unwieldy and just take up a ton of space.

Brainstormed for a solution and came up with a collapsible version that is easy to store, load, transport, set up and breakdown. The upright post pivots forward and nests between the horizontal skids for storage or transport. A screw on either side holds it in place. To set up, remove those two screws, swing the upright into place, hinge the brace down between the skids and use those two screws to hold the brace in place. When attaching the faces, the upright posts can pivot backwards and rest on the end blocks. Lay the face on the uprights, screw in place, then pivot the face and uprights into place, screw the brace in place and you're done. Six of these (enough to make three skid signs) can easily fit on the roof rack of my van. The only weak point would be the hinges where they're screwed into the mitered end of the brace since shorter screws had to be used due to there being less wood, but it's still pretty sturdy and should hold up well.

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JBurton

Signtologist
The only weak point would be the hinges where they're screwed into the mitered end of the brace since shorter screws had to be used due to there being less wood, but it's still pretty sturdy and should hold up well.
Could you leave the 2x4 square and mount a second hinge to the first? One hinge to act as the 45, one to act as the collapsable portion? Then you could drive 4" screws straight down the 2x4.
Like so? Red hinge, blue hinge, black shim I guess? IDK, alternatively a piece of all thread to act as a hinge bolted between the two 2x4's , but then you have to add extra length to the skid.
I'll shut up now, nice work.
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Moze

Precision Sign Services
Could you leave the 2x4 square and mount a second hinge to the first? One hinge to act as the 45, one to act as the collapsable portion? Then you could drive 4" screws straight down the 2x4.
Like so? Red hinge, blue hinge, black shim I guess? IDK, alternatively a piece of all thread to act as a hinge bolted between the two 2x4's , but then you have to add extra length to the skid.
I'll shut up now, nice work.
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Don't shut up. I appreciate the input lol. I had to come up with the idea and build these quickly, so this is what I came up with. Everything is rock solid other than the mitered portion of the hinge.

I like your idea but not sure about where the two hinges mate. What's thin enough and strong enough to fasten those together....? Rivets won't hold, I don't think...
 

JBurton

Signtologist
Rivets won't hold, I don't think...
BZZZZZZZZZT
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Or you could bury a threaded expansion anchor in the 4x4, and drive a bolt through the 45ed portion of the leg into the anchor, so you can bolt it in after it goes up, but now your'e wasting more time.
I want to see how these hold up. Are they intended to be left up for more than a day? If so, you might consider coating the hinges in something, or packing them with grease.
 

Moze

Precision Sign Services
BZZZZZZZZZT
giphy.gif


Or you could bury a threaded expansion anchor in the 4x4, and drive a bolt through the 45ed portion of the leg into the anchor, so you can bolt it in after it goes up, but now your'e wasting more time.
I want to see how these hold up. Are they intended to be left up for more than a day? If so, you might consider coating the hinges in something, or packing them with grease.

Yeah, definitely getting into a bunch of extra time. I think it will hold up decently as is.

I suppose I could have skipped mitering the end and left is square. That would have allowed me to use longer screws into the endgrain.

These will be likely be up for some weeks, so I'll see how they do. I think they'll be fine.
 
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