Topic
Corrugated plastic as a pack frame?
Forum Posting
A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!
Home › Forums › Gear Forums › Make Your Own Gear › Corrugated plastic as a pack frame?
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
May 17, 2009 at 4:54 pm #1236379
Has anyone tried using corrugate plastic as a framesheet? It's bascially 1/4" plastic that resembles cardboard. I was thinking of using a 12"x24" sheet behind a lightweight 1/2" piece of foam padding.
I think it would be a good middle ground between stays and going frameless or just using a pad. I'm not sure how much it would weigh though. Also, you can't shape it very well, so it's up to the 1/2" foam to conform to your back. You might be able to get some large radiused, shallow curvature out of it though.
May 17, 2009 at 5:13 pm #1501841I've used it with my Jam. Mine was cut from a corrugated plastic lawn sign. It was cut to 7.5"x17" to fit into the hydration sleeve, and weighs 2.3 oz. You're right; it does provide a middle ground between frameless and using stays.
May 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm #1501844Search the forums for 'corrugated framesheet'. There are several threads.
Adding aluminum or titanium stiffeners seems to be popular.
Practicalbackpacking.com also has a entry from 6/20/06 titled 'Lightweight Framesheet for a pack'.
May 17, 2009 at 5:26 pm #1501845Why wouldn't it work? Just ran across this. There sure are a lot of real estate signs in yards these days.
May 20, 2009 at 8:34 am #1502427I think it's called 'Coroplast' (although we used to call it Corflute when I were a lad) and I'm using it in some MYOG panniers I'm making at the moment. I've riveted an aluminium sheet that's bent over the top to make it laterally rigid (I stole the Idea from some Carradice panniers I have) and works great.
I think it would be brilliant for a pack from what I've seen so far.May 20, 2009 at 9:37 am #1502436I keep planning to try it, I just can't find any that has the corrugations running vertically.
May 20, 2009 at 9:58 am #1502442The larger signs are even thicker. My neighbor is using them
for paddles on a land/water craft. They are the thickness
and stiffness of 3/8" plywood but much lighter. I think
they would make good stays too.You may be able to laminate them like plywood, across
the grain for better rigidity for some uses.May 22, 2009 at 11:10 am #1503018Hey Joe,
(no pun intended)would it work by turning it through 90 degrees? We have for sale signs outside houses in the UK that are plenty long enough both ways for any application i can think of.
Sorry if I've got the wrong end of the stick,
MattMay 22, 2009 at 5:00 pm #1503062Most of the corrugated signs i see here are landscape (as opposed to portrait), so they are too short to use. Rare to see one that is tall and narrow, with vertical corregations.
May 22, 2009 at 5:45 pm #1503071I don't need anything that thick. Something thinner would give a nice balance between flexibility so it countours to your pack, but still having at least a little more load transfer.
May 22, 2009 at 7:12 pm #1503081I found it on EBay, it's just one of the many things I haven't gotten to lately. Looked at using Kydex, but it would be a lot of trouble.
May 22, 2009 at 9:35 pm #1503086Hi Jeff,
I have a Golite pack that uses the stuff for the framesheet, and it seems to do the job. It's not a quarter-inch though, more like an eighth.
I know it's tough because the Postal Service has used it for letter bins for decades.
Cheers,
Rick
May 23, 2009 at 9:00 am #1503115at ace hardware.. 18×24 in 4mm thick size, $2
20×10 (although reinforcements run horizontally, $1)
the 20×10 is pro'lly the perfect size for my Conduit.. may try it with a can of 3M spray glue to hold the ccf in place.May 24, 2009 at 6:40 pm #1503297Another place to look is at sign printing shops. I work at a repro shop and we throw away alot of that stuff that is "scrap" from customer projects. We buy it in 4'x8' sheets and cut it down to what we need. Just a thought. I picked up a bunch for a project a few years ago at the end of an election cycle. Just offer to clean up and you can get all kids of it.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting
A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!
Our Community Posts are Moderated
Backpacking Light community posts are moderated and here to foster helpful and positive discussions about lightweight backpacking. Please be mindful of our values and boundaries and review our Community Guidelines prior to posting.
Get the Newsletter
Gear Research & Discovery Tools
- Browse our curated Gear Shop
- See the latest Gear Deals and Sales
- Our Recommendations
- Search for Gear on Sale with the Gear Finder
- Used Gear Swap
- Member Gear Reviews and BPL Gear Review Articles
- Browse by Gear Type or Brand.