Need advice on poles inside of tarp

Maybe a thin pipe that has an angle? You could insert the tips into both sides of that. What's the angle required? Could you find suitable plastic piece from plumber-department in hardware store? You definitely can have the correct angle made from copper but that heavier option than plastic.

Alternatively, you can take a piece of wood and drill two holes in it.

And there is also the option to have the rubber tips on the poles, then just tie the poles together with a piece of string.

This is what I made (hope pictures make sense):

Here it is in use:

In my case, I threaded the hole in the centre of the aluminum piece to be able to have a bolt there – need it for tying off (I use my poles as an A-frame at the entrance of my GoLite Lair 1). If you have the poles under the fabric, just forget the bolt. To secure the poles, wrap the webbing around the pole grips and introduce into the ladderlock.

The reason I did it this way (poles right-side up) is -1- I don't want the pole grips resting on the ground (because they'll get wet) and -2- with the tips on the ground they won't slide apart (as the pole grips could do). Furthermore, you avoid the problem you address (tips damaging fabric).

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

For some reason I was thinking that there is a floor so using poles handles up would not be that good idea, but if there isn't, handles up is definetly good idea.
I wonder if the poles could be attached to each other with nothing but their own hand loops? That would be 0% weight added :)

If hand loops are not enough, maybe a piece of cord could be used, still less weight than the metal piece – unless camera mount is wanted.

Hi Henk and Antti,

I appreciate your input. I was thinking that I would put a cup sewn from fabric at the bottom to hold the trekking poles handles and 2-3 velcro straps to hold the poles in place. I was hoping I could get away without having to add anything at the top other than maybe a reinforced patch of cuben fiber and small tip covers for the poles. Do you think that would work?

If I put the trekking poles handle up and had the handles tied together somehow, it seems like getting a tight pitch would be hard since the top wouldn't be flat (bare with me, I have no design experience). To combat that, I would have to add a piece like Henk showed or do what Steve Evans did in his original design.