I used half lap joints so that the joints gave stability and strength. Held together with the carriage bolts. I did have to put the carriage bolts in the opposite way on the bottom so they didn’t scratch my deck. I cut those off short so they didn’t extend and damage the panels.
I put in 3 sets of holes for the adjustable legs which are in the middle positions right now. I haven’t tried all them yet to get the ranges of highest and lowest angles.
Everything is color coded so I know how to put it back together. I didn’t take a shot of it disassembled but it is a very small package of materials and should be easy to transport.
If you don’t have telescoping legs from something you should be able to make them.
If this one gets worn and I need to make a new one, I would not use pine again, or at least a pine with knots in it. Since the slats are only about 2" wide, some of them split at knots and I had to add reinforcement.
Got to give credit to the person that shared pics of his setup which gave me the idea. Not sure who it was but it was a great help! I just tweaked it so it would be portable and light.
I like it. Nice work. Just a caution that you may or may not have considered. Since I have had an unexpected gust of wind blow some of my SP120 panels over while just set up on the ground, that would be my only concern with something like that kind of setup.
Yes. My concern as well. The first time I set it up with some significant wind I will be right there! It is not super light since these are the SP200’s but it is basically a sail. There is no place to let the air pass through. I have in my mind a way to attach weights to the top with some rope or to the adjustable legs that hopefully would keep it from blowing over. So when I have to do that test, I will post results.
I think more likely is that the wind would be able to push it and have the legs collapse. Since they are secured at the top with just a bolt and wing nut, if they are not exactly straight up and down they do collapse. I have been thinking about how to clamp a cross member parallel with the ground to keep that from happening.
My first thought would be a couple of guy-lines attached at the top running to stakes in the ground would help with wind. Also, simply spacing the panels out to allow air to pass through would help a lot.
Thanks for posting! I’ve been noodling around with stand ideas as well and this has definitely been a help.
I think if you made it out of two by fours as well it would be wind resistant, but portability was what I was looking for here. Still have not had it out on a windy day. Update when I do. Maybe a video as well.
I was thinking of a similar system with casters attached so I can roll them in and out of my garage when there’s little or no sun, or high winds. I saw these on Amazon, and it got me thinking also. I have 6 PV 200’s and thought 3 panels per cart. Any creative folks out there have any ideas? Perhaps a build with some 80/20 aluminum stock may work?
