Retractable Roller Tent

Intro.

Hello everyone, this is my first instructable uploaded, so I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

In Spring and summer season, the sun rises with a hot power who helps a lot of us to different activities, to mention someone's, dries clothes, the painted dry more faster, flowers grows and make a beautiful garden, a good Sun tanning. In my case, there are some special clothes i prefer to wash by hand then washing machine, and especially in this season, the sun hit so strong, that can be a little dangerous to our skin, so, by this, I decided to do a retractable tent to roller up when is not required. This shade will be helpful, I think this can be use for everyone who do activities outside (near a wall) who are looking for a easy way to do a tent with components easy to obtain (who knows? maybe yo have almost all material in your backyard, in the place were we drop all our scrap & unnecessary stuff).

To built this tent, we just need the next items:

-Wood as required.

-Continuous thread hex head bolts 2 EA (I used a 5/16" x 3" but is highly recommended to use a wider one).

-Lock Nuts 8 EA (Again, I used for a 5/16" screw but is recommended to use a bigger one).

-Plastic garbage bag 1 EA (A big one).

-Bearings 5 EA (I recycled from a couple of old fidget spinners).

-Nails.

-Screws and anchors.

-Thick thread as required (Don't use a fragile one, try to found a good and resistance rope, wide must be like one bolt thread).

-Staples (and a stapler...).

-Steel tube 5 Ft. 2 EA (The length depends of the height are you looking for).

To make the mechanism located in the down, I used a couple of simple machines, a wheel and axle with a screw. For this, we need a couple of bearings, one bolt and 4 nuts. In the first picture you can see the order to assembly,but dont assembly yet! before place a couple of block mount between bearings (the greatest diameter must be outside). Why using a threaded bolt? this because we are using the property of screw to fix the rope, and, get the capacity to move when we rotate the screw, convertir the circular motion to a linear one. Of course try to rotate the bolt with the hand could be a little bit harder, for solve that, we are using another simple machine, the lever. We can pick any stick for that job, just need only a little hole in the extreme to fit into the principal bolt. To fixed all the parts, just add a couple of supports between the block mounts,just like the last image of this section suggest.

Building this tent is the most easy part of this instructable. First, cut with the help of a scissors, the part of the plastic bag that is attached, as shown in the second picture. Later, pick a long round wood stick, I use one coming from an old broom. Ensure the total length is 3 or 4" More wider than the plastic bag in each side, also, you may need another table (like the wood stopper dolor), this must be just 1" wider in each side of the plastic bag flateneed. The broomstick will be the rotary Shaft controlled by the simple mechanisms, and the other stick would be added at front, joined with the tent supports, you may see this in the next steps. Place each part at the extreme of the plastic bag, fixed with the help of the staples. Just like the image suggested.

For this step, just cut a couple of steel tube at 5ft (that Is the distance works for me, you decide which long Is property). Then, with the hammer help, flat the extreme of each tube, BUT! don't flatten Equal, one extreme must be 90 ° flatten of the other extreme. After that, make a small hole to each extreme of both tubes.

To supports the assemblies, just cut a couple of blocks 5" bigger than them. With help of nails, joined. For the Bottom mechanism, you Will need to do a extra hole in the middle (grand support block) to not block the bolt movement.

I don't want to say it, but this is the hardest part of the instructable. Not because many operations or cuts have to be made. In this part the thread is wound on the screw. It will take some time but it is not impossible, the results will be worth it. This part is more complicated in the lower mechanism since it is surrounded by blocks, while the upper mechanism is much simpler.

One tip, when winding the thread in the lower mechanism, tie a small nail to make some weight and thus facilitate the transition of the thread through the screw strings, the result should be as shown in the image.

IMPORTANT: In the lower assembly, the thread bundle must be on the left side of the screw (viewed from the top). And in the lower assembly, it should be the same way, on the left side (looking at it from the bottom).

Now we just have to place the mechanisms on the wall, start first with the lower mechanism. A couple of screws and anchors are enough.

Do the same with the upper mechanism, this is the crucial part of the assembly, as this is where you need to make sure that the rope is taut, and the rope ties on the screws are in the correct places. Once you have decided where the rope is taut, screw the upper mechanism to the wall.

Here you get a reward, turn the lever to see what happens ...

The part that you decide to put the main roller on the side of the upper mechanism, you must make a flat hole, this you do with the help of a wide flat screwdriver, just as in the first image of the section indicates. At the other end, we will place a bearing to allow freedom of movement. For this we use an wood block mount, a nut, the previously mentioned bearing and a screw. Place them in the order illustrated in the second image shown. Once assembled, nail a bracket the same size as the block mount. Dont fix it yet! first you must to couple the shaft to the flat spike in the top mechanism, when matched, you can fix it on the wall.

This also, is another easy part of this instructable, just make little supports with wood, ensure to drilled the holes before join the parts supports,in that holes must be a pin through (nail) to fix the tube tent support,.With a screw and anchor, place both support in the wall. Now the tent support Is fixed to the wall, the other extreme must be screwed to the extreme of the table "stapled" in the plastic bag.

Finally finished! here is a way (of thousands) to do a simple tent with cheaper components, of course, this can be better, they are many ways to do the same task, we just need to look around and search for correct components, this is the philosophy that I follow every day with all the tasks that I face in everyday life.

Tips and Recommendations.

-The lower mechanism bearings should not be completely aligned, this to create enough tension so that the tent does not come loose easily.

-When placing the mechanisms on the wall, make sure to properly tension the rope, it should not be slack.

-It is highly recommended to use thicker bolts, unfortunately this entails using larger bearings.

-There are thicker threads with less stretching capacity, use them!

-For the main shaft, use a stick as straight as possible.

-If the lever is too loose (due to bearing alignment) a detent mechanism must be created. Stopping the lever with any stake would suffice.

Thanks for reading! Hope enjoy it!