How to Build with Grid Beam: A Fast, Easy and Affordable System for Constructing Almost Anything

287 Pages·2008·131.57 MB·English

by  Phil Jergenson

A S ·· AS , A
I
f R CO STR 0
r
Advance Praise for
How to Build with Grid Beam
Grid beam is a revolutionary building system that enables anyone to build a variety
of structures without expensive wood shop services or equipment. Flexibility in
design is yours! The photos and diagrams make it so simple. You can even make your
own grid beam if you want. Now that's local sustainability at it's finest!
- JOHN SCHAEFFER, founder and president of
Real Goods and the Solar Living Institute
I have been a grid beam builder for over a dozen years. Reusability and modularity
are keys to good design. Making grid beam provides students with experience in
material selection, measurement, toolwork and finishing. Grid beam allows for rapid
prototyping, flexabilty for changes, easy documentation with camera and sketches.
Projects can be dismantled, components put away, ready for the next project.
Artifacts are stored in the computer as photographs, diagrams and materials list. We
are rarely more than a day away from resurrecting a former project.
- DR. JACK MARTIN, Appropriate Technology,
Appalachian State University
The Jergenson Brothers are the masters of grid beam construction. Their amaz
ing technology is the stuff that rigid, rectilinear, realistic dreams are made from.
- RICHARD PEREZ, publisher of Home Power magazine
What I liked about the book is its ability to get all of us interested in being
designers, inventors and builders. It could start a movement.
- JOHN TODD, PH.D., Research Professor and Distinguished Lecturer,
The University of Vermont; Principal, Todd Ecological Inc.
Grid beam amounts to an adult Erector Set that enables ordinary citizens to
"wrench-build" a variety of machines and structures without expensive engineering
and machine shop services .... Working prototypes can thus be constructed quickly
right from crude sketches, without even a modest home shop. The principle seems
obvious, but - as with all modular systems - there are tricky, subtle details that
must dance compatibly for the system to work. The authors have everything dancing
very smoothly indeed.
- JAY BALDWIN, Adjunct Professor of Industrial Design
at California College of the Arts, and author of
BuckyWorks, Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today
This book will inspire you to invent! As we enter the post carbon age, How to build
with Grid Beam will provide useful techniques and projects for amateurs and experts
alike to make quick and sturdy structures without the use of power tools. This is a
fun and practical guide with which to foster a culture of reuse and enable the process
of relocalization - living locally with much less energy.
- JULIAN DARLEY, President Post Carbon Institute
HOW TO BUILD WITH
G R I D B E A
HOW TO BUILD WITH
G R I D B E A
A FAST, EASY, AND AFFORDABLE SYSTEM
FOR CONSTRUCTING ALMOST ANYTHING
Phil Jergenson,
FUchardJergenson
& Wilma Keppel
~~~
....... ,...
~
~~) \f.~
NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS
Cataloging in Publication Data:
A catalog record for this publication is available from the National Library of Canada.
Copyright © 2008 by Wilma Keppel, Phil Jergenson, Richard Jergenson.
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh.
Cover images: Phil Jergenson, Richard Jergenson, Wilma Keppel, Reinhold Ziegler.
Printed in Canada. First printing May 2008.
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-613-1
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of How to Build with Grid Beam should be addressed to
New Society Publishers at the address below.
To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order
online at www.newsociety.com
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC VOR 1XO, Canada
[phone]
New Society Publishers' mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an
ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment,
in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but
through action. This book is one step toward ending global deforestation and climate change. It is
printed on Forest Stewardship Council-certified acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled
(l00% old growth forest -free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks,
with covers produced using FSC-certified stock. Additionally, New Society purchases carbon offsets based
on an annual audit, operating with a carbon-neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our
full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com
~
~ ~
~ AO ...
~~!~p~_
" -vJ
NEW SOCIETY PUBLISHERS -of "fore"It m"o u'otratI . ...
FSC SW-COC-1271
www.newsociety.com .,911 FOftlt suw.tdIWp eo.dI
To everyone who wishes to build,
and needs to find a way.
Contents
Acknowledgments ............................... XIII Hardware ............................................. 30
Accessories ........................................... 31
PART 1: GRID BEAM BASICS Adapters ............................................... 31
Chapter 1: What is Grid Beam? ............. 1
The basics .............................................. 2 PART 2: GRID BEAM PROJECTS
How it works ......................................... 3 Chapter 5: Furniture ............................. 33
The Twelve-Minute Workbench .......... .4 Tables ................................................... 34
Sources ................................................... 7 Desks and workstations ...................... 34
Using this book ..................................... 8 Chairs ................................................... 36
Measurements ....................................... 9 Beds ...................................................... 38
Living Structures ................................ .40
Chapter 2: History ................................ 11 Sleeping lofts ...................................... .44
A pictorial history of grid beam ........ 12
Who we are and why Chapter 6: Storage ................................ 49
we wrote this book. .......................... 15 Shelves ................................................. 49
Bike Rack ............................................. 53
Chapter 3: Advantages .......................... 21 Drawer Carts ....................................... 53
Pegboard .............................................. 53
Chapter 4: The grid beam system ........ 25 Closets and closet organizers ............. 54
Hole spacing ........................................ 25
Standard stick and panel sizes ............ 28 Chapter 7: Workshop and Industry .... 55
Stick materials ..................................... 28 Workbenches ....................................... 56
Skin materials ...................................... 29 Shop tables .......................................... 56
IX
X How To BUILD WITH GRID BEAM
Equipment stands ............................... 58 Electric Tote Goat ............................... 94
Work supports ..................................... 58 Bear garden tractors ............................ 95
Storage ................................................. 59 X-Wing ................................................ 98
Industrial machinery Yanda ................................................. 100
and assembly lines ........................... 61 Go -karts ............................................. 101
Solar Powered
Chapter 8: Structures ............................ 63 Utility Vehicle (SPUV) ................... 10 6
Booths .................................................. 63 Sol Train ............................................ 106
Railings ................................................ 64 Rail Rocket ........................................ 10 8
Baby and pet gates .............................. 64 FOCUS research submarine ............. 10 9
Temporary kitchen .............................. 65 Project possibilities ........................... 10 9
Partitions and walls ............................. 65
Store displays ....................................... 66 Chapter 12:
Stage sets .............................................. 66 Learning and Innovation ................... 111
Scaffolding and platforms .................. 67 Teaching and learning ....................... 111
Buildings .............................................. 68 Innovation and product
development ................................... 115
Chapter 9: Renewable Energy .............. 73
Solar panel mounts and trackers ....... 74 Chapter 13: Other Projects ................ 121
Wind turbines and towers .................. 75 Animal cages ..................................... 121
Hydro power ....................................... 78 Chair arms ......................................... 123
Solar concentrators ............................. 79 Clotheslines and laundry
Portable power .................................... 79 drying racks .................................... 123
Firewood harvesting ........................... 80 Desk organizer .................................. 124
Disability aids .................................... 124
Chapter 10: Trailers, Racks and Carts ... 83 Easel ................................................... 124
Truck racks .......................................... 83 Exercise desks .................................... 124
Trailers ................................................. 84 Fences ................................................. 125
Electric Mower .................................... 84 Float switch ....................................... 125
Garden carts ........................................ 85 Growing equipment .......................... 126
Yard Truck ........................................... 85 Laboratory and
scientific equipment ...................... 127
Chapter 11: Vehicles .............................. 89 Lifting equipment ............................. 128
Why electric vehicles? ......................... 90 Moving ............................................... 129
Solar-Assisted Mountain Bike ............ 91 Model railroad benchwork ............... 129
Electric Vehicle Test Bed (EVTB) ....... 92 Photographic equipment .................. 129
Scamp .................................................. 93 Projection screen ............................... 130
CONTENTS XI
Recliner Workstation ........................ 131 Required tools ................................... 170
Signs ................................................... 131 Work space ........................................ 171
Toys .................................................... 132 Stick specifications ............................ 171
Stick width ......................................... 171
PART 3: WORKING WITH GRID Hole size ............................................ 172
BEAM Drill-it-yourself aluminum .............. 172
Chapter 14: Basic Components ......... 135 Drill-it-yourself steeL ...................... 176
Buying grid beam sticks ................... 135 Drill-it-yourself wood ....................... 176
Cutting sticks ..................................... 138 Finishing your sticks ......................... 180
Skin materials .................................... 142
Working with panels ......................... 147 PART 4: PROJECT DESIGN
Hardware ........................................... 152 Chapter 17: Frame Types ................... 185
Box frames ......................................... 185
Chapter 15: Offset frames ..................................... 186
Accessories and Adapters ................... 155 Stem frames ....................................... 189
Splices and extensions ...................... 156 When to use which
Mounting hole position frame type ...................................... 191
and spacing ..................................... 157
Furniture wheels and casters ............ 157 Chapter 18: Bracing ............................ 193
Feet. .................................................... 158 Bracing basics .................................... 193
Shims ................................................. 158 Cross-bracing .................................... 194
Screws ................................................ 159 Beams and trusses ............................. 200
Butt joint brackets ............................. 159
Lamps ................................................ 160 Chapter 19:
Power strips ....................................... 160 Building Safe Projects ......................... 203
Drawers .............................................. l60 Avoiding trouble ............................... 203
Shelves and shelf brackets ................ 161 Loads .................................................. 204
Pallets ................................................. 162 Failures and fixes ............................... 206
Clothes poles ..................................... 162 Testing your projects ......................... 208
Round tubes ...................................... 163
Pivots ................................................. 163 Chapter 20:
Wheel mounts ................................... 165 Designing Your Own Projects ............ 213
Rotating shafts ................................... 165 Project planning ................................ 213
Fabricating adapters .......................... 165 Design by imitation .......................... 214
Drawings ............................................ 214
Chapter 16: Homemade Sticks ........... 169 Scale models ...................................... 215
Should you drill your own? .............. 169 Mock-ups ........................................... 216