So not necessarily glowforge style, but something I’ve been obsessing over lately. Tensegrity, for those who don’t know, basically means that there is opposing tension constantly pulling apart at each other, causing a floating effect.
This picture was my first go about it to kind of get a feel for how it works and where I can improve.
It was a little unstable and wobbled side to side. I used 550 cord to attach the top and bottom, though no wood from the top is actually touching the bottom. Because of the stretching in the cord, the single tension point stretches a little, causing the other tension points to become loose. First thought was remove the stretching material.
I decided to go with braided cable, nothing to serious as it won’t need to hold much weight, paired with the idea the load will be shared with 4 tension points, essentially quadrupling the strength of the overall build.
I also realized with the size of the wood I originally used, the stress points at the base of the L-shaped piece was overbearing the screws. I decided to upgrade from a 2x2 to a 4x4 for the L brackets and sunk the screws in from the bottom about 3/4 inches into a 2x4 board. This, of course, was all drawn up ahead of time (forgive pixelation)
After a few more tweaks to where I could see issues arising, I began my build 3 days ago. As of yet, I haven’t finished it as my wife and I are remodeling to have a nursery, so I wasn’t able to focus on the build. I’ve decided to assemble before I finish so I can make sure to make adjustments before having to change/add more and refinish to match. This is where I’m at so far but it is surprisingly sturdy for only having 3 out of 12 supports put together! I’m excited to see how it turns out.