Thread: Shade Cloth on Aluminium Frame

Used the stuff a few years ago for a job because thats what the customer wanted us to use. From memory the was a support flange on one face of the tube for shelving etc. We used plastic joiners/fittings from Capral, Not sure if there is a metal version as well, but I would be dubious about the plastic ones outdoors longterm. The most effective way to fix the fabric would be to sandwich it between the tube and an ally 'coverstrap' and rivet on about 150mm centres.

Re wall mount brackets, you would probably need to make your own out of some ally angle, say 75 x75 x 4 or similar.

Mal
I believe Cubelock is primarily intended as a design base for interior furnishing items like office furnishings and coffee tables.

The junction blocks may not stand up to UV attack very well for very long and may well fail when you you do have high winds.

We have Cooloroo roller blinds in shade cloth hung over the window apertures and while they are designed for exterior, the plastic bits have failed due to UV in 2 years , making it necessary to fab those bits in aluminium.

I would dare say it could still be done in ali box section which can be purchased in full lengths heaps cheaper than the Cubelock.

I take you are doing it yourself. If so, the means of attachment probably would be pop riveting using aluminium angle sections pop rivetted to the box to allow attachment to the house wall.
The house wall material may pay a part in determining that factor as well.

cheers
Grahame

We have several external rollar blind type shade cloth thingys on our place. Got them from bunnings. Have had them up for about 3 years now.I have attached a couple of ours to the eaves and the others to the brickwork it wouldn't be that hard to make some brackets to hold them away from the window. They are very effective in reducing the heat coming through the windows in summer and we can roll them up in winter.
I can't remember the brand but I'm pretty sure Bunnings still have them. I think our biggest one is about 2.4m wide. I think at the time they were about $100 each.
The only problem we've had is we had a big storm and one of them came out of the bracket and fell down. Not really the fault of the blind but rather the way I had fitted it to the metal facia. It was one of those jobs that I put up in a hurry with the intension of coming back later to do it better, but forgot about it. Anyway when it hit the concrete, the plastic end came out of the alloy tube. Again not really an issue except one of the dogs destroyed it. I had to make a new end out of some alloy.

regards
bollie7

I have made lots of stuff from qubelock from coffee tables to shed shelving , fitted out trailors , mostly indoor stuff however I have made outdoor stuff as well an outside easel thats still going strong after 4 years of grandkids use, lift up rear door for a home icecream van still ok as far as I know, couple of bbq shelves that are showing no problems after 7 years or so and at $4 a meter its good value.
To fit the shade cloth you can get small grips designed to grip shade cloth and screw these to the al
Wall connectors make your own
For added strength pop rivit through the al section into the corner connectors

Why not make a panel out of aluminium screen door frame.
A. Use hinges across the top so that the correct angle may be
found by trial and error.
B. Fix top using angle aluminium.


The frame could be held out using square aluminium box section and short lengths of channel as brackets to wall and bottom of frame.

Thanks for the replies.
I don't think I will take the risk on Qubelok. So probably Aluminium Angle.
Would the 25mm x 25 x 1.6mm be OK?
Coverstrap - Is that just say 20mm x 1.6mm flat aluminium or is there a specific profile?
I can see Aluminium Angle in the Capral Catalogue that might suit the Wall Attachments. 76.2 x 76.2 x 3.2 mm or 80 x 80 x 4mm. I will be attaching to Brick, the hollow type with the three holes through them. I have used Ramset Ramplugs before> Do you think they would be OK?
http://www.ramset.com.au/fileupload/...Guide_2008.pdf
I have a cheap Rivet Gun but have only used it a couple of times. What size rivets would I use?
Would I use one Rivet in each corner and say 2 to the wall attachment or would I squeeze two rivets into the corners bearing in mind the angle will only be 25mm wide?
Sorry for all the questions but I haven't worked with this material before.
Thanks,
Mal

So any further help on this one?

Mal