Assembling the case
Once we had completed all of the basic components, comprised of a variety of poles and panels, we were left with the quandary of how to put it all together. Our original design diagram was of a skeleton frame of poles skinned in panels, but the plan did not include specifics.
We quickly came up with two primary options. We could bind the poles into a frame, then lash the panels to the frame or attach the poles to the panels first, then lash those supported panels to one another. After experimenting with the former, we decided on the latter.
We used a series of long, thin ‘darts’ to strap the poles in place. At first we were going to notch the poles to fit together better (ala Lincoln Logs), but after experimenting with that, we found that we could create a significantly stronger structure by simply allowing the horizontal poles to sit on top of the vertical poles, which also provided good places to attach the internal components.
Next, we lashed the panels to one-another using long strips of tape along the inside and outside.
To create the hinged door, we left the top half of one of the poles exposed above the vent panel in the front of the case then slid the tube of the door down over that pole before lashing the top of the pole to the rest of the case.
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