Voluntary Society - Action - Promotion

Booth

I have a design for an inexpensive, portable and light weight Libertarian booth, but I have not had a chance to develop the graphics for it. It's based on inexpensive consturction materials used other than intended. It's a great way to create inexpensive partitions and booths, including shaded booths and literature tables. It's a little bulkier, but a lot lighter, less expensive and more attractives than folding tables ($40) and canopies ($100). I converted a warehouse into an office area for a startup company with this method.

Buy 1.5"x4'x8' insolation foam from Home Depot or the like for $9 and 10' lengths of steel J-rail for $2.

Tools: sheet metal cutter, drill, rivet gun, putty knife, rubber mallet.

The white foam comes with lettered plastic sheet on one side and reflective aluminum foil on the other. You can paint the plastic and use the foil as-is, but too often they are damaged, so I usually strip both from the foam. You can paint it or spray-glue cloth to the foam, or use it as-is to take advantage of its reflective qualities.

Compress the edges of the foam slightly to make it easier to squeeze the J-rail over it.

Frame the foam with the J-rail to provide stiffness and a method of attaching one 4'x8' sheet to another. Keep the all the wide edges of the J-rail on one side for best appearance. Rivet the J-rail at the corners where they overlap on both sides.

If doing partitions, cut two J-rail to slightly less than 8' and rivet them back to back to provide a stiffener column between two sheets of foam. You can save money and labor by skipping every other sheet pair by gluing the edges of two together with paneling adhesive. Chalk a straight line and use double-sticky carpet tape to adhere J-rail to the floor. Overlap the J-rail for strength and linearity rather than cut and discard excess to create butt joints.

Tilt the panel(s) on the small edge of the J-rail on the floor, and rotate them vertically into the J-rail. Use people or cabinets to hold the panels vertical while the edge of the initial panel is secured to a wall or cabinet. Insert a double J-rail column first into the floor J-rail, then onto the foam by hooking the small side onto the foam and rotating the big side onto the foam. Use a putty knife if necessary to snap the small edge of the J-rail over the form.

Rotate a J-rail onto the top of the foam to secure it. Drill and rivet all of the joints after the wall it complete. Use 2'x4' T and cross nail plates, corner bead or other construction material on the top edges to provide diagonal support.


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