Easy Free-Standing Sun Shade

This sun shade is made of three free-standing towers, weighed down with large waste bins filled with water. The shade itself is strung between them.

I built this for an arts festival in the hot Los Angeles summer sun that needed more cover. The venue would not allow anything to be staked in the ground, so I built the simplest towers I could and relied on ballast and tension to pull on the corners of a shade outward. This outline will cover the process of building three towers, sewing a shade, and setting it up between the towers as pictured above, but variants on this system could be used to set up clotheslines or other suspended lines in tension.

The towers are each made of six beams: three upright and three that make the base. When not in use, the beams pack down. Construction of all three towers can be accomplished in under four hours. The shade itself can be cut and sewn in about two. Setup takes around an hour, making this a simple weekend project for a novice or a one-day-build for an experienced carpenter. The cost for this project was around $150.

Materials

-Towers

12ft 2x4 beam - x4 - $6.45 each

8ft 2x4 beam - x9 - $2.74 each

5" 1/2" bolts - x6 - $2.31 each

1/2" nuts - x6 - $7.43 per pack

Screws (#8 2.5" phillips head) - $8.11

Wood glue - $5.41

-Shade & Ballast

Muslin cloth, 120" wide - 7 yards - $70 (but ~$35 with coupons)

Thread - $2.49

Tennis ball (or crumpled water bottle)

Rope - $9.98

Turnbuckle, 3x - $1.93 each

Waste bins - x3 - $14.98 each

Tools

Circular saw

Protractor

Drill

Drill bits

Screw driver

Sewing machine

Clamps (optional)

Step 1: Cut the Wood

The components and their cuts are as follows:

Spine beam: On a 12' beam, make a 24 degree cut from the end (or a 66 degree cut from the long edge). Make one per tower.

Upright side beams: On an 8' beam, make a 76 degree cut on one end and a 14 degree cut on the other. Make two per tower.

Base side beams: On a 45.6" beam (3' 9.6"), make a 79 degree cut on one end and an 11 degree cut on the other. Make two per tower.

Base back beam: The base back beam needs no angle cuts. Just cut a 2x4 down to 4'. If you're making three towers, consider cutting a 12' beam into thirds, or cutting two 8' beams in half.

Step 2: Glue the Wedges

In order to bolt the upright sides and the base sides to the spine, we will take the shallow wedges that we cut from each and glue them to the opposite side of the beam from which we cut them. This will produce a flat, even block with parallel faces through which we can drill our bolt holes.

Step 3: Drill Holes

We will need to drill seven 1/2" holes. One on each upright side beam, one on each base side beam, and three along the spine. We'll also drill four 3/32" holes on the base back beam. Finally, drill a ring of six 1/2" holes around the lip of the waste bin.

To complete each tower, bolt the side beams to their pivot points and stand the tower up. While it's standing, arrange the base back beam so it spans from the foot of one upright side beam to the other, and see that the base side beams meet it cleanly. One by one, use the pre-drilled holes in the base back beam as guides to drill into the side beams, and drive screws in after drilling each. Once you've done this, the tower is complete.

1/2" Holes

Spine:

1.75" from the bottom (the angled end);

20.5" from the top;

4" from the top

Base side beams (2x per tower):

2.89" from the end of the angled tab

Upright side beam (2x per tower):

3.35" from the end of the angled tab

3/32" Holes

Base back beam:

1" in from ends; 15.4" from ends; 1.38" from ends (see drawing)

Step 4: Cut and Sew the Shade

The shade itself is a piece of muslin cloth. I bought a 22' stretch of 10' wide muslin. I cut it from corner to corner, then sewed it into a triangle 20 feet wide and 22 feet long. Even if you're not much of a tailor, if you have a sewing machine you just press the pedal and spend the next ten minutes feeding. Attaching ropes to each corner will be explained in the next step. Make sure to use a strong, wide stitch setting.

Step 5: Assemble

To assemble the shade, first assemble the three towers. Bolt the top of the two upright side beams to the spine beam at pivot point A. Leave the bolt loose enough to pivot. Bolt the base side beams to the spine at pivot point B, also keeping it a bit loose. Screw the base back beam to the upright side beams. Then, stand the whole thing up. As you do, the upright beams should pivot relative to the spine. The base side beams should be pivoted into place as well. Screw the base back beam into the ends of the base side beams.

To attach the shade, wrap each corner around a tennis ball, or in a pinch a crushed up plastic water bottle. Then, tie a rope around the cloth behind the tennis ball (or water bottle) and tie it tightly. Feed it through the hole at the top of the spine beam.

Run about ten feet of rope through one hole around the rim of the waste bin, through the eye of the turnbuckle, and then back through the next hole around the perimeter of the waste bin until the turnbuckle's pull is distributed evenly across the six holes. Run the rope from the shade through the top of the turnbuckle and then tie it off with a trucker's hitch.

Credit for figuring out how to attach the shade to the posts goes to Taylor Fitz-Gibbon, who helped with this project (fitzfitzfitzfitzfitz on Instagram).

Step 6: Conclusion

Hopefully, this template serves as a useful jumping off point for making a nifty support structure for hanging string lights across your back yard or providing shelter for a large camping trip. If you find new uses or make improvements, please share! Enjoy!