Well since its a snowy day here I thought I'd try my hand at a DIY Shikar for one sticking. It still needs a cam cleat and some T-Track style knobs to replace the wing nuts I have temporarily holding it together along with a sponge paint job. I originally laughed at your comment about the knobs availability here in the northern woods @Silvio, but apparently its true. They didn't have them in our local big box stores so I'll have to order them.
All in all I don't think it came out to bad for an amateur machinist like myself. The stick is 3/4"square solid aluminum stock cut to 21.5" long. The mill cuts in the sides are all 1/4" deep by 1/2' wide leaving 1/4" of material in the web. I used a 3/8" ball nose end mill to create an ample round in the bottom of the webs. I left a 2.5" solid center section so I'd have sufficient material to bolt the cam cleat to.
The steps and standoffs are from @DanO (Thanks again DanO for your super service!). I modified the standoff's by cutting off the ears for the 1" tubing and then machining shallower cuts to accept the 3/4" bar. The steps are straight off DanO's shelf. Step spacing is 19.5", exactly the same as my modified Hawk. As it stands right now it weighs in at 28.5 ozs (1.78 lbs).
All in all I don't think it came out to bad for an amateur machinist like myself. The stick is 3/4"square solid aluminum stock cut to 21.5" long. The mill cuts in the sides are all 1/4" deep by 1/2' wide leaving 1/4" of material in the web. I used a 3/8" ball nose end mill to create an ample round in the bottom of the webs. I left a 2.5" solid center section so I'd have sufficient material to bolt the cam cleat to.
The steps and standoffs are from @DanO (Thanks again DanO for your super service!). I modified the standoff's by cutting off the ears for the 1" tubing and then machining shallower cuts to accept the 3/4" bar. The steps are straight off DanO's shelf. Step spacing is 19.5", exactly the same as my modified Hawk. As it stands right now it weighs in at 28.5 ozs (1.78 lbs).