# Tinkertoys for adults **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528 "2006-09-05T17:33:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/1 "2006-09-05T17:33:30Z")
Here’s a product idea: Tinkertoys for adults. Not “adult” as in XXX, but adult as in made of stainless steel or aluminum instead of wood (or plastic.) The kit would include square flat panels made of glass or wood so you could build yourself a coffee table, end table, bookshelf, etc out of them. A square coffee table, rectanglar, t-shaped, whatever you wanted. I want some! ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/2 "2006-09-05T20:26:01Z")
I would purchase them and build my furniture. That would rule! Please, force this into production. Brendon ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/3 "2006-09-05T22:13:39Z")
They don’t have IKEA in Virgina? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/4 "2006-09-05T22:30:15Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] They don’t have IKEA in Virgina? [/QUOTE] That’s what I was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/5 "2006-09-06T00:24:25Z")
There isn’t an IKEA close by, but we have one up at Potomac Mills near DC. Do they have something like that? All I saw on their site was a sort of modular shelf system, which is sort of neat but not as neat as shiny metal Tinkertoys. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/6 "2006-09-06T02:43:08Z")
**Tinkertoys for adults** [Here ya go](http://www.tslots.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/7 "2006-09-06T02:58:13Z")
Here’s some more: [Wood](http://www.mkprofiles.com/profile_systems/mk_wood_Profiles.asp) [Aluminum](http://www.mkprofiles.com/structural-framing-system.asp) [Aluminum](http://www.modularaluminum.com/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/8 "2006-09-07T01:11:22Z")
[QUOTE=Can Handle the Truth] Here’s some more: [Wood](http://www.mkprofiles.com/profile_systems/mk_wood_Profiles.asp) [Aluminum](http://www.mkprofiles.com/structural-framing-system.asp) [Aluminum](http://www.modularaluminum.com/index.html) [/QUOTE] Those are pretty cool. Look pricey though, they’re oriented towards commercial/industrial apps. ---
**Author:** ![Accro5incit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90ced4/32.png) [@Accro5incit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accro5incit)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/9 "2006-09-07T01:21:48Z")
I would have suggested Lowe’s, or Home Depot. (More accurately, the [candy store](http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=categorySelect&category=Tools&Ne=9000&N=0) for adults.) -V- ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/10 "2006-09-07T12:02:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Tinkertoys for adults > > * * * > > Here’s a product idea: Tinkertoys for adults. Not “adult” as in XXX, but adult as in made of stainless steel or aluminum instead of wood (or plastic.) > > The kit would include square flat panels made of glass or wood so you could build yourself a coffee table, end table, bookshelf, etc out of them. A square coffee table, rectanglar, t-shaped, whatever you wanted. > > I want some! Oh, heck, we had this over thirty years ago when I was an undergrad. It was called “slotted angle iron”, although it was colloquially “Dexion”, after one company that made it. More like a giant-sized Erector Set that you could use to build items tens of feet long. The Theater groups on campus used it for building sturdy stages and sets, and the labs used it for making rigid experimental structures. People made furniture out of it, too, attaching plywood panels to the sides. > **[Slotted Angle](https://lkgoodwin.com/slotted-angle-a.html)** ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tinkertoys-for-adults/371528/11 "2006-09-07T12:14:52Z")
Guys, guys, your modular construction sets are nice and all, but they’re ass-ugly. The OP wants [Tinkertoys](http://frn.sdstate.edu/Lending_LibraryPics/Inventory%20Pictures/Plastic%20Tinkertoys%202312.jpg) Remember [Tinkertoys](http://cgi.ebay.ca/VINTAGE-RARE-ANTIQUE-TINKERTOY-2-CONTAINERS-LOT_W0QQitemZ280024055801QQihZ018QQcategoryZ19014QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) ? Rounded, colors, wheels you could whip at your sister’s head like a discus thrower on crack? They have [Giant Tinkertoys](http://users.rowan.edu/~zake/morris/Giant%20tinkertoys.jpg) in some daycares now that might work for indoor furniture if you slapped a few tabletops into the holes. But what the OP really needs is [something a little larger in scale.](http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_things_to_do/attractions/public_art/images/tinkertoys.jpg)