homemade repair stand *pic*

[phantomcow2]

Well i decided I need a better repair stand im way to cheap to go and buy one from park for 100 bucks or whatever it is so i ran to home depot and started to make one. All what i need to do now is get a base, and made some padding so that the jaws of the clamp dont damage the finish (and are more likely to crush).
i got the clamp for 13 bucks. This required a 3/4" pipe so i got that for another 3 or 4
i used a 90 degree elbow but is a reducer. So the diameter of the pipes which make up the stands height and all is 1".
Since i plan to have this thing grab the bike by a seatpost i wanted it pretty high up so 48" wasnt enough, i got a 12" small pipe (nipple) attached with a coupler so the total height is 60".
Tommorow i will probably get some cocnrete in a wide object and stick the pipe in.
all in all i would say its pretty damn strong (all iron), heavy but hey it cost me under 30 bucks!

[Nightshade]

While strong the threaded joints will not take much in the way
of twist to weaking over time. Suggest that you get these joints
ALL welded or, in time, your stand will break at either the 90
or the center joint. Once done you'll have a stand you can give
to your grandkids!!!!!

[phantomcow2]

i might sometime weld them i dont know. I know when i was tightening those i used a pipe wrench with 2 feet of leverage. I clamped it down on a bench vise and when i was cranking on the wrench it lifted the whole bench, so its in there snug. Maybe when i get less lazy

[TomM]

How about posting a picture showing your bike in the stand. I am interested in seeing how well that vise holds a complete bike.

[kerk]

How strange is this. I made the same stand this weekend! I used a similar clamp but used a flange so that I can attach it to my workbench. I didn't take pictures. I will try to post a couple tomorrow night.

[phantomcow2]

Its a great clamp, cheap from home depot. With the pipe you need its under 18 dollars. I plan to make wooden pads with a sort of depression for clamping to tubular objects (seatpost). Then i will get some vinyl or something of the like to protect the finish. Im hoping to build a base for it tommorow so i will take a picture of the bike on it and all then

[cdnguy]

Just to recap so I understand. The vertical pipe is one inch and the clamp itself is 3/4 inch with a 90 degree elbow reducer. Very inventive. What kind of clamp is it, or rather what department at home depot did you find it in.

[phantomcow2]

[QUOTE=cdnguy]Just to recap so I understand. The vertical pipe is one inch and the clamp itself is 3/4 inch with a 90 degree elbow reducer.QUOTE]
That it correct, the reason i had to get the elbow reducer and all is because the clamp required a 3/4" pipe to go along with it and they didnt have anything else.
I got the pipes in the plumbing section of home depot.
I got the clamp in the tool section, there was a big sign that said "CLAMPS" so yea. Im thinking about making the base out of pipe as well, i have a design drawn out. Mostly using 12" 1 1/4" diameter pipes or nipples and T's.

[phantomcow2]

Oh and the clamp itself is from a company called "pony"
heres a link of the excact clamp:
http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Shop_To..._black_pipe_50
its available online for under 10 bucks, but not worth it becuase of shipping

[khuon]

Very nice. I was thinking about doing the same thing. Some sort of concave pads is a Very Good Idea. Perhaps you could make them removable with a clip on the back which would clip over the metal clamp heads so you could choose ones with different concave diameters to fit the specific tubing...

[phantomcow2]

Very nice. I was thinking about doing the same thing. Some sort of concave pads is a Very Good Idea. Perhaps you could make them removable with a clip on the back which would clip over the metal clamp heads so you could choose ones with different concave diameters to fit the specific tubing...

yea i was thinking about having different ones but then I think that if I get a sort of mid range concaveness it should be fine for most things. I plan to either clamp with the seatpost or seat tube. im going to get blocks of wood and using the grinding wheel, make them concave where i need. Then its either gonna be strips of leather or vinyl to protect the finish (and that stuff is grippy anyways)

[khuon]

As far as a base goes, how about a pipe flange attached to a heavy metal plate/slab?

[phantomcow2]

As far as a base goes, how about a pipe flange attached to a heavy metal plate/slab?

I didnt think of that, thanks. I think I will go for that, its going to be a lot cheaper than buying lots of pipe! Plus i have plenty of slabs of stiff wood around the basement

[slowpedal53]

I made a similar stand using a small vise instead of the pipe clamp. Two suggestions:

Instead of a base, you could add another 90-degree elbow and a short length of pipe screwed into a floor flange mounted to a workbench. I did that and it works great.

Also, for a mounting clamp, what about cutting a piece of PVC pipe in half (lengthwise) and padding the halves with rubber?

[kerk]

I used that flange on mine. I'm going to bolt it to my workbench. I also used two wooden blocks in the jaws of the clamp to hold the bike. I clamped the two blocks together and used a spade bit to drill a hole between them to create a half cylinder indention to hold the bike tube or seat post. I sanded down the edge of the cylinder so that a larger tube could be held also. Then I cut some innertube pieces to cover the block so that the bike tube would not be marred while in the jaws. You will also see that I drilled some holes in the clamp so that I could secure the blocks to the clamp. I'll post pictures tonight.

[phantomcow2]

I used that flange on mine. I'm going to bolt it to my workbench. I also used two wooden blocks in the jaws of the clamp to hold the bike. I clamped the two blocks together and used a spade bit to drill a hole between them to create a half cylinder indention to hold the bike tube or seat post. I sanded down the edge of the cylinder so that a larger tube could be held also. Then I cut some innertube pieces to cover the block so that the bike tube would not be marred while in the jaws. You will also see that I drilled some holes in the clamp so that I could secure the blocks to the clamp. I'll post pictures tonight.

Yea thats almost exactly how i planned it. I might use that flange, maybe i will make my "pipe base" I designed (it looks cool). I might use a spade bit or i might use the grinding wheel for the jaws, It depends on what im in the mood for. Im going to do that tonight and post pics though. Im interested to see what yours looks like for reference though

[kerk]

I'm still trying to figure a way to make the heigth adjustable. I've toyed with a couple of options on the drawing board, but nothing worthwhile yet.

[phantomcow2]

Im just using a 48"long pipe and adding couplers and nipples as needed. I think that the 60" its at now is plenty though, since i plan to have this thing grab the seatpost it will be at a great height. Only problem is that its a pain to change since you really have to crank hard to tighten so i will probably leave it as is for ever

[SpiderMike]

Nice idea. Its almost like we need a DIY section on the forum.

[Nightshade]

I didnt think of that, thanks. I think I will go for that, its going to be a lot cheaper than buying lots of pipe! Plus i have plenty of slabs of stiff wood around the basement

Oh boy......even with a much larger base this flange may not be strong enough to hold a bike up
and allow any wrenching at the same time. You're asking an awful lot of less than 1/2 of thread
depth, mate.

[khuon]

Oh boy......even with a much larger base this flange may not be strong enough to hold a bike up
and allow any wrenching at the same time. You're asking an awful lot of less than 1/2 of thread
depth, mate.

You can get ones with a wider base and a lot more threading. Another idea is to borrow from the biplane design and use two of them except that the top is flipped over. A single bolt runs through each of the securing holes and there are three nuts that secure the whole assembly per bolt. You probably want to counter-sink at the bottom of the baseplate (means having a thick enough base) and place washers at the boltheads and nuts to help distribute the loading forces. Essentially it might like something like this in cross-section (excuse my poor ASCII art skills).

                       |   |                     
                       |   |                     
                       |   |                     
                       |   |                     
                       |   |                     
                       |   |                     
                       |   |                     
       ------> [||]    |   |    [||]             
      /    ___==||==___|   |___==||==___
Nuts <    |_____||____ |   | ____||_____| <---\
      \       ==||==  \|   |/  ==||==          \
       \-----> [||]    |   |    [||]            \
        \       ||     |   |     ||              > Flanges
         \---> [||]    |   |    [||]            /
           ___==||==__/|   |\__==||==___       / 
          |_____||_____|   |_____||_____| <---/ 
 ---------------||---------------||---------------
|             ==||==           ==||==             | <--- Baseplate
|______________[__]_____________[__]______________|

                 ^               ^
                 |               |  
                 Countersunk Bolts

Also, you might want to consider adding a ruberised coating or pad to the baseplate.

['nother]

Awesome timing, man! Was just going to post asking about homemade stands, and here sits "homemade repair stand *pic*" thread. Killer!

[lotek]

Nice design. One Caveat if I may, given the pony clamp
I wouldn't suggest clamping to seat tube. Too easy to over
tighten and crimp tubes. Seatpost is a much safer option.

Marty

[kerk]

Ok, as promised here are the pictures. This thing is surpisingly sturdy!


I had a request to come back and add these pictures back in. So here they are...
Clamp 1
Clamp 2
Clalmp with Bike

[phantomcow2]

Nice design. One Caveat if I may, given the pony clamp
I wouldn't suggest clamping to seat tube. Too easy to over
tighten and crimp tubes. Seatpost is a much safer option.

Marty

Clamping to the seatpost was the original plan. I dont trust clamps on my seat tube, i figure a new seatpost is a lot cheaper than a frame!