Telescopic stands mod

[Frank S]

I use my telescopic stands a lot as jack stands with the inner telescopic tubes at their lowest position.
http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/t...4545#post63925
Today the need arrived for me to have 1 of them partially extended to support a small pickup But I won't ever trust a friction lock with my life.
So I decided to incorporate the design of some of my other safety stands into this one by drilling a series of holes in the tubes. Now I can extend either or both to their fullest height and pin them in place and still use the jack screw for micro adjustments of use the screw as a jack to lift the vehicle

[suther51]

There has been more than one case of blood from the less than positive lock of the friction lock on those style stands at my bosses shop. Last time put the employee out of work for about a week if I'm not mistaken. Messed his hand up. Have to say I like the pin idea quite a bit, thanks. The stands get used and abused. Last year a job came through for 36 inch sch 80 concrete lined pipe. They bought some new stands for that job. Can only imagine the carnage otherwise.
Eric

[Frank S]

I used to manufacture pipe stands for use in the oilfields in the Middle East. Our most popular were the multipurpose folding pipe stands.
They were beefy but lightened every where it was not structurally critical
here are some pics of the drawings of the assemblies
The plate can be flipped up to serve as a flat surface for when working with structural steel other than pipe

click on any picture for a larger view
in this picture you can see that the 2 rollers can be positioned either close together or further apart for larger diameter pipes

in the telescopic tube there are a series of smaller holes as well these can be used to place a lynch pin for safety when dealing with heavier pipes

[PJs]

Very cool design on the pipe racks Frank! Seems like Maximum versatility to me. Am totally agreed about working under Stands and trust no one to place them for me. A good friend lost his life in Albuquerque a few years back working under 2 and pulled too hard with a breaker bar is my understanding.

Thanks,
PJ

[DIYer]

Thanks Frank S! We've added your Telescoping Stand Modification to our Dollies and Stands category,
as well as to your builder page: Frank S's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Telescoping Stand Modification by Frank S

tags: jack stand, stand, modification

[Frank S]

Since I hardly ever use these stands at their double telescoped heights any more and mostly use them under vehicles because of their sturdiness and stability on packed earth with their large square base plates I have drilled holes in the rest of them but only just a couple in each since I never require them to be that tall

[Toolmaker51]

Jack screws; a great idea; easily swapped out when not ideal for work at hand. And friction locks are just for convenience in setting up, especially working alone.

Far as regular tubes go, over time have modded every set I'd use. What ever original spacing put in the sleeve, rotate the tube 90° and drill through same spacing but half a distance higher on the sleeve; on some impractical, lower works too.
Why? Smaller increments of adjustment.
As example. Sometimes I hesitate pulling onto car repair ramps, but want them for better access to chassis. Why jack two extra inches higher when a smaller amount is satisfactory.

[mdhatter3]

I stopped trusting tube stands when my ‘79 Trans Am fell on one and bent it in half. Went and bought very sturdy commercial stands. I now have 6 and feel much more comfortable.