Home Brew Workstand?

in message <[email hidden]>, Doki

(') said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get
an engine stand for less...

The clamp is the dear bit. If you have the facilities to make a clamp
which can grip a tube without crushing it, the rest is easy. Remember
that good quality bike frames use incredibly thin-walled tubes.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; MS Windows: A thirty-two bit extension ... to a sixteen bit
;; patch to an eight bit operating system originally coded for a
;; four bit microprocessor and sold by a two-bit company that
;; can't stand one bit of competition -- anonymous

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Doki

(') said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get
an engine stand for less...

The clamp is the dear bit. If you have the facilities to make a clamp
which can grip a tube without crushing it, the rest is easy. Remember
that good quality bike frames use incredibly thin-walled tubes.

Here's a clever idea for a clamp-free recumbent-compatible stand made
from PVC tubing.

<http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/PVCWorkStand.htm>

--
Dave...

Doki said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get an
engine stand for less...

I've made one, but it's not a conventional design. I'd already got a
strong steel workbench with a 3" vise bolted to it. The "stand" consists
of an aluminium tube, smaller in diameter than the seat tube and a little
bit longer, with the cap from a 35mm file canister on one end. The other
end has a heavy duty steel hydraulic fitting pushed into it and this goes
into the vice where the hydraulic fitting stops the tube being crushed.
The seat tube is taken off the bike and it is then upended onto the tube
where the BB axle sits on the film can top. It can be swung through about
300 degrees with _just_ enough clearance on the wall behind.

This wasn't really a design as such, just something that took ten minutes
to make using material already to hand. It's lasted 12 years though and
works fine.

OTOH for the 'bent I just upend it on the Workmate bench, but that PVC
pipe stand Dave Kahn mentioned looks very interesting.

Mike

Dave Kahn said:

Here's a clever idea for a clamp-free recumbent-compatible stand made
from PVC tubing.

<http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/PVCWorkStand.htm>

I made one of those a few years ago. It flexes alarmingly under the
weight of the Street Machine, but it's OK for the wife's lighter wedgie.

--
Danny Colyer (my reply address is valid but checked infrequently)
<URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/danny/>
Subscribe to PlusNet <URL:http://www.colyer.plus.com/referral/>
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

In article <[email hidden]>, Simon

Brooke said:

Remember that good quality bike frames use incredibly thin-walled
tubes.

Kestrel Engineering (?) make one where the bike sits on the workstand
- heavy dute plastic V block which fits under the bottom bracket.
Looks as if it would be easy to copy.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

"Doki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get an
engine stand for less...

I've found the best stand to be hooks on cables suspended from the garage
roof. It will fit any bike easily, and it is easy to make it height
adjustable too.

Ric said:

"Doki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get an
engine stand for less...

I've found the best stand to be hooks on cables suspended from the garage
roof. It will fit any bike easily, and it is easy to make it height
adjustable too.

I've been using a pulley system like that for years. Probably cost me
less than £5, 15 years ago .... and that was with good quality pulleys.

--
..... don't eat yellow snow

Pete Whelan said:

Ric said:

"Doki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can
get an engine stand for less...

I've found the best stand to be hooks on cables suspended from the
garage roof. It will fit any bike easily, and it is easy to make it
height adjustable too.

Quoted message said:

I've been using a pulley system like that for years. Probably cost me
less than £5, 15 years ago .... and that was with good quality
pulleys.

I have two in the garage for storing bikes and working on them. Cost £5 a
set in Aldi sometime last year when I bought four (two for me, two for a
friend). Worth watching for a repeat; most Aldi bargains seem to come round
again. Similar systems are available from other places, such as Mike
Dyason, for around £20.

It works with a couple of pulleys in the roof with rope down to a pair of
pulleys attached to hooks. The hooks can go round handlebars or under a
seat. There is a locking mechanism to hold the bike at whatever height one
likes, plus a secondary safety loop to tie the rope back if required.

The complete pack was pulleys, mounting bits, hooks with plastic protectors,
rope, and screws to fix it to the roof. Mine are bolted to planks which
allows me to move them around the rafters of the garage roof, and assembly
was on a bench rather than above my head.

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Doki

(') said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get
an engine stand for less...

The clamp is the dear bit. If you have the facilities to make a clamp
which can grip a tube without crushing it, the rest is easy. Remember
that good quality bike frames use incredibly thin-walled tubes.

Clamp onto the rather beefy seat tube on my MTB instead?

but it's OK for the wife's lighter wedgie.

Sorry, must admit I laughed at that sentence. Just had to tell
someone!

:-)

--
Mark
_______________________________________
Nerves of Steel, Heart of Gold, Knob of Butter

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Doki

(') said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get
an engine stand for less...

The clamp is the dear bit. If you have the facilities to make a clamp
which can grip a tube without crushing it, the rest is easy. Remember
that good quality bike frames use incredibly thin-walled tubes.

Also: Does anyone know a good engineering reason why a wooden clamp with a
27mm hole between the jaws wouldn't work well enough (27.2mm seatpost)?

"Doki" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyone made one? Commercial ones seem a bit expensive when you can get an
engine stand for less...

I was impressed by the PVC work stand mentioned in Dave Kahn's post and
featured at http://www.bicyclecommuter.com/PVCWorkStand.htm.

In the USA he used Schedule 40 PVC pipe. I don't know the UK equivalent of
this, but I assume it is water supply pipe rather than the sort used for
taking the waste water away.

My main concern though is whether this type of plastic is affected by
sunlight as I know that this makes some plastics very brittle and the stand
will have to live outside. If so would painting it offer suitable
protection?

I'd be very grateful if anyone can answer this for me. Sorry if it sounds
more like plumbing than cycling.

Derek

DiddyS <[email hidden]> whizzed past me shouting

Quoted message said:

I'd be very grateful if anyone can answer this for me. Sorry if it sounds
more like plumbing than cycling.

If you don't get a response here, try uk.d-i-y who would really love to
advise you on this.

--
Sue ]🙁🙂

Bicycle helmets are really a bit of a scam.
They make most cyclists slightly less safe but there's money in selling them.

"Sue White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

DiddyS <[email hidden]> whizzed past me shouting

Quoted message said:

I'd be very grateful if anyone can answer this for me. Sorry if it sounds
more like plumbing than cycling.

If you don't get a response here, try uk.d-i-y who would really love to
advise you on this.

--
Sue ]🙁🙂

Bicycle helmets are really a bit of a scam.
They make most cyclists slightly less safe but there's money in selling
them.

Thanks, Sue.

Derek.

"DiddyS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Sue White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

DiddyS <[email hidden]> whizzed past me shouting

Quoted message said:

I'd be very grateful if anyone can answer this for me. Sorry if it sounds
more like plumbing than cycling.

If you don't get a response here, try uk.d-i-y who would really love to
advise you on this.

--
Sue ]🙁🙂

Bicycle helmets are really a bit of a scam.
They make most cyclists slightly less safe but there's money in selling
them.

Thanks, Sue.

Derek.

Sue, I've just had a look at uk.d-i-y and it's brilliant. I'm sure they'll
be able to help me sort out my central heating as well!

Many thanks,

Derek.

DiddyS <[email hidden]> whizzed past me shouting

Quoted message said:

Sue, I've just had a look at uk.d-i-y and it's brilliant. I'm sure they'll
be able to help me sort out my central heating as well!

I need to choose an SDS drill, I'll see you over there...

--
Sue ];(🙂

In article said:

Sue, I've just had a look at uk.d-i-y and it's brilliant. I'm sure they'll
be able to help me sort out my central heating as well!

Unless the quote for replacing all the perishing hoses in my underfloor
heating system is a lot less than I expect, I'm going to be converting to
radiators soon, so I may see you there. Another leak yesterday :-(