Vegaman_Dan
Well-known member
While you can easily go out and buy a workstand from your tool store of choice for $20-30, they often lack features you wish they had. Even the expensive ones will not quite do exactly what you want.
So why not build your own? It's a good simple project and pretty cheap to do. The time is your own and fabricating your own tools adds value and satisfaction that no store bought tool can ever provide.
Today's project was a work stand that I can use to support work pieces on the metal bandsaw, the radial arm saw, drill press, and welding table. This means a support that can go between 28" to over 4 feet tall in some situations. That's a lot of adjustability, but really isn't that hard when you use plan it out.
The trick here is to use telescoping tubing. For my project, I used square tubing I picked up at the salvage yard that had been used in an overhead sign awning. A few pieces of angle iron and some all thread rod (also salvage) meant for about $5 in materials, I was able to build a stand that does exactly what I want it to.
The head is threaded on by welding a large nut under the angle iron support. This way I can change out the head support with different pieces. I plan to make a V shaped version for holding pipe or unusual pieces. I also will make one that uses a roller carriage for supporting wood on the radial arm saw. Possibly a dual head with two rollers now that I think of it. The beauty of making your own tools is if you can think of it, you can make it!
The height adjuster is multipurpose. For rough general heights, there are a series of holes set for a pin arrangement. There is also a friction bolt set up for any heights between the pinned heights for more adjustability. Overkill, but easy to do. Just drill a hole, weld on a nut, put a bolt in place and weld a piece of flat steel on it for a handle.
The main threaded rod also threads into the 1" square tubing mast allowing for another 12-15" of adjustability. That means it's possible to match any height from 28" all the way up to 54" perfectly.
Total build time was about three hours as I wasn't in any particular rush. I was enjoying myself.
So why not build your own? It's a good simple project and pretty cheap to do. The time is your own and fabricating your own tools adds value and satisfaction that no store bought tool can ever provide.
Today's project was a work stand that I can use to support work pieces on the metal bandsaw, the radial arm saw, drill press, and welding table. This means a support that can go between 28" to over 4 feet tall in some situations. That's a lot of adjustability, but really isn't that hard when you use plan it out.
The trick here is to use telescoping tubing. For my project, I used square tubing I picked up at the salvage yard that had been used in an overhead sign awning. A few pieces of angle iron and some all thread rod (also salvage) meant for about $5 in materials, I was able to build a stand that does exactly what I want it to.
The head is threaded on by welding a large nut under the angle iron support. This way I can change out the head support with different pieces. I plan to make a V shaped version for holding pipe or unusual pieces. I also will make one that uses a roller carriage for supporting wood on the radial arm saw. Possibly a dual head with two rollers now that I think of it. The beauty of making your own tools is if you can think of it, you can make it!
The height adjuster is multipurpose. For rough general heights, there are a series of holes set for a pin arrangement. There is also a friction bolt set up for any heights between the pinned heights for more adjustability. Overkill, but easy to do. Just drill a hole, weld on a nut, put a bolt in place and weld a piece of flat steel on it for a handle.
The main threaded rod also threads into the 1" square tubing mast allowing for another 12-15" of adjustability. That means it's possible to match any height from 28" all the way up to 54" perfectly.
Total build time was about three hours as I wasn't in any particular rush. I was enjoying myself.