Hi all
I'm starting to think about building a bike workstand - the sort
of thing with a pivoting frame clamp so that it's easy to turn the
bike upside down or at an angle for easier working. Before I go too
far down the design road, has anyone done anything like this and is
willing to share how they did it? I don't like reinventing, erm, the
wheel...

I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Thanks

J^n

In article
,
jkn wrote:
I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Not sure how good cheap welding gear is. Especially for the inexperienced.

--
*You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:07:36 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article
,
jkn wrote:
I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Not sure how good cheap welding gear is. Especially for the inexperienced.

I think you can get reasonably priced Mig gear ...I found it easy to
use .

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
Not sure how good cheap welding gear is. Especially for the inexperienced.

IME, dreadful on thin stuff like car bodywork (difficult if not
impossible to get the current and feed right), not so bad on thicker
stuff like tubular steel or angle. I was knocking up perfectly adequate
frames and welding up broken steel framed chairs with very little
practice after I bought a cheap Clarke MIG welder.

Plus, you get to use an angle grinder to prep and clean up (if
necessary).
--
Clint Sharp

On 26 Sep, 17:21, jkn wrote:
Hi all
* * I'm starting to think about building a bike workstand - the sort
of thing with a pivoting frame clamp so that it's easy to turn the
bike upside down or at an angle for easier working. Before I go too
far down the design road, has anyone done anything like this and is
willing to share how they did it? I don't like reinventing, erm, the
wheel...

I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Thanks

* * J^n

There are a few maintenance stands near the bottom of the page here.
http://www.bikecare.co.uk/acc/maintenance_stands.html

Dave Plowman (News) presented the following explanation :
In article
,
jkn wrote:
I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Not sure how good cheap welding gear is. Especially for the inexperienced.

I cannot see the OP so my apologies for replying to yours...

If by bike you meant a motorbike, then I built one a couple of years
ago. I used some scrap stainless steel box section of several different
sizes to lift my VFR. I used two F shaped sections, each sliding under
each wheel from the side, with the bottoms of the F a slide fit in some
slightly wider box section. This all mounted or rolled up and down a
vertical post with fixed arms which slide under the middle of the bike.
The two F brackets with the bike on it was then lifted by a cheap hand
cable winch which was bolted onto the top a plate welded on top of the
vertical post. I took pictures and posted them on the Honda VFR online
forum, which might help explain the basic idea.

Prior to using a winch to provide the lifting force, I tried a long
threaded rod and nut. Turn the thread and it winched the frame up. This
worked, but was extremely slow and hard to turn.

There is also a type where your ride the bike onto a steel table, then
the top of the table is lifted in the air by a cheap hydraulic car
jack. The plans for this can be found on the Internet.

I didn't use that idea because the table needed as much space as the
length of the bike, plus and extra three feet or so available on the
end. Whereas mine just slides straight under the bike and lifts
vertically.


--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:18:47 -0700 (PDT), mark wrote:

On 26 Sep, 17:21, jkn wrote:
Hi all
* * I'm starting to think about building a bike workstand - the sort
of thing with a pivoting frame clamp so that it's easy to turn the
bike upside down or at an angle for easier working. Before I go too
far down the design road, has anyone done anything like this and is
willing to share how they did it? I don't like reinventing, erm, the
wheel...

I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Thanks

* * J^n

There are a few maintenance stands near the bottom of the page here.
http://www.bikecare.co.uk/acc/maintenance_stands.html

The stand that I have is very limited in its usefulness as the clamp
clashes with bottle cage, gear cables etc. and the BB support also fouls
the gear cables. It won't take an aluminium-framed bike as the bike's tubes
are too big. A stand that could take modern bikes would have to be very
versatile.
--
Peter.
The head of a pin will hold more angels if
it's been flattened with an angel-grinder.

Hi Peter


The stand that I have is very limited in its usefulness as the clamp
clashes with bottle cage, gear cables etc. and the BB support also fouls
the gear cables. It won't take an aluminium-framed bike as the bike's tubes
are too big. A stand that could take modern bikes would have to be very
versatile.

Yes, but I can arrange the clamp to be compatible with the bikes I'm
going to be using it on...

There are a few American designs out there using 3/4-inch 'threaded
black (iron) pipe'.
This sort of stuff seems to be dirt cheap in the States. Any
suggestions for a cheap alternative over here?

Thanks
J^n

In message
, jkn
writes
There are a few American designs out there using 3/4-inch 'threaded
black (iron) pipe'.
This sort of stuff seems to be dirt cheap in the States. Any
suggestions for a cheap alternative over here?
Electrical wholesalers for galvanised steel conduit and fittings?

Thanks
J^n

--
Clint Sharp

In message , PeterC
writes
On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:18:47 -0700 (PDT), mark wrote:

On 26 Sep, 17:21, jkn wrote:
Hi all
* * I'm starting to think about building a bike workstand - the sort
of thing with a pivoting frame clamp so that it's easy to turn the
bike upside down or at an angle for easier working. Before I go too
far down the design road, has anyone done anything like this and is
willing to share how they did it? I don't like reinventing, erm, the
wheel...

I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Thanks

* * J^n

There are a few maintenance stands near the bottom of the page here.
http://www.bikecare.co.uk/acc/maintenance_stands.html

The stand that I have is very limited in its usefulness as the clamp
clashes with bottle cage, gear cables etc. and the BB support also fouls
the gear cables. It won't take an aluminium-framed bike as the bike's tubes
are too big. A stand that could take modern bikes would have to be very
versatile.

Yup, I don't like that type of workstand, for the reasons you state.

I have a Minuora W300.

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b29s159p505

Which is of the style the OP is thinking of.

The clamp opens wide and is easily adjustable to fit a wide range of
tube sizes. It doesn't get in the way of cables and can easily be
rotated so as to make working on the bike easy.

DIY-ing a frame clamp that does similar seems to be a non-trivial task
to me.
--
Chris French

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:15:19 +0100, chris French wrote:

In message , PeterC
writes
On Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:18:47 -0700 (PDT), mark wrote:

On 26 Sep, 17:21, jkn wrote:
Hi all
* * I'm starting to think about building a bike workstand - the sort
of thing with a pivoting frame clamp so that it's easy to turn the
bike upside down or at an angle for easier working. Before I go too
far down the design road, has anyone done anything like this and is
willing to share how they did it? I don't like reinventing, erm, the
wheel...

I don't currently have any welding equipment so was originally
thinking of making something out of wood with metal fittings ... but
it might be a good 'excuse project' to set myself up with some cheap
welding gear ;-) ...

Thanks

* * J^n

There are a few maintenance stands near the bottom of the page here.
http://www.bikecare.co.uk/acc/maintenance_stands.html

The stand that I have is very limited in its usefulness as the clamp
clashes with bottle cage, gear cables etc. and the BB support also fouls
the gear cables. It won't take an aluminium-framed bike as the bike's tubes
are too big. A stand that could take modern bikes would have to be very
versatile.

Yup, I don't like that type of workstand, for the reasons you state.

I have a Minuora W300.

http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b29s159p505

Which is of the style the OP is thinking of.

That looks better. I wouldn't want to clamp anywhere that is too out of
balance as it could damage the tubes; 531 would be OK, but
753/ally/titanium might be damaged.

The clamp opens wide and is easily adjustable to fit a wide range of
tube sizes. It doesn't get in the way of cables and can easily be
rotated so as to make working on the bike easy.

DIY-ing a frame clamp that does similar seems to be a non-trivial task
to me.

When I was doing a lot of work on bikes (500 miles+ a week, often in bad
weather, causes a lot of maintainance) I put a couple of hooks in me
bedroom ceiling, then old innertubes are very versatile. This set-up could
also be used for working on bikes ;-)
--
Peter.
The head of a pin will hold more angels if
it's been flattened with an angel-grinder.

On 26 Sep, 17:21, jkn wrote:

* * I'm starting to think about building a bike workstand - the sort
of thing with a pivoting frame clamp

Never had a use for such a thing - as frames are also long and thin,
it's not really practical to "turn" the frame like this, nor do you
really need to. Easiest way to invert is unclamp it, flip the frame
and reclamp.

What you do need is a clamp. A clamp that holds well, is quick to
apply, fits most frames and doesn't damage them. The "stand" part is
easy.

The "community bike workshop" design is scaff-pipe and scaff or kee
clamps. C shaped frame on the floor, one or two uprights and a short
horizontal of scaff pipe (plans probably on-line too). The "swivel"
can be done with two sizes of pipe, one inside the other. Turn a
reduced ring on the end of the inner pipe and hold it from falling out
with a stub bolt through the outer tube (if you haven't a lathe, angle
grind it) Half-a-dozen holes in the inner tube and one in the outer,
with a tapered reamer and a conical peg to lock it, give you rotation.
For a crude clamp, get a clamp from construction site portable
fencing, weld to the swivel pipe, line the jaws with leather (or vegan-
hyde), weld a long handle to the clamp bolt and slip a coil spring
over the bolt.

The hippy special is similar, but made of wood. This does need to be
triangulated and IMHO it needs to be bolted or weighted down, for when
you're trying to get cranks or BBs out. You can build a lovely
elegant clamp by sawing a length of ash partway down the middle to
give a spring (and an overcentre cam to lock), but some hoodie muppet
can sit on it and break it.

My own is just a horizontal scaff-pipe, swivel & clamp and it quick-
bolts onto my workbench (or engine building stand) when I need it.
Saves storing a stand.

A mate who favours expensive frames doesn't have a clamp at all. His
has a three-padded plywood tripod (frame-sized) at the end and velcro-
strap clamps for each tip. As the frame is held with a longer
effective lever arm, the same couple can be produced by far less force
and no-one's expensive Italian carbon fibre gets chafed.

On 26 Sep, 19:07, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Not sure how good cheap welding gear is. Especially for the inexperienced.

Stick is OK when cheap, but it's no use unless you're working on scaff-
pipe thicknesses, not car bodywork. So it's OK for this job.


Scaff pipe is hot-dip galved, so there's plenty of zinc. Ventilate
well if you work it hot!

On 27 Sep, 09:22, Clint Sharp wrote:

Electrical wholesalers for galvanised steel conduit and fittings?

No, modern conduit is (usually) welded and that will give up and crimp
on you in this application. US "black iron pipe" (wonderful stuff) is
intended for pressure so it's seamless drawn, thicker walled and
useful for mechanical jobs. Shame you can't get it, and it's getting
hard to find '60s vintage thick-wall conduit too (industrial scrappy).

I'd regard both of these are far too thin and far too light for this
job. You end up with a stand that jumps about when you lean on it (the
main reason why I prefer a "bolt to my workbench" bike stand).

On 29 Sep, 08:21, PeterC wrote:

That looks better. I wouldn't want to clamp anywhere that is too out of
balance as it could damage the tubes; 531 would be OK, but
753/ally/titanium might be damaged.

753 certainly, but ally for cheap bikes is pretty robust (thick walls)
and you won't get a dent in my Ti frame if you jumped up and down on
it (I've bust ribs on it and not scratched the finish).

In message
, Andy
Dingley writes
On 26 Sep, 17:21, jkn wrote:

* * I'm starting to think about building a bike workstand - the sort
of thing with a pivoting frame clamp

Never had a use for such a thing - as frames are also long and thin,
it's not really practical to "turn" the frame like this, nor do you
really need to. Easiest way to invert is unclamp it, flip the frame
and reclamp.

I half agree with this. If mine didn't rotate I'd probably not really
notice it didn't do it, but I do sometimes find it useful to rotate the
clamp on mine.

What you do need is a clamp. A clamp that holds well, is quick to
apply, fits most frames and doesn't damage them.

Certainly agree with that.

--
Chris French

On 29 Sep, 11:12, chris French
wrote:

I half agree with this. If mine didn't rotate I'd probably not really
notice it didn't do it, but I do sometimes find it useful to rotate the
clamp on mine.

Maybe it's a height thing. I set my clamp low enough that the bike
would hit the floor if I turned it like that.