My cheap launch rail build.

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TBSSJoe

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I will try to better organize the pics later. The stand is a speaker stand I purchased from Amazon for $16 shipped. Ironically the brand is 'Blast King'.

Rail is a 5' maker beam 10mm. Plan on using it with the micro buttons procured from our friendly forum rail button purveyor.

The rail is bolted to a small piece of pipe that originally provided adjustable height for the stand. I am going to cut that pipe up into 6" or so pieces so I can swap out micro rails, 1010 rail, launch rods, etc.

I purchased a 98 cent drawer knob from Home Depot and ground down the provided bolt to slide into the rail. This will support my blast deflector. I'm hoping the cardboard will hold up to some G motors in my Leviathan.

Actually, that's just the template. I'm going to cut the actual deflector out of 16ga steel.

$16 for the stand
$10 for the rail
<$5 for hardware.
 
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Not yet. If it becomes an issue, I may add one adjustable leg. The rail can rotate 360 degrees with no issue and no tools, so should be an easy fix.
 
Pretty Neat:
I can tell you first hand you WILL need to stake your tripod down, Even with the 8020 20mm rail breezed over about 8mph will blow it over.

another option is 3 small sandbags on the legs but they must offset the weight of the model as well as the laucher base.
 
If you take a look at the position of the legs on the tripod, there's a lot of room to spread the legs out a bit. The thing is pretty squat whenever it's all the way out. I'd be amazed if I need to stake them now- but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it.
 
Wow, that's cheap for a speaker stand!
I have two stands I bought (for speakers) in the mid 1980s.
Both are still going strong!
The legs do open out for a wider stance and better stability.

You could probably telescope a piece of aluminum pipe in one of the legs to angle the launcher.
Lock it with a set screw.
 
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I will try to better organize the pics later. The stand is a speaker stand I purchased from Amazon for $16 shipped. Ironically the brand is 'Blast King'.

Rail is a 5' maker beam 10mm. Plan on using it with the micro buttons procured from our friendly forum rail button purveyor.

The rail is bolted to a small piece of pipe that originally provided adjustable height for the stand. I am going to cut that pipe up into 6" or so pieces so I can swap out micro rails, 1010 rail, launch rods, etc.

I purchased a 98 cent drawer knob from Home Depot and ground down the provided bolt to slide into the rail. This will support my blast deflector. I'm hoping the cardboard will hold up to some G motors in my Leviathan.

Actually, that's just the template. I'm going to cut the actual deflector out of 16ga steel.

$16 for the stand
$10 for the rail
<$5 for hardware.

I just got one of these rails - and some buttons - and I'm considering how to mount it.

Did you just drill out holes through the center of the rail and bolt it to the stand? Did you have to drill out the stand as well? Do you use anything as a rail stop, or do you slide the rocket all the way down to the blast deflector?
 
I just drilled a 1/4 hole through the rail. 1/4 is a bit large for a 10mm rail, but that's the hardware I had handy.

I did drill the stand as well.

My Leviathan I'd plan on just setting on the blast deflector. I've been putting micro buttons on my smaller rockets as well- for those I plan to use the same drawer knob setup I'm looking for a little 'C' piece of metal I can secure to the backside of the rail to use as a stop, this way I can only make them travel 2-3' of rail, whatever is appropriate.
 
I've used it a few times now and it's worked great. There's no way this thing would topple over from wind. If it does you're definitely not going to be shooting rockets. Will try to post some action pics up.
 
Thread Necromancy Alert!!

I'm resurrecting this thread because I too have an Amazon Basics Speaker Stand Tripod that I bought earlier this year for the whopping price of $25-ish shipped to my door courtesy of Jeff Bezos and Co.

First became aware of the tripod stand as launch pad when I saw a TARC team using it. Even used it for a mid-power launch that day. Was pleased with the way it worked and ordered one of my own.

A month later I saw the TARC team again at another launch and snapped a photo. which is attached. Smart ass kids used 3D printed clamps to attach the rail to the tripod. See attached image. Blast plate appears to be a segment of a stainless steel cake lifter.

Now I’m liking the OP’s idea of removing the extension segment tube and fitting pieces of it to my various rails.
 

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