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Last year, I almost built my own Bike Repair Stand out of PVC. Looked up some homemade ones and realized the size of PVC needed and other hardware to make a sturdy enough stand, it might cost $20-30 and still might not work out so well in sturdiness or holding the bike, and time was short. So I dropped the idea.
Monday at Aldi, I looked at some big stuff they currently have for sale, the limited time “Special Buy” kind of stuff. They had a bike repair stand for $30. Box felt sorta heavy, a good indicator that the was not something flimsy, And five legs that deploy as a group, kinds of like a tripod that deploys all three legs at once but this does all 5.
So, I got it. And it’s really nice. Very sturdy (Steel), unfolds (and folds back) easily and quickly, VERY stable with the legs over 28” long each
But I’m mostly posting this for a different reason. The same clamp that can grab securely onto a bike, can just as easily grab onto a rail, or onto any 3/4” diameter or larger round object.
Like an adapter to hold launch rods. Yes, it can be a GREAT pad for rockets. Whether for HPR (other than huge or ultra-heavy models), or Model Rockets. It can hold the rod/rail several feet above the ground, so that can make hooking up the clips a lot easier. How to reach the top of the rod? Easy, by loosening one of the clamp knobs to allow rotating the clamp to horizontal for loading the model sideways. It also rotates left-right (azimuth) very easily. It is heavy enough with a wide enough span that it should not be able to blow over easily unless it has a really big rocket on it in a lot of wind.
With a rail, no provision for a deflector yet:
I made a rod adapter for it. Ironically I recently received a Drill Chuck I’d gotten via eBay for a little over $6, to use with a 3/8” 24 fine thread bolt to attach the whole thing to a very nice quality sturdy camera tripod ($3 from a local Flea Market) to use as a launch pad. But that tripod's leg span is not wide, I was going to add some hooks so I could used stretched bungee cord staked into the ground to keep it from falling over. So now Ii’ve swapped that Drill Chuck to use with the bike repair stand Launch Pad, epoxied a 3/8” bolt into a short piece of PVC pipe suitable for the clamp to grab onto. I used a “T” fitting for 3/4” PVC, with the side of the T for 1/2” PVC. I did the so I could easily add a horizontal piece of 1/2” PVC to help support a piece of plywood or hardboard to block exhaust smoke (read further).
3/8" bolt, 24 TPI fine thread, embedded into PVC fitting:
Link to the drill chuck I got: https://www.ebay.com/itm/221827065561
I have a pretty large blast deflector I can use, about 8” diameter. But still part of the horizontal bar for the clamp would be exposed to exhaust smoke residue. So I’ll come up with something to shield it, even if it’s just a piece of plywood or even hardboard (should never see any true flame that could burn it, short of a massive cato or launch accident). And I’ll do that more to keep the stand cleaner for use as a bike repair stand in between launches.. Other possible sources for wide deflectors could simply be pot lids (as in cooking pots) or skillet lids. Or sheet steel at hardware stores like Lowes / Home Depot.
For size comparison, the white rocket is 3" diameter and 46" tall.
Each leg has a plastic flip-out “foot” with about a 3/16” hole that could allow bolting it to a workshop floor or sheet of plywood, or using very skinny spikes int the ground. What I’d do is to drill out those holes to a larger diameter to allow using larger stakes if I was concerned about the pad being blown over (like a G Superroc using a 12 foot rail).
Aldi won’t have these for long. So if anyone is interested in this at all, I suggest trying to get one in the next few days. Maybe call your local Aldi in advance to see if they have any in stock. I mean, Otherwise it may be many months or so before Aldi would have them again.
Name and # of the stand is: Bikemate Bicycle Repair Stand #94556
IMGUR album with the pics: https://imgur.com/a/sv8is
I shot some video demonstrating it being set up and adjusted. That will also give a better idea of how big it is. I need to edit it and it will take hours to upload it to Youtube. I'll post a link when it's done.
FWIW - That nice tripod I got at a Flea Market for $3.
With the Bike Repair Stand.
Monday at Aldi, I looked at some big stuff they currently have for sale, the limited time “Special Buy” kind of stuff. They had a bike repair stand for $30. Box felt sorta heavy, a good indicator that the was not something flimsy, And five legs that deploy as a group, kinds of like a tripod that deploys all three legs at once but this does all 5.
So, I got it. And it’s really nice. Very sturdy (Steel), unfolds (and folds back) easily and quickly, VERY stable with the legs over 28” long each
But I’m mostly posting this for a different reason. The same clamp that can grab securely onto a bike, can just as easily grab onto a rail, or onto any 3/4” diameter or larger round object.
Like an adapter to hold launch rods. Yes, it can be a GREAT pad for rockets. Whether for HPR (other than huge or ultra-heavy models), or Model Rockets. It can hold the rod/rail several feet above the ground, so that can make hooking up the clips a lot easier. How to reach the top of the rod? Easy, by loosening one of the clamp knobs to allow rotating the clamp to horizontal for loading the model sideways. It also rotates left-right (azimuth) very easily. It is heavy enough with a wide enough span that it should not be able to blow over easily unless it has a really big rocket on it in a lot of wind.
With a rail, no provision for a deflector yet:
I made a rod adapter for it. Ironically I recently received a Drill Chuck I’d gotten via eBay for a little over $6, to use with a 3/8” 24 fine thread bolt to attach the whole thing to a very nice quality sturdy camera tripod ($3 from a local Flea Market) to use as a launch pad. But that tripod's leg span is not wide, I was going to add some hooks so I could used stretched bungee cord staked into the ground to keep it from falling over. So now Ii’ve swapped that Drill Chuck to use with the bike repair stand Launch Pad, epoxied a 3/8” bolt into a short piece of PVC pipe suitable for the clamp to grab onto. I used a “T” fitting for 3/4” PVC, with the side of the T for 1/2” PVC. I did the so I could easily add a horizontal piece of 1/2” PVC to help support a piece of plywood or hardboard to block exhaust smoke (read further).
3/8" bolt, 24 TPI fine thread, embedded into PVC fitting:
Link to the drill chuck I got: https://www.ebay.com/itm/221827065561
I have a pretty large blast deflector I can use, about 8” diameter. But still part of the horizontal bar for the clamp would be exposed to exhaust smoke residue. So I’ll come up with something to shield it, even if it’s just a piece of plywood or even hardboard (should never see any true flame that could burn it, short of a massive cato or launch accident). And I’ll do that more to keep the stand cleaner for use as a bike repair stand in between launches.. Other possible sources for wide deflectors could simply be pot lids (as in cooking pots) or skillet lids. Or sheet steel at hardware stores like Lowes / Home Depot.
For size comparison, the white rocket is 3" diameter and 46" tall.
Each leg has a plastic flip-out “foot” with about a 3/16” hole that could allow bolting it to a workshop floor or sheet of plywood, or using very skinny spikes int the ground. What I’d do is to drill out those holes to a larger diameter to allow using larger stakes if I was concerned about the pad being blown over (like a G Superroc using a 12 foot rail).
Aldi won’t have these for long. So if anyone is interested in this at all, I suggest trying to get one in the next few days. Maybe call your local Aldi in advance to see if they have any in stock. I mean, Otherwise it may be many months or so before Aldi would have them again.
Name and # of the stand is: Bikemate Bicycle Repair Stand #94556
IMGUR album with the pics: https://imgur.com/a/sv8is
I shot some video demonstrating it being set up and adjusted. That will also give a better idea of how big it is. I need to edit it and it will take hours to upload it to Youtube. I'll post a link when it's done.
FWIW - That nice tripod I got at a Flea Market for $3.
With the Bike Repair Stand.
Last edited:
, so when it had cured I had to deal with an unexpected problem. Photo just before mixing up and pouring the resin in.
