Super simple, strong, fairly cheap, very quick bipod style stand.

[BigE94]

Is there a parts list for this
4-1-3/8" closed t horizontal pipe "slides through" $5.50
1-1-3/8" tubing splicer $3.00
6-1-3/8" fence posts

Does this sound correct?
Tia

That looks correct

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[BigE94]

Oh sure now you post that, after I carried 60ft of rail around the store looking for those rubber feet.

Didn't grab the coupler yet. Thinking I might sleeve the joint with something longer if it flexes much.

Think I'll use amsteel whoopies instead of chain.

Yea I know right.

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[BigE94]

Oh sure now you post that, after I carried 60ft of rail around the store looking for those rubber feet.

Didn't grab the coupler yet. Thinking I might sleeve the joint with something longer if it flexes much.

Think I'll use amsteel whoopies instead of chain.

Mine flexed a bit, but barely. I'm toying with the idea of using one inch emt to the interior of the toprail as to create an inner sleve for the connected sections. I figure 10 or so inches would do the job. I have a welder but you could might get away with jb weld.

Thinking about 2- 5ft sections that meet in the middle using a 4ft connector.

I do have the tendency to over think things.

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[Scoutmaster1056]

I think I saw in this thread that people are buying the open L connectors which require no cutting. They will just slide on the rail.

[BigE94]

Yep sorry don't buy the t connectors, buy the L's. No cutting.

[brutalguyracing]

These?

And this

[BigE94]

Yep

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[GreatBigDave]

I didn't use a tubing splicer on my spurtle, I just put the swaged end into the open end. In the spurtle design, there's nearly no perpendicular forces on the ridge pole, only axial. In this design, hanging the load at the legs achieves a similar purpose.

[Ratdog]

I didn't use a tubing splicer on my spurtle, I just put the swaged end into the open end. In the spurtle design, there's nearly no perpendicular forces on the ridge pole, only axial. In this design, hanging the load at the legs achieves a similar purpose.

"nearly" is a relative term and relative to me, not trivial.

I take your point and have that understanding going in, thing is, this stand is nearly identical to one of the Meck's stands and though theirs is produced with beefier material and far better welds, I've seen that same stand flex quite a bit. They did load it with 500 lbs and bounce it around and the stand was fine so I do have a high level of confidence in the design but our off the shelf parts give me pause to consider the downside risk.

I'll assemble the stand later today without any reinforcement of the swedged coupling on the ridgepole and make my observations.

Still noodling about the length of the legs, method for attaching my whoopies to the lower legs, how long to make the ridgepole for use with my 12' tarp, do I want to be able to accommodate the Kelty Noah 16 for the kids potentially, do I want to go with a possible tensegrity setup, etc. etc.

Have a few reclaimed clovis pins from a car shelter tear down a few weeks back, should come in handy.

Oh, parts from Home Depot, 4 - 10'6"x1 3/8" fence top rails @ $11.47ea, 2 - 1 1/4" Rubber Feet @ $2.97/pair = $50 even

Grabbed an extra pair of top rails for experimenting with leg and top rail length, will ultimately be repurposed to a 2nd stand. Lowes had the top rails at $9.97 but were out of stock.

So yep, right around $90 all in.

[Ratdog]

Wondering if anyone has tried the 1 5/8" L's with the military antenna masts poles. Theoretically it should work but fence rails are not a perfect circle in diameter due to method of manufacture and the antenna mast poles have ridges on the small ends. Definitely would be the beefy solution if it works.