I decided during my lunch break (whilst writing student reports) to knock up a mast stand as I'm sick of stepping over the mast on the garage floor and I also need to add some items to the mast.
All up the whole project cost less than $20
4x 1.2m - 70x21mm pine for the side braces $5.66
2x 0.9m - 70x21mm pine for the rear braces $3.16
2x 70mm hinges & screws $3.20
2x 1/4" x 2" bolts with nylon locking nuts $1.60
3m of 3mm Venetian Blind cord $1.35
6x pan head screws (to secure the cord) $1.20
TOTAL $16.17
I had the timber supply (MItre 10) cut the pine to size, a free service so might as well take advantage plus a few mm out here or there was not a problem.
Lay the 1x 0.9m on top of 2x 1.2 and make sure all 3 feet are flush. Mark off where the hinge goes at the top of the 0.9m pieces of wood and secure hinge to the 0.9m piece then to the 1.2m piece. Best to secure the hinge to the smaller 0.9m piece because it's easier to then attach that to one of the 1.2m pieces.
Then line up all pieces again (to make sure they're square) and drill a 10mm hole through the top 1.2m piece and then into the bottom 1.2m piece. It's best to drill one piece of 1.2m wood at a time so you can check that the holes are centered in the middle of both pieces of wood. Tap in the bolt with a washer and secure both pieces together with another washer and the locking nut.
I forgot to put the washer on but it was easy enough to tap out the bolt and add the washer lol
I then did a mock assembly to locate the cut off angles for the bottom of the legs. I spread the feet out to where I wanted them to be and then simply held a ruler horizontally flat to the floor and ruled a straight line along the bottom of the feet giving me the correct angle. Sorry no photo and that's the best I can explain it so I'll add a drawing .
I then used large pan head self tapping screws to secure the 3mm cord lengths between the legs as seen in this photo. The front legs are 75cm apart and the rear leg is longer at 85cm.
The finished result with mast on.
Having the rear leg back just that little further gave the stand a lot better rear stability. I discovered on my first set up that the rear leg was too far forward causing the stand to want to collapse hence, moving it back just that little more gave it greater stability.
The mast sits at a good height to work on and get at things. All in all it took about 45minutes.
Cheers, Pete
