Hi guys, I need to do some work on my Jeep soon and so I tried to find a pair of car stands in my shed that I had made a couple of years ago, and as usual I could only find one of the two, so after spending a hour or two looking for it, I gave up and decided to build another. These are nothing flash but they do the job.
I have a lot of 10mm drilled base plates lying around in my scrap pile which is what I used in the originals I made, (couldn't be bothered filling in the holes) so welded a few of them together to make the base as I didn't have steel that size I needed lying around. Found a piece of left over 3mm x 40mm SHS tube also in my scrap pile so welded that to the base for the column, used a 24mm x 200mm x 3mm grade 8.8 bolt and nut from my scrap pile too, the thread on it only was about 50mm long so stuck it in the lathe and extended the thread all the way to the top. That 8.8 steel is hard, broke 2 carbide tips trying to extend the thread length. Welded the nut to the top of the square tube, added 2 gussets to the base, quick brush with hammer tone paint and done.
I was in a rush for most of this job, so yes I I know my welds are not that good on the base plate with a bit of under filling evident in many places on the base plate but it will definitely hold. It would have been quicker to go out and buy a couple of stands, but finances are stretched over the limit as I have just finished having my boat motor manifolds replaced and the injectors cleaned, and now have to buy 5 tyres all round for both my Jeep and 4 for the wifes Mazda 3, and then need to upgrade the Jeep suspension for a 5K trip later on this year, talk about all the bills coming at the same time! so scrap is good!!
I have a lot of 10mm drilled base plates lying around in my scrap pile which is what I used in the originals I made, (couldn't be bothered filling in the holes) so welded a few of them together to make the base as I didn't have steel that size I needed lying around. Found a piece of left over 3mm x 40mm SHS tube also in my scrap pile so welded that to the base for the column, used a 24mm x 200mm x 3mm grade 8.8 bolt and nut from my scrap pile too, the thread on it only was about 50mm long so stuck it in the lathe and extended the thread all the way to the top. That 8.8 steel is hard, broke 2 carbide tips trying to extend the thread length. Welded the nut to the top of the square tube, added 2 gussets to the base, quick brush with hammer tone paint and done.
I was in a rush for most of this job, so yes I I know my welds are not that good on the base plate with a bit of under filling evident in many places on the base plate but it will definitely hold. It would have been quicker to go out and buy a couple of stands, but finances are stretched over the limit as I have just finished having my boat motor manifolds replaced and the injectors cleaned, and now have to buy 5 tyres all round for both my Jeep and 4 for the wifes Mazda 3, and then need to upgrade the Jeep suspension for a 5K trip later on this year, talk about all the bills coming at the same time! so scrap is good!!