Build a Homemade Jack Stand in Two Hours From Scrap Materials

By The Mother Earth News Editors
Published on March 1, 1978
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This homemade jack stand goes together quickly (two hours maximum) and easily (only ten welds) and is about as sturdy as they come. Total cost: close to zero, if you do your own welding.
This homemade jack stand goes together quickly (two hours maximum) and easily (only ten welds) and is about as sturdy as they come. Total cost: close to zero, if you do your own welding.
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Wooden blocks hold the bend-up ends of legs for spot welding.
Wooden blocks hold the bend-up ends of legs for spot welding.
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This is how your jack stand should look after it is completed.
This is how your jack stand should look after it is completed.
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The upper half of your jack stand is very simple to assemble.
The upper half of your jack stand is very simple to assemble.

Every back-to-the-lander and suburban do-it-yourselfer needs at least one good jack stand in his or her workshop. Here’s how to whip one up in two hours or less from scrap materials that can be found here and there.

Start with three pieces of 3/16-inch-by-2-inch-by-6-inch flat plate. Bend the last 1 1/2 inch on one end of each up 15 degrees, and grind out a curve on the other end so that the radius will fit the outside of a 1 1/2 inch pipe.

Then set a 12-inch-long piece of 1 1/2-inch pipe up on end with some 1-inch-thick spacer blocks around it. Equally space the three pieces of flat plate around its bottom and spot-weld them to the pipe.

Place the assembly on a level floor and, with a square, check all the way around the pipe to make sure that it is precisely vertical. Tap the legs with a hammer, as necessary, until the pipe stands straight.

You’re now ready to cut three 11-inch-long pieces of 1/8-inch-by-1 1/2-inch-by-1 1/2-inch angle iron. Bevel the ends of the angles and position them so their tops fit snugly against the pipe and their bottoms are firmly spotted on the flat plates’ “feet.” Spot-weld the angles in place. Then double-check the position and fit of all components. When you’re satisfied that everything is as true and fits together as perfectly as you can make it, weld all joints solidly. Go over each weld several times, if you have to, to make very strong joints.

Now center a 2-inch-long section of 3/16-inch-by-1 1/2-inch-by-4-inch channel iron on the end of a 12-inch-long piece of 1-1/4-inch pipe, and weld the channel in place.

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