Adjustable Heli Stand, Portable.... (Under $50)

[coffinsnail]

Ok we all know there are times we need a way to hold our heli while we make repairs or adjustments. So here we go a very easy and cost effective heli stand for at home or in the field.

First we need the most important part, either dig down deep in that closet and dust it off, if you have one ...... Or venture on over to walmart and get one for about 30 bucks ....

Oh wait almost forgot what it is you need.... ok parts list...

1. Piece of wood
2. a bolt and nut
3. rubber bands
4. a drill
5. a saw if wood not right size

ok again you can get one at walmart for about 30 bucks up to 100 if you want to spend that much. Oooops almost forgot that part again...

YOU NEED A TRIPOD FOR A CAMERA ... Not a Mini a big one, ya know the type that extend up to 57 inchs or something like that. with 3 legs... for those who are unsure here is a picture of a tripod ....



ok im just joking lol..

Anyways on to what you need to do. I recomend checking out the tripod to see if the bolt in the plate is easily removed. Then you need to remove the little nub unless you want to drill a small hole for it to sit in. But what you do is this.

Cut a piece of say 3/8" wood the size you want it to sit under your heli. Side to side it can be a bit wide, but front to bake you want the skids to stick out for locking it down. Unless you want to modify it with slits in the wood to put some velcro thru for strapping the skids down.

Anyways it should look like this.


By coffinsnail, shot with Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT at 2010-01-28


Then once that is done, in my case i used rubber bands to hold the heli onto the wood platform.


By coffinsnail, shot with Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT at 2010-01-28


As you can see it holds rather tight..



At any angle to make things easier to work on.




And full on what it looks like....


By coffinsnail, shot with Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT at 2010-01-28

So thats all there is to it, this was a quick one to see what size i need the final one to be... But otherwise i will probably add some small slits and feed some quick lock staps to use for holding my helis down instead of rubber bands. The board i used was a bit thick and heavy, but for now its fine. Next i plan to make a mount to hold a small parts box to use as a small table tray for laying things down when out in the field.

[BTCat]

Hey Coffin,

I meant to comment on this earlier, but I forgot about it until I found my old tripod yesterday. This is a super cool idea. When I get a chance I'm going to rig it up and give it a try.