Looking After Portable Stands

Portable stands are made to be carried, set up and packed away repeatedly, and that is where they wear. On the coast there is a second factor.

Salt air

Anything used near the sea picks up salt, and salt holds moisture against metal. Aluminium resists corrosion better than steel but the fittings — screws, clamps, springs — are often steel regardless.

After an outdoor event near the water, wipe the stand down with a cloth slightly damp with fresh water and dry it before packing. Five minutes, and it is the difference between fittings that keep working and ones that seize.

Sand

Sand in a telescoping leg is the commonest cause of a stand that will not extend smoothly. Once it is inside the tube it grinds the surfaces every time the leg is adjusted.

Prevention: extend the legs and shake them out before packing. If sand is already inside, extend fully, invert, and tap the tube.

Do not oil a telescoping leg. Oil holds grit and makes the problem permanent. A dry silicone spray is the right lubricant if one is needed.

Do not over-tighten

Thumbscrews and clamp levers need to be firm, not forced. Over-tightening a thumbscrew on an aluminium tube dents the tube, and a dented tube never slides smoothly again. It also strips the thread eventually.

Tighten until it holds, then stop. If a stand needs to be forced to hold a load, the load is too heavy for it.

Packing

• Collapse fully before putting a stand in a bag. Partly collapsed legs bend.
• Use the carry bag if one was supplied — it stops legs catching on each other.
• Do not stack heavy items on a bag of stands. Bent legs do not straighten.
• Store dry. A bag put away damp corrodes everything in it.

Checking before an event

Set up one stand fully the day before rather than at the venue. Check that:

• All legs extend and lock.
• Thumbscrews grip without being forced.
• Feet are present — rubber feet fall off and get lost, and a bare leg end scratches floors and slips.
• The tray or clamp is straight.

Finding a fault the day before is a minor inconvenience; finding it at the venue is not.

Replacing feet

Rubber feet are the most commonly lost part and usually the cheapest to replace. Generic rubber ferrules from a hardware shop fit most stands — measure the tube diameter first.

A stand without feet on a wooden floor will be unwelcome, and on a smooth floor it will slide.

Wooden stands

Different care. Keep them out of damp, and do not leave them in a hot car — heat and dryness open joints. A loose joint can usually be re-glued; a warped upright cannot be fixed.

When a stand is finished

A bent leg, a stripped thumbscrew thread, or a tube dented enough to bind. None of these is economically repairable on a light portable stand.

Given that these are usually bought in packs, keeping the good legs from a failed stand as spares is worth doing — the fittings are often interchangeable within a set.

See our stand range, or read the Return & Refund Policy if something arrives damaged.