When it comes to supporting hot and heavy metal, every welder, machinist, and metal fabricator knows that having a few heavy-duty pipes stands around the shop just makes good sense. In fact, of all the floor equipment that’s typically found in metal shops, nothing is as space conscious or as cost-efficient as pipe stands.
Pipe stands are more than just convenient, though: they’re safety essentials. Australia’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) guidelines point specifically to the use of equipment in welding environments that allow working pieces to be positioned in ways that minimize the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. That’s precisely what pipe stands allow workers to do.
In short, pipe stands are among the most important fittings you can have in an environment that works with metal. It also means that if you’re in charge of purchasing material support equipment for your plant or workshop, you need to know that stands are a smart solution that you can’t afford to ignore.
Welding Stands That Keep Workflows High and Risks Low
Make no mistake: wherever there’s welding or metal fabrication being done, it’s vital to be able to change workplace configurations without sacrificing safety. By ensuring that your shop has a sufficient number of load-rated welding pipe stand jacks available to work with though, your team can instantly adjust to workflow and working piece changes without unnecessary risks or time-consuming restrictions.
With certifiable weight ratings up to 2200kg, heavy-duty tripod and quadpod welding pipe stands let metal workers safely cut and weld all kinds of tube and square pipes, curved stock, and C- and L-channel angle iron profiles without fear of the working piece tipping or moving. Unlike standard workbenches and support rigs, pipe stands don’t permit the working piece to move along the x-axis. This allows a range of precision welding and fabricating tasks to be accomplished quickly and with minimal effort, including:
· Squaring and finishing,
· Multi-position welding; and,
· Cutting or bending pipes or tubes.
Jack stands eliminate the need for expensive welding fixtures, along with the risk of detailing multiple workers to stabilize heavy or oversized working pieces. High-quality pipe welding jack stands are adjustable; they can be raised or lowered by as much as 700mm to match the level a fabricator is most comfortable working at, making it easier for businesses to manage their risks when workers are exposed to hazardous manual tasks.
Portable Stands Let You Weld Anywhere
While the ergonomic advantages that pipe stands for welding have is impressive, their mobility is equally important. Folding legs and light weight make them an excellent choice for facilities and workshops that have limited space, or spend a lot of time at remote locations.
In the field, they’re ideal for performing on-site works, such as:
· External plant and facility maintenance;
· Pipeline and infrastructure installation and repairs; and,
· Field fabrication and construction.
Regardless of whether your company is building and designing bespoke automotive exhaust or power rack systems indoors, or fabricating custom fencing or gas plant work outdoors, the portability that’s possible with pipe stands ensures the working pieces can always be stably and efficiently positioned anywhere.
Head Attachments Let You Get the Most From Your Stands
Flexibility is one of the greatest attributes of welding pipe stands. They might need to go from fixed-site support to mobile rig services in an instant, which is why multiple types of head attachments are regularly used to allow workers to transition rapidly from one task to the next.
To get the most from your pipe stands, a good on-hand selection of head attachments should include:
· V-head tops. Although welding jack stands for sale come with V-head tops, there are interchangeable ranges of V-heads that allow for different diameters of pipe and greater pipe handling latitude.
· Roller tops. Universal-fitting roller tops with multi-directional steel balls are designed to slide over V-headed tops, and are useful for allowing pipes above 88mm OD to rotate when they’re on the stand.
· Bar stock tops. Flat, roller-type tops are perfect for using jack stands when working with bar, square tube, and angle iron stock.
Given their sturdiness, and the range of attachments that can be used with pipe stands, welding and fabricating can be made even easier when they’re used in conjunction with an array of other tools like position holders, angle magnets and utility clamps. Together, they make it possible to perform a multitude of custom and out-of-position welds that would be used for everything from petrochemical pipelines to high-pressure steam fittings.
There’s one specific pipe fitting tool, however, that’s especially helpful for end-forming pipes that need to be joined to rubber hoses or slid onto other types of cylindrical tubing. They’re a must-have item for metal fabrication, and if your company works with pipes or metal tubing for the plumbing, lubricating, or automotive industries, they’re just as important as your pipe stands.
The Bead Roller That Goes Perfectly With Your Pipe Stands
Heavy-duty bead rollers are used to form rigid beads on the ends of pipes and metal tubes. As a process, beading’s been used for decades to connect metal pipes with rubber, but the desire for ever tighter tolerances for beads-type seals means that the equipment used to form the metal pipe ends – the bead roller and typically the stand holding the pipe – need to work better, and better together, than ever.
The features of a high-quality, manually-cranked bead roller that would be ideal for rolling round tubing would include:
· Hardened 4140 carbon steel gearing and dies;
· The ability to work with aluminium, steel, or stainless steel; and,
· Pipe working thickness up 1.6mm, and pipe diameters down to 22mm.
It’s an irreplaceable tool to have for all lengths of automotive, and water supply pipes and tubing. And weighing in at under 3kg, it’s a unit that can be conveniently used while the pipes are still being supported by the stands.
The Final Word
At the end of the day, while convenience is important, safety is the primary concern when working with hot, heavy metal. Businesses can’t afford to rely on improvised fittings and lifting methods to stabilize their work. They need smart, affordable solutions that are capable of changing with their demands.
Investing in load rated welding pipe stand jacks is the smart choice for welding and fabrication shops of any size. They provide all the convenience that professional metal workers want, with all the safety that businesses need. And if you’re responsible for purchasing fittings that are convenient and safe, welding stands need to be at the top of your list.
