The Glade 4.0

I am trying to engineer an adjustable height stand. It's a single 1" dowel about 40" high but I need to be able to smoothly adjust the height (crank is preferred) but also lock it very firmly in place (it needs to be able to support 100 lbs or so)

The base cannot have a large profile either. Not sure of how to engineer it. Thoughts?

You could always thread the dowel and use a hand crank that way.

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Doubt the threads would support the vertical force

Depends how deep/thick you make them.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

On a 1" dowel? Not much

I can't help thinking there is an easy solution I'm missing

What's the material? We're not working on a lot of information, here.

Also, low profile base for a 100 pound load 40" in the air? Not likely to happen.

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If it was me, I'd certainly try, with say 3/16" deep threads, maybe 6 TPI...

And fit through a collar piece at least 6" long.

Should be reasonably sturdy, assuming the dowel is a good hardwood, and not some lightweight piece.

Short of that, I'd say you would need to go with some sort of a balance/tripod that can be set to different heights with pegs, although that may not be as low profile as you want.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

how much height adjustment do you need.
if it's not to much I'd look at something like the adjustable seat pedestal used on bass boats.
though the diameter may be larger than you want about 2", bases come in a variety of styles.

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the base itself is nearly 6' wide. However, where the dowel anchors to the base, cannot be particularly large.

What I'm looking for is something akin to a tripod crank that can raise and lower the height, but I can't have the accompanying tripod.

actually if I can find a tripod to disassemble maybe I can make that work. hmmm.

Try running it over with your car or shaking it a lot.

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Holy shitsnacks!

How fine of control do you need for height?

I was going to suggest notching the back dowel and reinforcing the front with a metal spine so it can mesh with a turning gear.

More appropriately, I think the best choice would be notched positions (inverted j-hooks) with a cotter pin of some sort to hold them there. Line the j-pin's with a metal fitting to reduce wear and work on the dowel (I'm assuming it's wooden), so you metal on metal contact. The dowel should be strong enough, but you'll have to size the cuts of the notches so there's enough material strength to support whatever load you are looking for.

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No comment, more task and acceptable materials specs are needed before this will be anything more than blue skying the project.

Tell us more, we might come up with something you hadn't thought of, but otherwise, I'm in agreement with Kaffis.

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