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Spacers for diy sticks

C

cwalker5585

Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2018
Messages
60
You guys that have built your own sticks, are you putting spacers inside you aluminum 1” posts when you attach your steps or just running the bolts through? Building some today and don’t know if I need spacers for support or not, thanks


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cwalker5585 said:
You guys that have built your own sticks, are you putting spacers inside you aluminum 1” posts when you attach your steps or just running the bolts through? Building some today and don’t know if I need spacers for support or not, thanks


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Also forgot to add, I’m using 1/8 walled 1” tubing if that matters with steps made from same thing


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I didn’t use spacers and my tubing is 1/16th. I used the sticks all season without deformation. I weigh 165 pounds.
 
If you’re much heavier than that I would suggest the 1/8” tubing you have should hold. I am 190 and my 1/16” inch tubing started to buckle around the standoffs.
 
I used 1/16th wall tube and didn’t put any spacers but the nuts on the inside of the tube , I didn’t go all the way through with the bolts I did add some 1/4”x1” aluminum square inside as a washer to jam between een the sidewall and the nut


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1/8 tube is what all the stick mfg are using so you should be fine with out any spacers. I don’t use spacers in my 1/16 walled sticks I weigh 190 and have never had an issue


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I used aluminum spacers in my 1/16” sticks. You don’t need them with 1/8” tubes.


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sdonx said:
I used aluminum spacers in my 1/16” sticks. You don’t need them with 1/8” tubes.


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Do you remember what you got & where you got your spacers? I just got a set of 7/8 aluminum spacers and they are too thick to fit in my 1/16 tubes. Frustrated.
 
TNSTAAFL said:
Do you remember what you got & where you got your spacers? I just got a set of 7/8 aluminum spacers and they are too thick to fit in my 1/16 tubes. Frustrated.
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Use a file and file them down they should fit


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I got them from Mcmaster carr


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ImThere said:
Use a file and file them down they should fit


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File the aluminium? I can try. No real filling experience. Looks like a fair amount has to come off. I assumed that 7/8 would fit in a 1" tube with 1/16 thick walls. I'm no math teacher but I think I had that worked out right.
 
I've had this argument with several engineers before and You can't fit 0.875 inside of 0.875, has to be a little variance. 0.870 will fit with a hammer and some coaxing, but even a few thousandths smaller wouldn't hurt and would then slide in. Plus the spacer may be bigger than 0.875 or tube maybe smaller all depends on what the tolerances for them were. A file should do the trick though. If it looks like a lot has to come off maybe the spacers were mislabeled.
 
austin1990 said:
I've had this argument with several engineers before and You can't fit 0.875 inside of 0.875, has to be a little variance. 0.870 will fit with a hammer and some coaxing, but even a few thousandths smaller wouldn't hurt and would then slide in. Plus the spacer may be bigger than 0.875 or tube maybe smaller all depends on what the tolerances for them were. A file should do the trick though. If it looks like a lot has to come off maybe the spacers were mislabeled.
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^^ he’s right you need a small amount of clearance a file should easily take off a few thousandths I would make it fit tight to where it takes a little force to go in.


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Ill look up my mcmaster order. No filing was needed


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52b0dc1f4cd799d072726a2b1fa1dd69.jpg



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sdonx said:
52b0dc1f4cd799d072726a2b1fa1dd69.jpg



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Thank you for doing that. I should have asked here before ordering the others. Just like "measure twice, cut once"... it is now "post questions twice, order once".
 
Square bar stock usually has square corners. Most tubing I’ve seen used for sticks has rounded corners. Filing down stock to fit dimensionally won’t necessarily help. Try putting a bevel on the corners as well, it could be where you’re sticking.
 
Good tip. My spacers are cylindrical so no corners. Picked up a 4-in-1 file last night and will try to shorten spacers to fit sticks tonight. Never filed anything besides paper before!
 
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