Discussion: SI control stands

SLOC will soon buy our first set of SI-equipment. Our final question is whether we should purchase the $20 metal stands. I guess that our other options are "make our own" or "hang from branches". Advice?

If "make our own", who has a good design?

My concerns for "purchase metal stands" are bulk/manpower for hanging and picking up courses and also our woods areas have much rocky ground - problem?

DVOA has their own design, I think. There's another option on the USOF site, Club Resources page (scroll down to or click on the sublink to "Electronic Punching"). They're probably much cheaper than the metal stands, but bulkier.

Cedarcreek (OCIN) has a good, lightweight design. I'm looking for a good photo. They use Plastic PVC pipe with a metal spike inserted into one end. On the other end is a T bracket into which short pieces of pipe can be inserted. One side has an SI mounting plate, the other has a conventional punch as backup. A code number can be affixed to the T bracket with vinyl numbers, if you like numbered stands (I know some clubs prefer to number bags, or entire bag/stand combos).

This photo (showing the stands used for clear and check) and this one show them in use but don't really show construction details.

I also designed a base for free-standing (eg urban sprints). These consist of an empty paint can, partly filled with rock or gravel, then concrete mix, with a 8" piece of PVC pipe upright in the center. The spiked end of the stand just inserts into the PVC tube. The handle makes them easy to carry and the size/weight is just right to make them very stable. You can't knock one over by accident. They probably should be painted or something so that they look less like an IED, though...

at MNOC we go with the units from Scarborough Orienteering . Once in a while they get bent but are easily straightened up. Setters typically go out with up to 10 complete punch/stand/flag combos at a time.

For WCOC, Rick designed stands that are similar to the OCIN stands but don't leave room for the manual punch at the top (all our controls have the manual punches hanging from them). They are lightweight and cost about $2.50 each. A feature of this design is that you can screw the nail end into the pvc pipe for storage so you don't get impaled by the nail as you carry them. Here are links to photos of them (don't have an e box with us now so we couldn't get a photo with the ebox attached) assembled and disassembled and a description of how to produce them.

Photo of stand with control:
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/rdewitt/wcoc/Cont...

Photo of stands:
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/rdewitt/wcoc/Cont...

Construction info:
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/rdewitt/wcoc/Orie...

Al Stradeski of Kamloops made Calgary's...aluminum rod with a PVC (or UBS) holder for the SI unit. Extremely light, negligible bulk. A dawdle to carry ten in a thin PVC pipe in one hand; I'm sure I've carried thirty (plus markers and units) at a time. A pleasure to use.

BTW, I've used SI stands (including yesterday, not by choice). I don't know if they've changed their design, but I've found the original design (angle-aluminum in an L shape with a metal plate at the corner of the L for a number, and a black plastic holder up top for the unit) to be mediocre, and expensive. (I don't recall any other stand costing so much, even other pre-built ones, and there are better stands.) It's quite bulky (though not heavy), hard to stack, and rips up the car badly. It's awkward to carry even ten I find. And the holders crack. And lots of people find it hard to get the units out. (I seem to have developed the knack after eight years but I see newbies struggle and break nails.) Mechanic design is not an area where the SI guys have sparkled brightly, IMO.

Here are the various components of Cedarcreek's (OCIN) PVC stands. Like MNOC's, its not a problem to carry 10 or so. Weight isn't a problem, but they are a little slippery and I find I have to stop and adjust my grip from time to time if I try to carry more than about 10.

We also have a bunch of the VWC '97 aluminum stands, which are really nice, but heavier to carry. They can't be used in really rocky terrain and mud has to be cleaned out of the channel after each use.

Oh, and I think Matthew has now perfected the technique of cutting/routing one of the PVC "arms" so that the control unit will snap directly onto the PVC, eliminating the need to purchase base plates or brackets.

It's not perfected yet. I need to work on a fixture to make them. Back burner for now.

Several people have asked about the stands I made. I started with the LAOC design (Evan Custer? perhaps). The advantage to their design is when the ground is hard. Their design allows you to hammer the spike into the ground. For here in Cincinnati, having the spike attached to the PVC is not a problem for 90+ percent of the control locations---The ground is usually soft enough to just push them down.

I have been putting off documenting how made them. I will try to have it done this weekend.

The latest version of the DVOA stands uses a plastic spike of some sort. I carried 60 of the spikes in my backpack when I put them out for the team trials - they weigh very little and I was able to hammer them into the ground when needed. I'm not sure what the material is but they worked great. Tops are similar to OCINs. We like the spikes separate since for A events we put those out with a bit of streamer tape so it's clear exactly where the stand should go.

Wooden boxes were built that the stands go in (without the spike) for controls that can't go in the ground.