Steeldeck Legs

[adamantiumxt]

Hi all,

At my school we have 12 4x4' Steeldeck platforms, however they have not been used correctly for as far as I know for at least 10 years.

We do not have any scaffolding poles for legs but short lengths of wood cut to size which are malleted in and chiselled out every time the platforms are used - obviously not ideal in terms of sturdiness, ease of use, not to mention risk of splintering. Also, they don't get bolted together but tied together with rope (though hopefully now I will try to ensure this won't we needed any more).

I only recently did a bit of research and found out how Steeldeck is supposed to be used, so I've been looking into getting actual scaffolding poles for legs so we can use the decks for our upcoming production, but as the decks are the smaller square size, the amount of legs we need quickly adds up (12 decks X 4 legs X 70cm = over 30m of scaffolding poles). As our show budget is very limited, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get proper legs for Steeldeck and how to minimise the costs involved.

 

Thanks,

Adam

[empyfree]

Have you got a quote yet for the steel (or Aluminium)? You may be surprised how cheap it is.

 

Also consider push on rubber/plastic caps to protect the flooring under the legs.

[the kid]

I have got some bad scaff off a building company before and used that.

 

The stuff I got was not bad, just less than ideal for building, maybe a bend or something that could be cut off.

 

Pipe its self is nothat much either really. Any metal shop should do the stuff you want.

[paulears]

If you buy them from the local staff firm, you might even find they'll chop them to length for you free!

 

However - expect flack from the school for interfering, and don't be surprised if they insist their method is the correct one. Steeldeck is toe breaking stuff. They are designed to use round tube legs, they are not intended for old bits of wood. Many schools now simply don't have the budget or permissions to buy this kind of stuff. One other thing. Storage. Nearly 40 legs weigh a considerable amount, and will need somewhere to be kept.

[Dave m]

You don't say whether you're staff or student but one way would be to ask local scaffold suppliers for a discount. Ideally aluminium legs are easier. Use caps or they can "cookie cut" the flooring . In the past I have used thin ply like a beer mat on flooring that was prone to dents that took a while to come back.

Companies in Berkshire include Berkshire metals and keyklamp (who invented the concept of scaff based hand rails etc)

I think the last time I bought scaff it was £7 /mAt a guess although it's more expensive than timber, it will pay itself back quickly, and be safer. Steeldeck isn't designed to have wooden legs and the school's insurance wouldn't pay out in the event of an accident

 

 

 

[JTilling]

I Recently bought a load of scaff tubes from a local scaffolding company, was a whole load cheaper than going to a major one! then got rubber tube ends from amazon I think it was for about £15 for 100 or something. Think I paid £5 per tube ish? Defo chat to any local company they will often sell it to you specially if they hear you are from a school etc.

[marktownend]

@paulears - go back to skool young man, the OP mentioned 12 decks, surely that's 48 legs required rather than 'nearly 40'!!

 

But back on track, as per everyone else who's replied, you need to lose the wood and get the right legs (if nothing else to save the hassle of chiselling them out each time!!) and change the rope for the correct sized bolts. Don't worry about getting aluminium legs, they'll cost a load more than steel and not save a huge amount of weight, especially considering it's STEELdeck which we all know isn't lightweight.

 

And again, ask local scaffolding firms, or buy new from a local metal supplier or even online from somewhere that will ship it in 3 metre lengths at a reasonable cost. But you're searching for scaffold tube rather than Steeldeck legs.

[ninjadingle]

Also worth mentioning to check the bolts are still there to hold the legs in place - I'm guessing if the wood method you describe has been used then the bolts will probably have been removed as they would have got in the way!

[timsabre]

We are assuming this actually is real Steeldeck... I've seen all sorts of random bits of deck described as "Steeldeck"

[abbotsmike]

Assuming it is steeldeck, and you do need scaff legs, I know somebody selling a heap of nearly new Ali scaff 4ft lengths that they haven't got the space to store!

[alistermorton]

Worth bearing in mind that ali is easier to cut by hand than steel. Of course, if you have a powered cutter it may not matter.

[adamantiumxt]

Thanks for all the replies, sorry I didn't respond sooner

 

However - expect flack from the school for interfering, and don't be surprised if they insist their method is the correct one. Steeldeck is toe breaking stuff. They are designed to use round tube legs, they are not intended for old bits of wood. Many schools now simply don't have the budget or permissions to buy this kind of stuff. One other thing. Storage. Nearly 40 legs weigh a considerable amount, and will need somewhere to be kept.

I was talking to one of the caretakers who has worked here for a long time and he said that they used to use proper tubes, but he's not sure what happened to them - he suggested it could have been because of the weight and risk of students dropping the tubes on feet, but this applies to the decks themselves either way. He said that they were thinking about investing in proper tubing anyway to save time and stop risk of splintering.

 

 

You don't say whether you're staff or student but one way would be to ask local scaffold suppliers for a discount. Ideally aluminium legs are easier. Use caps or they can "cookie cut" the flooring . In the past I have used thin ply like a beer mat on flooring that was prone to dents that took a while to come back.

Companies in Berkshire include Berkshire metals and keyklamp (who invented the concept of scaff based hand rails etc)

I think the last time I bought scaff it was £7 /mAt a guess although it's more expensive than timber, it will pay itself back quickly, and be safer. Steeldeck isn't designed to have wooden legs and the school's insurance wouldn't pay out in the event of an accident

While I am a student, I know nothing will ever actually get purchased unless I find it myself and get a proper quote for it. I have a bad habit of doing a lot of things that aren't my job . The insurance argument could be good for trying to convince finance to invest in them - health and safety seems to be at the top of their agenda!

 

We are assuming this actually is real Steeldeck... I've seen all sorts of random bits of deck described as "Steeldeck"

Yep, assuming that no company was making fakes labled with the Steeldeck logo in the 80s!

 

Also worth mentioning to check the bolts are still there to hold the legs in place - I'm guessing if the wood method you describe has been used then the bolts will probably have been removed as they would have got in the way!

Some of the bolts are there, some aren't, many need replacing anyway as they've been damaged to the extent that you can't turn them 10 degrees by hand

 

I Recently bought a load of scaff tubes from a local scaffolding company, was a whole load cheaper than going to a major one! then got rubber tube ends from amazon I think it was for about £15 for 100 or something. Think I paid £5 per tube ish? Defo chat to any local company they will often sell it to you specially if they hear you are from a school etc.

The cheapest ends I've found are these, though £15 for 100 from Amazon sounds even better - if you could find a link to them that would be very appreciated - maybe I'm just searching for the wrong thing.

 

 

Thanks again everyone, will try contacting some local suppliers

[Dave m]

Depends on how many scaff companies you have locally but if you could find four local companies willing to donate 10 each, they would get their name in the paper ?

[sunray]

Depends on how many scaff companies you have locally but if you could find four local companies willing to donate 10 each, they would get their name in the paper ?

I would deff go for Ali just for weight reasons. IIRC a steel 21ft tube weighs about 70lbs and 20ft ali about 25lbs so you'll need 6 lengths. You'd have 4cwt of steel or 1.3cwt of ali or=10or3 lbs per leg. My figure may be inaccurate but I hope fairly close.

 

I needed 4 bits of ali tube about 3ft long recently for lighting bars in a church hall and asked a company putting scaff up for double glazing almost opposite. The initial reaction I'll not repeat here but several days later I was in there with my head in the suspended ceiling fitting the drop studs, the scaff guy walked in and asked what I was working on. We went out to the truck to find 2 pieces of ali tube with a sharp bend in the middle which were perfect for trimming. He brought them from the yard for me.

It's alway worth making contact with these people, especially if they have children at school.

[jonathanhill]

Don't forget that new steel scaff is around half the cost of aluminium. The use of steel toe-capped footwear should be mandatory for building any sort of decks, so the weight of the legs is irrelevant. Also, steel does not fracture in the same way as aluminium.

 

If you have a metal cutting bandsaw with the ability to set a stop, it is a simple job to replicate cuts. It is worth considering a scheme that has legs in rises of 200mm or 8" so you can make seating rakes.

 

To make a Steeldeck leg of a finished height, just subtract 30mm from the height you want. This then takes into account the top of the leg socket, the sound absorbing felt, the ply top and the plastic cap for protecting the floor.