Check Your Hercules Stands

[Jabba_the_gut]

Excellent customer service!

[Muzz]

A brand new stand turned up in the post this morning - the design of the grip that had failed has changed, so there was clearly a design issue. Nevertheless, exemplary customer service from Hercules/Stringsandthings... 👍

[bassfan]

My replacement turned up Wednesday. I only emailed them Sunday! 

+1 on the exemplary customer service 👍🏻

[BigRedX]

9 minutes ago, Muzz said:

A brand new stand turned up in the post this morning - the design of the grip that had failed has changed, so there was clearly a design issue. Nevertheless, exemplary customer service from Hercules/Stringsandthings... 👍

That's interesting. The replacement stands I got had exactly the same design of grip, just made out of plastic that (hopefully) won't go sticky.

[Stub Mandrel]

3 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

That's interesting. The replacement stands I got had exactly the same design of grip, just made out of plastic that (hopefully) won't go sticky.

The one I bought looks the same, but has hard plastic without a soft-touch coating.

[BigRedX]

Just now, Stub Mandrel said:

The one I bought looks the same, but has hard plastic without a soft-touch coating.

I don't know where this "soft-touch coating" has come from. The ones that I had that went sticky looked and felt exactly the same as their replacements until the plastic started to go sticky.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I don't know where this "soft-touch coating" has come from. The ones that I had that went sticky looked and felt exactly the same as their replacements until the plastic started to go sticky.

A few people mentioned cleaning off a sticky coating with isopropanol.

I've had a few things with a 'soft touch coating' (e.g. a gps and a mini-speaker, amongst other things) that went the same way with age, so I assumed this was what they meant.

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/Soft_Touch_Removal

 

Edited September 13, 2019 by Stub Mandrel

[RossHetherington]

Just checked mine this morning and it has the sticky feeling but the plastic doesn't look degraded. I never fold mine down so it should be fine. 

[Frank Blank]

2 minutes ago, RossHetherington said:

Just checked mine this morning and it has the sticky feeling but the plastic doesn't look degraded. I never fold mine down so it should be fine. 

If they remain sticky or get worse try this...

...if that doesn’t solve it, or you don’t want to do as the video suggests then do contact Hercules, they usually replace them.

[RossHetherington]

On 21/09/2019 at 18:55, Frank Blank said:

If they remain sticky or get worse try this...

...if that doesn’t solve it, or you don’t want to do as the video suggests then do contact Hercules, they usually replace them.

I contacted Hercules to try and get a replacement clip and they sent a replacement stand. Very good service.

[barkin]

On 08/09/2019 at 17:04, T-Bay said:

And thinking about it, the way the pj engages means that if it failed with a bass on then the weight of the bass would prevent the pin escaping until the bass was removed. So it would only collapse once the bass was taken off.

This is exactly what's just happened to mine

[Stub Mandrel]

I've had the 'prongs' disengage but have been able to sort them.

 

On Sunday, packing up, my Hercules MS533B microphone stand was stiff. Managed to close it but it locked solid.

 

Felt like something was wedged in the shaft as the clutch felt normal. 

 

Got it moving with lots of WD40 into the bottom of the shaft, followed by lots of twisting. Will have to see how permanent this is.

 

The problem appears to be with (what appears to be) a white metal guide block at the bottom of the inner telescoping shaft. Perhaps it 'picked' up on the steel? Is their a hiddrn sleeve that came adrift or jammed?

 

Wary of complete disassembly... but how long will it keep working?

 

Annoying as it's streets ahead of other types for utility.

[Hellzero]

Is it an old one?

[dclaassen]

On 08/09/2019 at 13:00, Jabba_the_gut said:

No offence taken, but for info these look rough due to the plastic turning sticky and anything they have been in contact sticking to them! Apart from half a dozen car journeys, they have been stored away from anything else. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect them to last forever - I was purely raising this as I have never checked the mechanism as such and I guess that there are other people that would be the same. I still have a Hercules stand, a rack type, which is great.

I had 2 that never traveled and were rarely folded…failed in exactly the same way.

[Stub Mandrel]

8 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Is it an old one?

 

Only 3 or 4 years old. Not used every gig. Still not right - it keeps jamming then coming free. It feels like something slips free and limits it to 2" of easy travel. I've worked out how to disassemble it so will take a look tomorrow. The clamp is fine it's the guide for the inner shaft. If broken I can perhaps 3D print a replacement or if something is moving maybe it can be glued or pinned in place.

[Hellzero]

What's bothering me is the stickyness that should have disappeared with the new versions something like at least 5 years.

 

These are indeed amongst the best stands made, but they had issues...

[Stub Mandrel]

3 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

What's bothering me is the stickyness that should have disappeared with the new versions something like at least 5 years.

 

These are indeed amongst the best stands made, but they had issues...

 

This isn't the same sort of stickiness. It's a mechanical jamming, not the pladtic degrading - as far as I can tell.

[Hellzero]

Okay, I understand better now.

 

Maybe trying a silicon based "grease" spray would work better as WD-40 is not good for plastic.

[Stub Mandrel]

54 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Okay, I understand better now.

 

Maybe trying a silicon based "grease" spray would work better as WD-40 is not good for plastic.

 

Yes it can make it expand temporarily... but I just needed to free it up.

[Stub Mandrel]

I've found the issue and though easy to diagnose, it's not a simple repair.

 

To disassemble hold the hefty ring st the bottom of the main shaft in a vice and unscrew:

 

 

Now loosen the grub screw in the upper two-axis clamp and twist it off.

 

 

It took a fair bit of twisting and pulling to extract the inner shaft.

 

The culprit is this small insert that guides the inner shaft.

 

 

It has a tiny cross-section above the slots and should be held in place by inner lugs inside two rectangular slots (one visible).

 

Obviously it failed at the weak points and was causing the jam as the two parts caught on each other.

 

A replacement would require removal of the end plug, but this would probably damage the plug and/or shaft (plug fixed by dimples made in the shaft).

 

Proper replacement would therefore require a new inner shaft.

 

My alternatives are:

 

Moan at Hercules (who still haven't redponded) for a new inner shaft.

 

Fit the larger remnant of the guide ring. It still has its locating lugs, but looks damaged and likely to fail.

 

Leave it off and rely on the end plug to keep the inner shaft aligned (may work but could end up with the plug failing).

 

Make a new guide, split so it can be fitted around the shaft. Lots of ways to do this, might try two 3D printed parts, with teflon grease so they don't 'pick up'.

[Stub Mandrel]

Here we go. I'll do a trial in PLA, and later print it in Nylon (because the small amount of nylon filament I have is a few years old and needs drying first).

Design is (hopefully) printable without support for a decent surface finish.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Stub Mandrel
Added bevels top and bottom

[BigRedX]

Have you been in touch with Hercules' UK distributor Strings And Things?

 

When I had problems with the sticky plastic mentioned earlier in this thread it was them and not Hercules who sorted everything out.

[itu]

At around 2010 there was a trend to use this black rubber paint in small goods like pens. It has a very annoying habit to become sticky. If it was exposed to sun (UV radiation), it became sticky very quickly. 

 

The same issue can be found in silicone components, if they are not post cured. This means that silicone has to be baked after mould a certain time to become stable. 

 

If those stand parts were painted, I can understand stickiness, but if the parts are breaking, there may be some bigger issue with the base material. Cheap plastics are cheap for a reason. Good quality materials (say some better PA with glass fibre) were hard to get during Covid. Companies had trouble getting even small amounts from manufacturers, because big buyers (automotive) were served first. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Hercules tried some cheaper material to keep up their production running. And hide the results with that terrible paint. 

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm convinced a replacement is likely to fail again.

I've realised the main role of the bush is to stop the inner shaft rotating by engaging with two slots in the outer shaft.

My parts were a good fit, but lacked the outer engagement pins so reprinting them. I've tracked down my PTFE grease which is great for this sort of thing.

An alternative would be a metal key 25mm long, 8.5 x 5mm section, with rounded ends, popped through the hole in the inner shaft. Perhaps with a plastic sleeve around it.

[Stub Mandrel]

Good Lord!

 

It fits and works perfectly.

 

I haven't greased it, and once the Nylon one is made (Nylon 66 is self-lubricating in this sort of application) I'll swap it over.