A referee stand for a sports equipment manufacturer: 2960 mm tall, 15.6 kg per drawing. The whole frame is welded from one 33.7×3.2 steel pipe, and the seat is fixed so that neither a screw head nor a thread end sticks out.
The client was a sports equipment manufacturer. They needed a production referee stand for volleyball: a person sits on it, it is carried between courts, and it has to look good enough to sell from a catalogue.
The output: working drawings the shop can weld the frame from without questions, and renders for the catalogue.
The product is small, but an adult sits on top of it, and the whole frame is the load path from the seat to four feet.
A person up high. The stand has to stay stable with someone on top, not just carry their weight. The legs are splayed: a 730 × 938 mm base for a 2960 mm height.
Portability. The stand is moved between courts, so every extra kilogram is felt by hand. Per the drawing, the whole stand weighs 15.6 kg.
A ladder on sloped legs. The legs converge towards the top, so every rung is a different length: from 807 down to 639 mm in 42 mm steps. One cutting mistake and a rung won't fit.
Safety. The referee climbs up and down holding the frame. So no sharp corners, no screw heads above the plywood and no exposed thread underneath.
The frame is one welded assembly from a single section. The seat and footrest are screwed to welded-on plates, so the plywood can be replaced without touching a weld.
One section for the whole frame: 33.7×3.2 steel pipe — 14 items, 21 377 mm in total. One purchase, one saw setup
The cut list is on the frame sheet itself: length and quantity for every item, a separate length for every rung
Handrails and backrest are bent at R110 instead of welded corners: less welding and no sharp corner where hands hold on
Eight 40×40 mm plates from 5 mm sheet are welded under the plywood, each with a hole for an M8 bolt
Fixing: ISO 10642 countersunk M8 screws sit flush in the plywood, with DIN 1587 dome nuts underneath covering the thread end
Frame: 33.7×3.2 mm steel pipe; plates: 5 mm cold-rolled St3 sheet to GOST 535-88; seat and footrest: two 550 × 400 mm panels of 20 mm laminated plywood. Fasteners: 4 M8×35 and 4 M8×50 ISO 10642 screws, 8 M8 DIN 1587 nuts.
Overall size per drawing: 2960 mm tall, 730 × 938 mm base; the panel fixing holes sit on a 510 × 292.6 mm grid matching the plates on the frame.
Bills of materials for the tower and the frame, a 1:20 general arrangement with a section through the seat, the frame drawing with its cut list, the plate at 2:1 and the plywood panel at 1:5 with the hole pattern. Seven sheets, and every question the shop might ask is answered on paper.
The manufacturer got a stand the shop welds from a single pipe using the cut list, with the plywood drilled to the hole pattern on the drawing. For the catalogue: 8 renders.
The lesson of a small product: the saving isn't in steel, it's in the number of different items. One section, one fastener size — and a whole class of purchasing and stock mistakes disappears.
Send a sketch or a photo — within 24 hours I'll tell you how long it takes and what I need from you.
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