Materials needed

To build the stand I used five 10' lengths of 1-1/2" PVC (plumbing) pipe. This leaves me with enough for two sections for hanging the background materials. You will also need eight T-joints and two 90 degree elbows. I also used eight endcaps, to make a neater finish on the feet sections. Total cost should be less than $50.

Do not forget a can of PVC cement,; as you are not using liquids in the pipes, primer is not necessary.

Building the stand feet

The pipe can be cut with an ordinary handsaw. Each side of the stand foot is made up of two pieces about 12" long, and one of 6".

After dry assembly, take apart again and glue the pieces using the PVC cement. Assemble each side of the foot, but wait with gluing the middle T-section (the one that will hold the upright).

The feet ends are capped, not absolutely necessary, but it does make for a neater result.

Connecting the upright to the feet

Once the two halves of the foot (per side) are ready, a T-junction is used to connect them to the upright. The upright is a 7' 6" section of pipe.

Be careful at this point to make sure that the upright is indeed upright. A spirit level is a useful tool here, you must get the upright as close to vertical as possible. Hold it there for a couple of minutes while the PVC cement sets, then carefully lift the upright and lay it across a couple of chairs while the cement sets hard.
You may like to do one half first and let it harden before adding the second half. But be very careful to make sure that the two halves align, otherwise the upright will be unsteady.


The end result, a side stand, but without the cross bar holder, can be seen here.

Support for background bar

This shows how one of the T-joints is cut to make a support for the screen bar. The cut is made so that half of the central leg can be removed. The bar then rests in the remaining semicircular cup. This modified joint is placed at the top of the stand. The top crossbar will connect into the top opening of this piece.

Assembling the basic stand

This shows the assembled stand, but without the screen material. You can see how the cross bar connects into the side stands. The top cross bar is just a section of 6' 4" with two 90 degree elbows. It keeps the two uprights at the correct distance to support the background bar. The two elbows each have a short section of pipe 2-3" that will fit into the modified T-joint which holds that background bar. These short pipes are not glued into the upright so that you can remove the crossbar and break the stand down for storage or transportation.

Last steps

This shows the final assembly of the stand, as well as close-up details of the cross bar and support for the screen bar.

Also some pictures of glueing the background to a bar prior to hanging. I used the PVC cement to glue the felt to the bar, but you could also use duct tape.

I used 72" felt that I purchased at Joann's (my wife's favorite store). Look for a special and you can probably get 3 yds for between 10 and 15 dollars. I have extra pipe, and so will be able to easily add a second color.