I’m looking for a quick set-up: a free-standing way to display banners.
Suggestions welcome.
Thanks in advance,
Jane
PVC is always your friend.
Yes but often, pvc bends (well wobbles) and when poorly constructed is not very stable.
-Vivek
Play the video here and see if you get some ideas:
Weighted base + folding rod from any good tent store = win.
Um…um…inflatable bop-a-clown with a toilet plunger glued to his head…
OK sorry, did I just reveal the 2009 game pieces? My bad…
This message brought to you by the previous poster’s good idea. Goofiness ensues.
Yeah. Well. Um.
I got nothing.
For the FRC blue banners, PVC seems to be a common choice. (25 had a mean setup back in 2005 at Palmetto; they could hang five or six of the things in the back of their pit.)
1618 uses a set of light stands, as used for holding up big lights for photo/video productions, for our sponsor banner in the pits. They’re compact, luggable (one person, one trip, though two might be nice), and easy to assemble in a minute or two, though not the cheapest if you were buying new. (I believe ours were just in the room.)
It all depends on what you need to display and how high it needs to be displayed.
Ok, Tom gets a gold star.
Travis, I think infinity is beckoning although - that is pretty funny.
I know about PVC but I’m a NEM, not a whiz at putting things together - like the base of a stand. I get the pole and the top part but not the base.
I’m showing my vulnerable side here guys. Vulnerable. However, if any more clowns with plungers appear, that could change. 
Billfred, let’s just say I’m in a car on my way to a demo and I want to showcase a FIRST banner or two but I have nothing available from which to hang it/them. I don’t know the venue but I want to showcase worthy achievements. So - the banner can be at a reasonable height that doesn’t drag on the floor. Simple and robust = most excellent.
If simple, robust, and adjustable are key, it might be worth dropping a few dollars on a light stand.
For PVC, I’d recommend getting three tees, four endcaps, and a couple of lengths of PVC. Cut the PVC into even lengths, six inches or so*. Form an H with these short lengths; two tees fan out, while the third sits in the center and points up. Stick the end caps on the ends for stability; the tees add a bit of bulk in the middle that would otherwise induce rock. Good for 6WD, bad here. If you’re paranoid, take a page from the 1618 playbook and sink some wood screws into each joint in the base**. From there, your base will be rock-solid; stick whatever length PVC pipe you please into the center of the H and hang away.
*If you’re hanging bigger pieces, maybe go a little bigger.
**Seriously, our 2008 robot’s superstructure is held together entirely by wood screws, enough to survive a Chesapeake thrashing, the trip home, and all the abuse we’ve put on it since. If you just need PVC to sit somewhere and stay there, I can’t recommend it enough. If anything breaks, just back out the screw and replace it. If the screw breaks, just stick another one in.
What about taking an older robot that has a nice long arm on it and using that? Idk that would be way cooler imho.
I am partial to the clown idea though.
The old robot is a cool idea.
–
Think about:
limited room, no robot, no nada. Stand and banner.
In all my travels I have seen banners in pits displayed in different ways. I’ve seen banners at off seasons displayed in different ways. I have not seen any successful (simple + robust = most excellent) free-standing stands that can hold the banners. The stands have to be able to travel in small vehicles, probably disassembled, ready to be easily assembled.
Thanks for the H idea, Billfred…and the light stand.
my sugestion is you take 6 equal lengths and put together a stand like below.
The idea is that you have a flat front that you can run the banner through or zip-tie to and then two back kick stands that attach half the way up the two center legs. If needed you can connect the two kick stand legs to give more support. Let me know maybe I can build this for you during the fall prep for FIRST.
Brandon Marick
Jesuit CrusaderBots
Class of 2009
Student Leader
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Front(above)
Side( below, ignore periods)
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depending on what you need to get done, a simple mic stand with one of thos banner hanger bars from JoAnn’s could do the trick.
Hey Jane,
we use long (extendable) paint rollers and buckets filled with cement to hold up our banner.
We stick the end of the paint rollers (one on each side) into the buckets, and stick the roller part into a PVC tube that the top of the banner is attached to.
Does that make any sense?
~Felix
Yup, makes sense and could be affordable as well.
Brandon, thank you for the offer to make one for me. I’ll let you know if I need any help. Well, - more - help than I usually need. 
Go to your local trade show or sign products distributor.
There are many types of banner stands that fold up neatly in to a carrying case that can even be taken on airplanes.
Like this
staple/tape to large foam board…$35 wooden easle stand at office depot…done
if it need to be portable, slice the foam board down the middle…then once stapled/taped you can fold it in half…
About my earlier post - here’s a picture of the setup in our pits at Detroit 2007:
Click
This is great. I’ll have to look for your pit setup in 2009.
Also, thank you Billfred, for sending light stand photos via PM. Very cool, very portable.
Through the magic of Flickr, I’ll share with the crowd:
Setting up at Chesapeake:
The setup in our classroom (photo credit: Mark Kirlough)
What you see there is more properly termed a background support; Ritz Camera offers one of unknown height for $70, which is surely enough to hold up a banner or sign. There are others elsewhere; you might do better to find a full-line camera shop (read: probably not your local Best Buy or Circuit City) and get a feel for each.