I use epoxy a lot but I'd sure feel safer if it was welded. A pop rivet is OK in most cases but we're talking about your mom's safety and if she lost her balance she could bend a rivet to the point she would fall off along with the handle.
Are you shortening the handle or the whole stool? If the handle is a tube that has been bent around in a U shape and you can take it off you could drill through the side of the tube and run a bolt through and put a nut on the underneath part of the platform. I'm just having trouble picturing the style you have in my head. ----- Original Message ----- From: Lenny McHugh To: Handyman-Blind Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 7:04 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] modifying a step stool My mother, age 87, needed a step stool to reach her kitchen cabinet. I purchased one like in a doctor's office that is a platform with a support handle on the end. This stool is a little too high for to step on. It is a little over 9 inches high. She would like it lowered to about 6.5 inches. Looking at it I really can't just cut it off because the way that the handle is affixed. The bottom bolt would end up being removed. The way that it is constructed I don't think I can get it under my drill press to make new holes. I think that I could use some u-bolts to hold it together. To keep the U-bolts from sliding I thought about: 1. plumbers epoxy 2. drill a hole in the flat part of the U-bolt then drill the leg and use a pop rivet 3. have a friend weld the handle to the stool's leg What would be the best recommendation? Lenny, Please visit my home page http://www.geocities.com/lenny_mchugh/ It's motivating, humorous and has a lot of resources. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
