Hopper stand

A stand for supporting a hopper for applying joint compound to a corner bead, the stand comprising:

• a first pair of spaced, parallel legs each having a lower end and an upper end, and a first cross bar extending between the upper ends of the legs;
• a second pair of spaced, parallel legs each having a lower end and an upper end, and a second cross bar extending between the upper ends of the second pair of legs;
• the first and second pairs of legs crossing over at a crossover point at an intermediate position in their lengths;
• a pivot pivotally connecting the first and second pairs of legs together at the crossover point, the first and second pairs of legs being pivotable between a first, folded position in which the legs and cross bars are positioned substantially side by side, and a second, deployed position in which the first and second pairs of legs are pivoted outwardly about said pivot such that the cross bars connecting the upper ends of the legs are spaced apart by a predetermined distance;
• spaced first and second connecting bands extending transversely between the cross bars in the deployed position of the stand, the first and second connecting bands being of predetermined length to control the maximum spacing between the cross bars in the deployed position, and each connecting band being slidably engaged with the respective cross bars for movement along the cross bars in order to adjust the spacing between the connecting bands;
• each connecting band comprising an endless, elongate loop with opposite ends of the loop engaging over the respective cross bars;
• and
• each cross bar having an angled outer corner and an angled inner corner, and opposite ends of each loop being pre-formed into an angled, generally V-shape to match and fit closely against the angled shape of the outer corner of the respective cross bar when the stand is deployed with the legs angled outwardly.

A method of supporting a drywall hopper while drywall mud from the hopper is applied to a corner bead, comprising the steps of:

• deploying a stand comprising first and second pairs of spaced parallel legs each having an upper cross bar extending between the upper ends of the pair of legs, the pairs of legs pivoted together at a cross over point at an intermediate position in their lengths, the first and second pairs of legs being pivoted outwardly in the deployed position with the upper cross bars spaced apart at a first predetermined spacing and the lower ends of the first and second pair of legs being spaced apart at a second predetermined spacing, and a pair of bands each extending transversely between the upper cross bars;
• placing a bucket in the space between the lower ends of the first and second pairs of legs with the open end of the bucket facing upwardly towards the spacing between the upper cross bars;
• positioning a hopper on top of the stand with a lower base portion of the hopper projecting downwardly between the upper cross bars and between the bands, and an upper base portion of larger width than the lower base portion seated on top of the upper cross bars, the base portion of the hopper having opposite side walls facing outwardly towards the respective bands and extending transverse to the cross bars;
• and
• sliding each band inwardly along the respective cross bars to engage the respective side wall of the hopper base portion.