I've got a couple of Hercules stands and really liked them until various plastic parts turned sticky (there is another thread on here about that). However, this morning I got the two stands out of the garage and one fell to bits when I picked it up!! The height adjustment mechanism just fell to bits - the plastic on the stand just failed. I checked the other stands and that is starting to fail too. Both stands have only seen little use. I have e-mailed Hercules regarding this.  G