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Aug. 27th, 2010 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillI am just so proud of myself I have to brag to someone or I'll bust.
So you may recall the canoe lifter I made way back in December or January. I wanted to have wheels on it because I like to roll the canoe-in-progress out of the workshop to sand outside in the fresh air--but I also wanted it to stay put even when I really had to put my back into sanding. So I made retractable wheels--which retract just fine, thanks. Extending, on the other hand, required that the canoe lifter be lifted bodily up until the wheels could flop down into place (about 3 1/2 inches) at which point I had little stops to brace them in the down position so they could take the weight again.
Raising the canoe lifter got to be steadily more an more of a pain--involving running around with a sawhorse, propping the ends of the strongback up on the sawhorse alternately to unweight the canoe lifter enough that I could pick it up 3 1/2 inches. The true extent of the pain finally became apparent a couple of days ago when, with the wheels retracted, I raised the canoe to its highest position (did I mention I really like my adjustable sawhorses?) so I could sand the gunwale area without wrecking my back. When I went to use the sawhorse to prop the strongback so I could pick up the canoe I discovered that the sawhorse didn't extend enough to allow this. (This was partly a problem of the lawn being just a trifle soft, and sloping just a trifle away from the driveway, which is why I hadn't encountered it before. I ended up having to put a 2 x 4 on top of the sawhorse. It took me like half an hour to deal with it.
Something Had To Be Done.
I had already been using a lever (a piece of the leftover 1 x 1 1/2 true lumber from when I bought 3 times as much as I needed to make the doors. I would lift corners of the unweighted canoe lifter alternately to scoot a bit of 2 x 4 under each leg, then poke the lever in and lever it up to the 3 1/2 inches necessary to let the wheels flop down. So I started thinking about levers. The problem was that the fulcrum had to be on the floor. But the fulcrum couldn't be on the floor the whole time or I couldn't roll the canoe lifter around. The solution was to make the fulcrum part of the lever so that it only contacted the floor when I brought the lever down.
Ta Da!
The lifting lever on the right is raised. This keeps it out of the way when I'm rolling the canoe around or working on the canoe with the wheels extended, or retracted. The lifting lever on the left is down. The bulge on the bottom becomes the fulcrum for the lever (the lever doesn't have to be very long because I just step on it. There is a hole drilled in the plywood face of the canoe lifter that I can stick a carriage bolt into to pin the lifting lever in the down position so I can run around and step on the lifting lever on the opposite side. This works with the full weight of the strongback plus forms on the canoe lifter.
Lifting it one corner at a time (all I can do, working alone) does put some strain on the canoe lifter. So far it appears to be holding up okay. I had to tighten up the carriage bolts quite a bit (they are *just* long enough) so the lifting levers stay up by friction.
I have also finished the construction of the canoe cradles except that i need some fabric or carpet for the slings.
So you may recall the canoe lifter I made way back in December or January. I wanted to have wheels on it because I like to roll the canoe-in-progress out of the workshop to sand outside in the fresh air--but I also wanted it to stay put even when I really had to put my back into sanding. So I made retractable wheels--which retract just fine, thanks. Extending, on the other hand, required that the canoe lifter be lifted bodily up until the wheels could flop down into place (about 3 1/2 inches) at which point I had little stops to brace them in the down position so they could take the weight again.
Raising the canoe lifter got to be steadily more an more of a pain--involving running around with a sawhorse, propping the ends of the strongback up on the sawhorse alternately to unweight the canoe lifter enough that I could pick it up 3 1/2 inches. The true extent of the pain finally became apparent a couple of days ago when, with the wheels retracted, I raised the canoe to its highest position (did I mention I really like my adjustable sawhorses?) so I could sand the gunwale area without wrecking my back. When I went to use the sawhorse to prop the strongback so I could pick up the canoe I discovered that the sawhorse didn't extend enough to allow this. (This was partly a problem of the lawn being just a trifle soft, and sloping just a trifle away from the driveway, which is why I hadn't encountered it before. I ended up having to put a 2 x 4 on top of the sawhorse. It took me like half an hour to deal with it.
Something Had To Be Done.
I had already been using a lever (a piece of the leftover 1 x 1 1/2 true lumber from when I bought 3 times as much as I needed to make the doors. I would lift corners of the unweighted canoe lifter alternately to scoot a bit of 2 x 4 under each leg, then poke the lever in and lever it up to the 3 1/2 inches necessary to let the wheels flop down. So I started thinking about levers. The problem was that the fulcrum had to be on the floor. But the fulcrum couldn't be on the floor the whole time or I couldn't roll the canoe lifter around. The solution was to make the fulcrum part of the lever so that it only contacted the floor when I brought the lever down.
Ta Da!
The lifting lever on the right is raised. This keeps it out of the way when I'm rolling the canoe around or working on the canoe with the wheels extended, or retracted. The lifting lever on the left is down. The bulge on the bottom becomes the fulcrum for the lever (the lever doesn't have to be very long because I just step on it. There is a hole drilled in the plywood face of the canoe lifter that I can stick a carriage bolt into to pin the lifting lever in the down position so I can run around and step on the lifting lever on the opposite side. This works with the full weight of the strongback plus forms on the canoe lifter.
Lifting it one corner at a time (all I can do, working alone) does put some strain on the canoe lifter. So far it appears to be holding up okay. I had to tighten up the carriage bolts quite a bit (they are *just* long enough) so the lifting levers stay up by friction.
I have also finished the construction of the canoe cradles except that i need some fabric or carpet for the slings.
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Date: 2010-08-27 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 09:15 pm (UTC)The shiny wodge at the bottom is where I put on extra epoxy to fix the spot where I took off too much. Once I have it all sanded to be dull, it will be ready to come off the canoe lifter.
Which means all my cleverness will actually only apply for the next day or two.
But I'm saving the canoe lifter for the next project.