- Joined
- Feb 4, 2014
- Messages
- 160
That lift is slick, care to share the plans/dimensions?
I just dreamed it up laying in bed the other night and the dimensions are pretty much whatever the size of the hoist is, I didn't draw any plans, just enough to make sure I marked and drilled the pieces in the right spots. I measured several times from the center of the arm pivot bolt to what is normally the chain attachment point, it was, I think 53 15/16". I say think as my pad with the dimension is in the shop an I'm not leaving the warm fire to grab it. The key is making the lower arm the same center to center distance as the main arm so it acts are a true parallelogram. This of course applies to the vertical arms. I ended up making these with 12.5" centers. The one on the business end has the top hole 6" from the pivot pin. I figured 2x that distance for the arm would give it enough leverage to hold any load I'm likely to use it for. I added a few cross pieces using 1/2" bolts and some conduit for spacers. Nothing fancy, just some 1/2 and 3/8" bolts. I did use locking insert nuts for the pivot points so I could adjust the clearance while still moving freely.
I used a piece of peg board as a jig for marking the lines on the upright, I just drilled a 1/2" hole in the pegboard and stuck a bolt through the support brace holes on the upright, drew an arc with a sharpie in a pegboard hole and used a square set to 1" from the front face to mark the intersection. That distance turned out to be 12.5 and thus became the vertical support dimension. Seat of the pants engineering.
mike