My homemade cycle lift table

[rustybronco]

Sorry Chuck, but it's going to look very similar to the one you just made...

[chuck hahn]

Don't make it anything like mine Dale. Damned thing will collapse if you set a cup of coffee on it the wrong way!!!!!

[rustybronco]

+1 chuck's sure works better than the one I ran out and tried to cobble together yesterday!

Mine's more of a fixed version. . Soon to be rectified because Chuck posted his lift table version.

http://s32.photobucket.com/user/rustybronco/media/pict2873_zpsc718a288.jpg.html?sort=2&o=88

[Gorminrider]

Cool idea chuck. I admire people who use ingenuity and "found materials" to get stuff done. Many people in this world wait until all the lights are green before they leave the house and never get anything done.

Regarding all the others concerns over possible sideways or diagonal twisting and collapsing. I am sure you will keep an eye on if it and if there is ever any doubt about it getting sloppy you could easily make two triangle pieces that can be attached and flipped down as a safety catch for any sideways movement... or simply jam a board with a rubber foot on each side.

+1 chuck's sure works better than the one I ran out and tried to cobble together yesterday!

[posplayr]

That depends on the species of wood, it's moisture content, the woods dimensions and the direction the force is applied in relationship to the grain.

I think that was my point not easy to predict and very dependent on the actual sticks of wood he has in place.

[posplayr]

Or you can be like my father who built a lot of things in a hurry, very few of which are still in one piece.

I always got a kick out of it when he once told told me " you never get anything done". Funny, all my project's are still standing... His... not so much.

Failure can also be a learning process; for some not so much.

[rustybronco]

Many people in this world wait until all the lights are green before they leave the house and never get anything done.

Or you can be like my father who built a lot of things in a hurry, very few of which are still in one piece.

I always got a kick out of it when he once told told me " you never get anything done". Funny, all my project's are still standing... His... not so much.

[Gregory]

Cool idea chuck. I admire people who use ingenuity and "found materials" to get stuff done. Many people in this world wait until all the lights are green before they leave the house and never get anything done.

Regarding all the others concerns over possible sideways or diagonal twisting and collapsing. I am sure you will keep an eye on if it and if there is ever any doubt about it getting sloppy you could easily make two triangle pieces that can be attached and flipped down as a safety catch for any sideways movement... or simply jam a board with a rubber foot on each side.

[rustybronco]

I can add another lock at the back.

It's not a question off adding another another lock, it's a question of your locks placement. The way that it is now the front struts are under tension (being pulled apart). If you were to move the lock rearward of the bikes center stand, then all the struts would be under a compressive force.

Put a bolt near the end of a piece of wood, pull on it and it is fairly easy to get the woods grain to split- especially with pine. Trying to push (compressive load) the bolt down through the middle of the board requires considerably more force.

That's why wood makes good post, but not good when used like a chain.

[rustybronco]

How much is it going to take go split the end grain.

That depends on the species of wood, it's moisture content, the woods dimensions and the direction the force is applied in relationship to the grain.

[chuck hahn]

I can add another lock at the back. Or make some chocks that will fit between the top and bottom and set them in before lowering to take up some pressure off the back end.

Yeah I got a hard head...specially since its right here in front of me and you guys are grasping at straws because you cant actually SEE how it works. I don't have an engineering degree..but then again most folks I know with degrees are dumb as stumps anyways. Got book learning and not a bit of practical experience to go along with it.

[tkent02]

How much is it going to take go split the end grain.

A lot with Chuck's hard head stuck in there.

[posplayr]

What you have stated here is exactly what I was my thinking as well. I was always used to a cantilever being fixed on one end allowing the other end to have to support the weight being placed on it, not being considered a fulcrum.

Now I can see how the most of weight being placed on the end furthest from the jack could cause one or both of the front pivot bolts to split the end of the front strut allowing the rear to drop.

So now consider how much tension is on those front struts. Say the upper box weighs 75 lbs, with another 550 in the bike. so it takes at least 625 lbs out of the jack to get the lift up. that is at one end of the box with about a 2 ft moment arm. the other moment in the same direction is the weight concentrated at the center stand. (Figure the same 2 ft moment) So the total counter clockwise moment is 1125x2=2250 ft-lbs. the only thing to oppose this is the tension in the two front struts. The force is acting through a smaller moment arm (figure 1 ft). so there must be 1125 lbs tension in both front struts. How much is it going to take go split the end grain.

[tkent02]

Im telling you guys its solid as can be....really.

So was the Titanic.

[chuck hahn]

Well Dale, the bikes at around 500ish and I am at 235...round up to 750 for a nice working number.

I roll the bike up and set it on the side stand. Then up on the center stand, strap it down, and lift it up. I have gotten up on the table with it extended and the bike on it for whatever reason it was..fiddling with the ignition switch I think. Anyway, it never tipped or broke with the extra weight added by me climbing aboard.

Im telling you guys its solid as can be....really.