Golden Jubilee
Posts: 1346
Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:45 am
Location: Central Florida
Light weight overhead-crane: hood lifter
My idea consists of using the spare parts from a garage door replacement that her cousin did a couple months ago. His house needed an upgraded door to meet current hurricane standards and therefor track, rollers, brackets, etc. were available free. I helped him do the replacement and paid for the parts in that manner. The only materials I’ve bought so far are four additional roller brackets (hinges) to have the number needed for how it’s turning out. I’ve welded the brackets so they are not hinges anymore. I’ve added additional supports using the angle iron from a spare bed frame we had. Paint that is showing up on the assemblies is what’s already surplus on my shelf. So Less than $20 actual money invested to date. The weather here in central sweatland has been in the almost unbearable range. Most days the “feels like” temperature is 3 digits. My philosophy is that retirement is meant to be enjoyed and not to be run as a marathon. So my progress has been deliberately slow for two reasons. 1. It’s HOT. 2. It gives me plenty of time to think through the next steps so there is minimal backtracking and rework.
Today I made it far enough to do some “mock-up” and testing of the design so far. The pictures will hopefully tell a lot about the direction this thing is going. The photos may not give an accurate sense of size. The distance from the three roller brackets on one end to the other three rollers is approximately 4.5ft. The distance side to side of the four roller bracket is 9.5” center of roller to center of roller.
It is my intention to mock this up one more time before I mount it to the trusses. I welded up some mounting brackets for the trusses today and will be painting them next. I’ll take more photos when I have the final mock up for the next installment.