Another hand truck/lift design

Brad Bee said:

Interesting design with the use of the garage door track for your rails. Good idea. I like it. Are the boxes you show lifted, full or just empty boxes used for the picture? If they are full, I am surprised it's holding both of them up without anyone holding the handles of the hand trucks. I would have thought the front lip would need to be longer to support the weight without tipping.

Click to expand...

The boxes are not empty but are not working hives . They just have frames of comb. I may have to add an extension on the bottom but I wanted to wait because a longer bottom may prevent being able to get up close to the hives. Ideally I wanted to make it so I could get tight to the back of a hive and scoot it onto the angle aluminum bottom cleat then secure it. That way I won't need to lift at all. I can add a longer bottom if needed. I wouldn't leave it jacked up regardless. Thanks

My-smokepole said:

God I hate attracted thumbnail. See my iPad don't open them. Neat idea with the track
David

Click to expand...

Sorry but the pics were on my phone and it took an hour just to resize them and put them here. I thought thumbnails would be easier for folks???

kramerbryan said:

Nice setup. Hope no one from UPS sees it.

Click to expand...

These were being scrapped by UPS due to broken parts/liability. I got them legit from a UPS driver.

Greenride said:

I like the 4wheel design too. What's the sweet ride doing in the garage, it's spring time!

Click to expand...

Battery is charging . Winter killed it. Nothing but rain lately anyway. 1970 Chrysler 300 vert original 50k miles & 1st 440hp motor.

sqkcrk said:

Cool. But why didn't you ...

You are very clever. I never could have done that. Which is probably why my back is in the shape it's in.

Click to expand...

Good one. If I can do it Anyone can. The only "special" tool I had to use was my lathe because the axle had to have a flat section along the whole length to fit the existing holes in the frame.
Thanks
I am sure I'll be filling with this thing and larger wheels would be nice but it would mean changing the axle location. I've used this, in the original configuration and it was fine except for a tendency to tip side to side due to the small width. If it needs a change to one thing or another I'm open to applying some fine tuning.

tommyt said:

Nice Job

I'm building one similar.i hope to run it off a Drill motor
Both the lift and drive train
Acme screw for the lift and haven't got to the drive yet

Click to expand...

Interesting-I thought of using an Acme screw/nut with a crank and did a small test. I was thinking hand crank so it wouldn't be the same as using a Drill motor. I think I had a 8 pitch rod and it would have been too much cranking for my taste. I also thought about the weight and figured I'd go with a more primitive design. I am inclined to make things more complicated than they need to be but that's part of the fun for me and, it sounds like anyway, you as well. Let me see some pics when you have it done.
As a DIY project these units can get as sophisticated as one's abilities, imagination and, more importantly, the shop tools utilized. I REALLY wish I had a tig welder so I could weld all the aluminum. As an initial attempt I'd have had to use a large number of fasteners to mock it up and test it so going back to weld now would mean removing and filling the fastener/holes which doesn't compute into the need for a tig unit.
IMO, one doesn't even need a hand truck to start with if there is enough machinery and experience available. All that was left from my hand truck was the bottom blade, frame and handle. Even the handle was almost ditched and reworked but I was able to remove it from its original cart conversion bracket and relocate it on the side of the frame instead of behind it using six notched pieces of tubing as spacers. This also allowed me to ditch the cart conversion hinge which weighed at least 18 lbs.
Good luck with your builds. I think the chiropractic field will be out a few patients.