Tilter -- making your own.

[Keith Roberts]

Thanks Ric, now I know what to do to make my homemade one safer. I didn't
have the catches right. I made mine out of 3/4" steel water pipe. I bent the
radiuses around a big propane tank and hammerd the ends flat. I should have
left those the full thickness for the catchers. Cut it up with an abrasive
saw ( chop ) and held it together while a friend tacked it together with his
TIG welder. Took him about an hour to weld it up. Some of the diagonal
stabilizing braces I made out of 1/2" pipe. It doesn't fold but it will fit
in the back of a pickup or wagon style car. I can carry it by myself. Works
great. Welded the casters on too. Took about 3 hours plus I had to crawl
under a building and put a waterline in for the welders ice maker.
Keith Roberts

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Moody" <remoody@midstatesd.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 10:57 PM
Subject: Tilter -- making your own.


> A tilter is easy to make.  Say you want it 24 inches high.  That
> then is the radius of the circle.  Draw it out on plywood with a
> 24 inch string.  (good dimension since plywood is 48"wide and you
> need two sides.)   Forget about other curves (like parabolic or
> any of the other curves of the conic sections) for this homemade
> tilter.  Just keep it simple with two by fours for the long and
> upright pieces.  If you put on double wheeled rubber castors that
> will raise it two more  inches and make it really mobile in the
> shop.
>     The problem with tilters is that the  "catches", "lips" or
> "forks" or
> what ever they are called, cannot be on the bottom of the tilter,
> they must be up almost an inch.  This is because the castors can
> start to spin out before the catches engage.  To ensure the piano
> will tilt with out this happening, place it (the piano) on two by
> fours so the casters are off the ground. Just make sure they never
> touch the ground when you are tilting.  If the casters ever touch
> the ground when you tilt, you risk the piano running off the
> tilter and the subsequent mess 600 lbs makes when skewing across
> the floor.
>      If you make longer catches that contact the trap board there
>  is a lot of strain on them.  (you can put a stick 3/4 by 3/4 inch
>  the length of the piano to ease these long catches).
>     If you need to carry the tilter to the site, the foldable
> steel  one from the supply houses is the most expedient.  Still
> though a good wooden tilter is always needed in the shop if only
> to free up your expensive "tailor made" tilter.   I will be happy
> to share plans, experiences and ideas for wooden tilters on the
> pianotech chats.  Hopefully jpgs too.    Hmmm perhaps a Journal
> article also?  I am bowled over by the illustrations of John
> Hartman in the Journal.  To see my tilter illustrated by him---and
> to think I would get paid rather than having to pay him---we would
> both get paid---talk about a win-win situation.   : )   Hey its
> Saturday night, the night of big dreams and grand illusions.
>
>     Richard Moody   aka   ric  on the chats.....
>
>
>     "Dig the well before you are thirsty"   Old Chinese proverb
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Alltypetune@aol.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 10:20 AM
> Subject: Re: Tilter; Was ca glue as pin tightener (TILTER)
>
>
> > If anyone gets the tilter that hasn't had one, the will most
> certainly wonder
> > why they waited so long. It pays for itself on the first tilt.
> The only
> > concern is making sure the forks are secure under the piano, the
> tilter is
> > centered, and go easy.
> >
> > Ron
> > _______________________________________________
> > pianotech list info:
> https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>