I've always been jealous of you guys who can just whip out these kinds of things! That is a really sweet contraption that you've come up with! By the way, is there a name for this style of piano? On Sun, Jun 14, 2009 at 11:13 PM, Joe DeFazio <defaziomusic at verizon.net>wrote: > Hi Ryan, > > About two nights before I first had to move one of these buggers without > much help, I got a little nervous thinking about how to do it safely. So, I > went down to the shop and cobbled together this: > > > It is a platform that attaches to a piano dolly via three upside-down L > shaped cleats (one in the front and two in the rear). The cleats are > attached via slots to the 1/4-20 knobs/studs that you see on the bottom > rectangular board, which sits on the two dolly rails. To install it onto > the dolly takes well under a minute: you loosen the knobs, slide the > knobs/cleats inward, place the rectangular base on the dolly rails, slide > the knobs outward so that the "L" cleats grab the rails from underneath, and > tighten the knobs. (If I had thought a little more clearly while making it, > two cleats could be fixed, and only one could slide/loosen/tighten, but then > it wouldn't necessarily center on dollies of different sizes, or be tight on > dollies with rails of different thicknesses.) It's even faster to remove it > from the dolly. > > The triangular base of the support leaves room for the pedals, and > distributes downward force from the weight of the keybed to the edges of the > dolly, which reduces stress on the dolly's front rail (as compared to a > simple vertical member). The upper support is height adjustable via a > sliding dovetail. To find the correct height, measure the distance from the > underside of the bottom board (not from the floor) to the underside of the > keybed, and set the height of the support that distance above the height of > the dolly end members. There is a scale on the vertical part of the support > so I don't have to measure every time (you can't see it in these photos; > it's on the other side of the vertical member). In actual use, I don't have > to adjust the height very often. > > It is quite easy to strap the piano securely to the dolly once this support > is installed, although it is often not necessary to do so. > > This platform may or may not help you with steps, but It has saved my bacon > on several occasions, and turns a potentially nerve-wracking move into a > routine one. > > Joe DeFazio > Pittsburgh > > P.S. - yes, that dolly itself is a homemade one that I made the night > before my very first piano move; it seems that practically every jig or > home-made tool in my shop was made the night before some job was due to be > completed, or the night before it would be needed in a client's home.... > > > *From: *Ryan Sowers <tunerryan at gmail.com> > *Date: *June 14, 2009 1:09:17 PM EDT > *To: *pianotech at ptg.org > *Subject: **[pianotech] Moving 4 legged consoles and spinets* > *Reply-To: *pianotech at ptg.org > > > Hello gang, > > I was helping some friends move their piano yesterday and it was one of > those 4 legged consoles with the narrow bottom and the grand style pedal > lyre. It did not want to sit on the dolly (I use a standard New Haven dolly) > very securely. You really had to hold onto it for it not to tip over towards > the keybed side of the piano. > > It had to go up 8 steps to the second floor of their new house. Fun stuff! > Strapping the piano to the dolly helped some. but it was still precarious. > > > I had moved one like this years ago (it was a Weaver) and I ended up > putting the whole piano on plywood and then on the dolly. It was a pain but > was somewhat more steady. > > Any tips on moving these awkward instruments?? > > -- > Ryan Sowers, RPT > Puget Sound Chapter > Olympia, WA > www.pianova.net > > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech mailing list > pianotech at ptg.org > http://ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/pianotech > > > > -- Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter Olympia, WA www.pianova.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090615/8209d85f/attachment-0001.htm> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 35502 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090615/8209d85f/attachment-0002.jpeg> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 34642 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090615/8209d85f/attachment-0003.jpeg>
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