<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Jul 11, 2008, at 1:37 PM, Ed Sutton wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><font face="Arial" size="2">Very nice, Fred!</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2">The single leg T turns the piano with less lateral movement, at a cost of needing more muscle and no intermediate stopping positions. I wouldn't recommend it for singlehanded work on heavy pianos.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2">Your triple leg turner gives more control and would make single-handed turning of heavier instruments possible.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2">I've made two blocks that are just a tiny bit higher than the dolly. Once the piano is on the blocks, I slide the dolly in between, and with a very slight lift of the piano I can kick out the blocks.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2">Once the piano is on the dolly, you can usually fit a bar clamp or large C clamp inside the rim to clamp it on the dolly.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2">Of course you also need to use appropriate shims to support the case and protect the lid while the piano is on it's side.</font></div><div><font face="Arial" size="2">Ed S.</font></div></span></blockquote></div><br><div><div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Hi Ed,</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Thanks for the additional tips, as well as the original idea. I have adapted a dollie for this purpose with a solid plywood top, padded, so I can just set the side on the dollie, positioned so the lid will miss the edge. This is easy to achieve, as there is little guesswork with the ability to leave the piano half tilted on a couple spokes, and fine adjust the dollie at that point. I've done the method of shimming the dollie higher with blocks from underneath, but always with a skid, which makes it easier to tilt and kick. With the piano directly on the dollie, that's a little harder, hence the wedges instead. Seems to work fine.</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Jeff Tanner noted that the Horse was more sturdily mated to the piano because of the extension device that meets the treble leg. This 2 x 4 contraption can do the same: just position it  so that the far end of the 2 x 4 butts against the treble leg (and cut the top 2 x 4 to length appropriately). I really think that with that, the two keyblock screws are adequate to stabilize the device under the piano. The only thing that would really worry me is movement forward or backward, which could pull the screws out. But that doesn't seem much of an issue in practice, as long as you are aware of the possibility (note the caster on the back leg, and act accordingly, positioning it so that it doesn't swivel when you start tilting, and having a pad under it so it won't scoot).</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>You are right that this design takes a bit more room to tilt than the simply T you suggested, and that was the point in your original post: a way of tilting with minimal room to spare. The spoke design takes very little more space, however. BTW, I made each spoke a little longer than the last (the one in the middle is shortest) so that the piano will "tilt/walk upward" more or less onto the dollie. Kind of like what I think Paul WIlliams was describing with a ramp and the horse.<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Regards,</div><div>Fred Sturm</div><div>University of New Mexico</div><div><a href="mailto:fssturm@unm.edu">fssturm@unm.edu</a></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div></div></div><br><div></div></div></body></html>