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 >
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