David,
If you saw the garage I have and the street I live on, you'd know this
isn't even a possibility for me. All my "contraptions" need to be very
compact and can must not be a hazard when gravitaion (downhill) force is a
factor (my street has a significant incline). Once Ray's device developed
any inertia, it would end up several blocks away if it managed to avoid all
the parked cars on my street. One day I had my heavy duty steel cart that
had three engine sitting on it out on the sidewalk, when the wheel chock
slipped. The cart turned downhill and quickly began to accelerate.
Fortunately I was close enough to grab the handle and stop it, but the
engine on the far end did a somersault onto the pavement. The only damage I
did was break the starter flange off the backing plate which I was able to
weld back on. On my street, Ray's roll-over frame has the makings of a
Buster Keaton movie...'-)
BTW, I notice after hitting send, I misspelled your name (left out the
"p"), sorry... but you should see what they do to me!
Gerard
At 7:12 AM -0500 3/30/00, DLancer7676@cs.com wrote:
>In a message dated 3/30/2000 1:55:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com writes:
>
><< It doesn't sound like
> much but it's a little scary having the car that high when you see it. I
> think I used some upside-down 5 gallon bucket to support the car the first
> 18" as it was going up. It's possible for one person to flip the car over
> (completely stripped), but I recommend, for safety sake you have a second
> person there too. One side is heavier than the other on the pivot and you
> wouldn't want to lose control of it while it's going over. >>
>
>I looked at both styles of rollover frame, including a couple of others, and
>decided on the Gibbons structure because it gave me the safety and freedom
>that the others didn't. And it is really easy to build with simple
>woodworking skills. With the Gibbons frame, the frame is actually brought to
>the car and placed on the shell, instead of having to suspend the car and
>bring it to the frame. Once surrounded by the wood frame, the car is free to
>roll around anywhere--I frequently roll it outside on nice days to work. I
>even rolled it onto a trailer and took the whole thing to auto body class at
>the local vocational school once. Also flipping it is truly a 1-man job,
>with no threat of losing control, and even if you do, it simply rolls on over
>a notch further than intended--you just roll it back where you want it.
>
>As far as installing sills--two things: First, I installed both outer sills
>and the A-Post, total flooring, both rear bulkheads, and the lower metal all
>around the driver's and passenger's footwells with the car strapped in the
>Gibbons frame. Secondly, with the car upside down inthe frame, it actually
>provides a "spreading" force on the door frame, which helps keep it from
>"closing up" when the supports are cut out. This does not negate the
>sensibility of welding in door frame supports, but it does reduce the chances
>of the door frame moving closer together when you cut out the sills and/or
>a-posts.
>
>I did like the other frame--started to build it. I talked by e-mail with
>John Nelson (Psychodad), the builder of that frame, then Ray mentioned his
>rollover frame one day. I showed interest and Ray snail-mailed me copies of
>his drawings. After a couple of correspondences with Ray about a couple of
>questions, I knew his design would give me the measure of portability,
>safety, and utility, as well as ease of construction, that I was after.
>
>Good Luck, Robert.
>
>--David C.
>
>
G G Gerard Chateauvieux
E A
R R pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com
A A
R G Pixelsmith on Duty
D E
S http://www.gerardsgarage.com
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