.....smarter-than-me types (pretty much everybody), please mull over this.
V/r,
dr
V/r,
dr
That's what I was thinking,,, with a little fab work you could have two lifts!No heavier than the plane is you could probably cut up one auto lift and make two airplane lifts with the post anchored to the floor and wall.
[ed. Googling 'cub nose stacking' came up with some interesting ideas! If I chocked it properly I could just use a hoise to raise the tail. Thanks Gary. That might be the ticket.
Why not just bolt a "T" shaped beam to the pads on the lift. The top portion of the "T" would capture the mains and the base of the "T" would capture the tailwheel. The balance should be reasonable and the brace you sketched (or braces anchored the floor) would take care of any balance issues.
A question I have after scanning the website is: "What mechanism(s) does the manufacturer use to lock the lift in the "up" position and what fail safe systems do they have to prevent differential lifting or other potentially scary problems?
I've wondered about the possibility of using a single post lift like this one:
http://liftking.ca/index.php?page=lk-p-6000-single-post
These have the advantage of being portable and require no bolting into the floor, etc, plus most run on 110v plug-in power. Seems like it might be possible to rig some type of modification to the lift arms to accommodate an airplane.
Brown line is a steel channel structure that runs back to the tailwheel, bolted to the car lift. Gray square is a concrete counterweight that can be moved fore/aft and bolted into place. 2-post 9,000 pound car lift is $1,300-$1,600 and has all the modern locking safety features. Channel removable w/a wheel on the 'concrete end' for rolling around the hangar (for when you need to lift a car for maintenance. Move the weight to the 'RV position' in the hottest parts of the summer and 'Cub position' in the coldest parts of the winter.
The lift is bolted both the floor and the hangar frame via crossbeam.
Thoughts?
Looks like you have room to just find the CG of the airplane with the tail down. Just roll it fwd until the CG is over the post. No weight needed!
Brown line is a steel channel structure that runs back to the tailwheel, bolted to the car lift. Gray square is a concrete counterweight that can be moved fore/aft and bolted into place. 2-post 9,000 pound car lift is $1,300-$1,600 and has all the modern locking safety features. Channel removable w/a wheel on the 'concrete end' for rolling around the hangar (for when you need to lift a car for maintenance. Move the weight to the 'RV position' in the hottest parts of the summer and 'Cub position' in the coldest parts of the winter.
The lift is bolted both the floor and the hangar frame via crossbeam.
Thoughts?
Perfect. I would lean towards using sandbags on a plate of some sorts. Easier to handle (esp. if you add a handle!), and you won't need much weight. Depending on the way the pads attach to the lift, you may be able to make the whole thing triangular - two long beams that are attached at the rear by your tailwheel pad.
Keep in mind, if you balance it perfectly, lifting the platform w/out the plane would result in the same forces as if you were lifting the plane with no balancing weight.
What would be really cool would be to have the counterweight in some kind of track with a locking mechanism. For each plane that goes on there, calculate the proper moment arm and mark it on the track. Need to change planes on the lift? No problem, just unlock the block, slide to new position, lock in place again, and you're in business. Need to lift the platform alone? Slide the block to a neutral position.
Of course, if it's only ever expected to be used for a Cub, this might well be overkill.
Brown line is a steel channel structure that runs back to the tailwheel, bolted to the car lift. Gray square is a concrete counterweight that can be moved fore/aft and bolted into place. 2-post 9,000 pound car lift is $1,300-$1,600 and has all the modern locking safety features. Channel removable w/a wheel on the 'concrete end' for rolling around the hangar (for when you need to lift a car for maintenance. Move the weight to the 'RV position' in the hottest parts of the summer and 'Cub position' in the coldest parts of the winter.
The lift is bolted both the floor and the hangar frame via crossbeam.
Thoughts?
But I ended up being able to fit a Mooney and a -4 in my hangar through judicial offset of the Mooney (like right over against the wall) and backing the RV in with the tail sitting up on the wing of the Mooney on moving blankets. It's tight, and the floor space would be nice to have, but this way I'm only ever about 5 minutes from getting one or the other out and going flying. Oh, and it cost quite a bit less than installing a lift.
Patrick