Dave H. wrote:
Hello all,

I'm currently at the "design" stage for a garage to hold the family's
selection of bikes (ranging from a Suzuki 125 to a 650lb Yamaha) and
a few workbenches and tools (perhaps even a lathe...mmm...), one
thing that might make life a lot easier as the garage wouldn't be
that wide would be a turntable up the end that we could roll the
bikes onto to turn them around (and it'd have a nice steam-railway
air about it, too - perhaps it should be an "Engine Shed"[1], rather
than a garage).

I'm so far thinking that it'll need:

Having thought a little about this, what I believe would best serve your
needs would be a sort of wheeled platform. You'd need 4 or possibly 6
braked castors, like this:

http://www.merlin-industrial.com/castors/381.htm

and one of those sheets of steel plate that they use at roadworks:

http://www.hiremasters.co.uk/roadworking.htm#8

This would be assembled in such a way that you had a flat structure about
2'x6' with a castor at each corner. As 13mm plate weighs about 100kg/m2,
you don't want it any bigger that necessary, and you may need 6 castors.

How it would work: you'd line it up end-on to the direction of approach, and
set the brakes on the castors. Then you'd ride the bike up onto it, and put
the bike on its stand. Then you kick off the brakes on the castors and drag
it around. You'd probably want a loop at either end for a strap to pull it
by, and possibly a lever to heave it up against the wall when not in use.

This may seem a little excessive, but it's a workable, heavy-duty solution,
even more so if you paint it matt black. Well, that or a trebuchet.

--
platypus

"It was not yet obvious that the war
would bring misery to the whole world,
but it seemed probable that it would do
no one any good - except the contractors.”

Dave H. wrote:

2) a centre bearing (perhaps a discarded steering head roller
bearing?) to keep it centred, running between a
plate-with-ring-welded-on bolted to the turntable and a piece of
sutable bar conreted into the floor; 3) rollers (eg polyurethane
skateboard wheels running in a circular track (cast in as part of the
concrete floor) to take the load (possibly two tracks, one at the
periphery and one 1/2 way to the centre to reduce deflection, rollers
spaced every 60 degrees) ; 4) the difficult bit - some means of
rotating it with the load of the bike (and possibly rider!) on top
and braking it when not in use - suggestions more than welcome!

Go into B&Q. Believe it or not, I have seen it, they do a lovely turntable
bearing and it's only about 10mm thick with top and bottom plates around
150mm predrilled to take fasteners. I guess it's to make revolving kitchen
stools or something!

--
Hog
'03 ST4S '96 *******12 '89 R100RS '81 XS650 '78 RD400

"Hog" wrote...

Go into B&Q. Believe it or not, I have seen it, they do a lovely turntable
bearing and it's only about 10mm thick with top and bottom plates around
150mm predrilled to take fasteners. I guess it's to make revolving kitchen
stools or something!

Close, but no cigar... 150Kg maximum load - maybe strong enough to use it
once, but regular use with a VMax and a GPZ11 might well knacker it!

Thanks, though!

--
Dave H.
(The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

"Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of wise men" -
Douglas Bader

On Wed, 16 May 2007 13:53:57 GMT, "Dave H."
hopefuldave_doesn't_like_spiced_ham_so_remove_thi wrote:

Close, but no cigar... 150Kg maximum load - maybe strong enough to use it
once, but regular use with a VMax and a GPZ11 might well knacker it!


Well, use two!


(Oh, all right, I'll shut up now)

Thomas Prufer

Dave H. wrote:
"Hog" wrote...
Go into B&Q. Believe it or not, I have seen it, they do a lovely turntable
bearing and it's only about 10mm thick with top and bottom plates around
150mm predrilled to take fasteners. I guess it's to make revolving kitchen
stools or something!

Close, but no cigar... 150Kg maximum load - maybe strong enough to use it
once, but regular use with a VMax and a GPZ11 might well knacker it!

Thanks, though!

--
Dave H.
(The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

"Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of wise men" -
Douglas Bader


One of these then: http://www.driveawaymat.co.uk/7.html

A bit expensive depending on how Pikey you are.

HTH

--
/Simon

"Simon Wilson" wrote...
Dave H. wrote:
"Hog" wrote...
Go into B&Q. Believe it or not, I have seen it, they do a lovely
turntable
bearing and it's only about 10mm thick with top and bottom plates
around
150mm predrilled to take fasteners. I guess it's to make revolving
kitchen
stools or something!

Close, but no cigar... 150Kg maximum load - maybe strong enough to use
it
once, but regular use with a VMax and a GPZ11 might well knacker it!


One of these then: http://www.driveawaymat.co.uk/7.html

A bit expensive depending on how Pikey you are.

Would need the bikes to be on centrestands though, which still leaves g/f
unable to use it easily... and the Vmax is right at the (300 Kg) max weight
limit ( - I think it needs to be big enough for both wheels and sidestand
to rest on it, which means about 6 feet diameter!
--
Dave H.
(The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

"Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of wise men" -
Douglas Bader

Dave H. wrote:
Hello all,

I'm currently at the "design" stage for a garage to hold the family's
selection of bikes (ranging from a Suzuki 125 to a 650lb Yamaha) and
a few workbenches and tools (perhaps even a lathe...mmm...), one
thing that might make life a lot easier as the garage wouldn't be
that wide would be a turntable up the end that we could roll the
bikes onto to turn them around (and it'd have a nice steam-railway
air about it, too - perhaps it should be an "Engine Shed"[1], rather
than a garage).

How about reverse-engineering one of these instead [1]:

http://www.n-w-s.com/stands/ (penultimate stand - Lazey Parker @ £139.95)

[1] You'd probably need to see it up close to see how it works - the picture
is a bit small.

--
Martin

'03 R1150RS '99 CBR900 RRX