In Your Dreams . . .

Finally finished enough of "customer jobs" to keep them happy for a while so now it's my turn.

While feeding the machines and in between cycles I get to stand next to the camper and think about all the stuff still to do.

The list gets longer all the time.

I'm waiting at the moment to see if any of my friends can come up with a 24vDC windscreen wiper motor from which to make the bed winch.

One of the other things on the list (as mentioned previously) is getting the generator in and out of it's assigned compartment.

Suddenly today while doing the second last customer item I had a big "AHAAAAA".

I could use one of the lifting posts as part of the structure and just add on some bits for lifting. The same way the lifting leg structure fits into the camper cross-beams.
So a bit of cutting, welding and drilling and an hour later a prototype lifting winch was in position.


















This is at a height to just swing in under the door opening. It means the door has to hinge up 180 deg. but the hinge type being used allows for this to happen so that's no big deal.

The generator is too wide with the wheels on to fit in the compartment so off with the wheels. They are held on with just a couple of bolts so it's no problem. They can probably fit in a compartment somewhere so they can be re-installed if it's ever necessary to wheel the generator somewhere.














So now we have a generator minus wheels and stands ready to go.























Hook it on and start the lift.























Swing it inboard and "Voila".


















Yeah !!

In your dreams.

Doesn't show it here but there are a number of problems.
I'm sure all of them are solvable but this quick prototype doesn't really cut it.

. The support post is not stable enough. As there is relatively little weight on board at the moment this may improve as more stuff gets added.

. The tube sliding over the lifting leg has just a bit too much clearance and takes up a "lean" when the weight is put on it. Not too much of a problem as this can be designed out by tilting the arm pivot bearing.

. The arm pivot bearing (at the moment) is just a bolt through a couple of drilled holes. While this is plenty strong enough and swivels fine there is way too much slack allowing the arm to droop. Will need to fit some proper bearings to correct this.

. Using a load strap on the generator to hook the lifting wire to is not really optimal. The length of the hook and the stretch in the strap etc. etc. mean that the lift height is about 30mm too low and the generator needs to be juggled into position for final placement.

. This is compounded by the use of the 75 x 50 mm RHS as the arm. I used this to test it as I knew it was overkill for the load but it means that it just wont lift high enough. But I can change this to something like 50 x 25 RHS when I change the pivot bearings and changing the attachment mechanism will give another 30 mm so it will just fit.

And the lifting hoist is usable at 10 points around the base of the camper.
That may be useful as well.

So given this was just a quick prototype I think it will all work fine.

Famous last words. . .