[CAUT] solo grand move device

[Fred Sturm]

On Jul 11, 2008, at 1:37 PM, Ed Sutton wrote:

> Very nice, Fred!
> The single leg T turns the piano with less lateral movement, at a  
> cost of needing more muscle and no intermediate stopping positions.  
> I wouldn't recommend it for singlehanded work on heavy pianos.
> Your triple leg turner gives more control and would make single- 
> handed turning of heavier instruments possible.
> I've made two blocks that are just a tiny bit higher than the dolly.  
> Once the piano is on the blocks, I slide the dolly in between, and  
> with a very slight lift of the piano I can kick out the blocks.
> Once the piano is on the dolly, you can usually fit a bar clamp or  
> large C clamp inside the rim to clamp it on the dolly.
> Of course you also need to use appropriate shims to support the case  
> and protect the lid while the piano is on it's side.
> Ed S.

Hi Ed,
	Thanks for the additional tips, as well as the original idea. I have  
adapted a dollie for this purpose with a solid plywood top, padded, so  
I can just set the side on the dollie, positioned so the lid will miss  
the edge. This is easy to achieve, as there is little guesswork with  
the ability to leave the piano half tilted on a couple spokes, and  
fine adjust the dollie at that point. I've done the method of shimming  
the dollie higher with blocks from underneath, but always with a skid,  
which makes it easier to tilt and kick. With the piano directly on the  
dollie, that's a little harder, hence the wedges instead. Seems to  
work fine.
	Jeff Tanner noted that the Horse was more sturdily mated to the piano  
because of the extension device that meets the treble leg. This 2 x 4  
contraption can do the same: just position it  so that the far end of  
the 2 x 4 butts against the treble leg (and cut the top 2 x 4 to  
length appropriately). I really think that with that, the two keyblock  
screws are adequate to stabilize the device under the piano. The only  
thing that would really worry me is movement forward or backward,  
which could pull the screws out. But that doesn't seem much of an  
issue in practice, as long as you are aware of the possibility (note  
the caster on the back leg, and act accordingly, positioning it so  
that it doesn't swivel when you start tilting, and having a pad under  
it so it won't scoot).
	You are right that this design takes a bit more room to tilt than the  
simply T you suggested, and that was the point in your original post:  
a way of tilting with minimal room to spare. The spoke design takes  
very little more space, however. BTW, I made each spoke a little  
longer than the last (the one in the middle is shortest) so that the  
piano will "tilt/walk upward" more or less onto the dollie. Kind of  
like what I think Paul WIlliams was describing with a ramp and the  
horse.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20080712/f2899009/attachment-0001.html