Finally

The weather here has been to die for, although a little wet. It's drying out now, and I'm getting set up finally. Got two cash jobs coming in tomorrow, one for an old pinball machine that is worth about $500. If I charged for the job, I would charge $250. Always wanted a pinball machine.

Got a list of honeydoos an arm long, and those are also progressing nicely. Mixer working, and footers and poles are in. Now to throw up the purlins, and deck, and I'll have shade and rain protection.

Several other small metal projects, and may do a large copper tooling range hood for the kitchen renovation. It's pure heaven when the temperature in the shop is within tolerance.

Got the big amp stereo in with MP3 player of thousands of songs, some great

250w. metal halide floods, some motion lights, and the extra receptacles where I wanted them. The davit crane hoist will be done in a couple of days, he one I brought down from the cabin.

May make a hydraulic cherry type large boulder lift similar to an engine puller to move some large rocks with my ATV.

I just FEEL like going out there and doing stuff when it isn't 115.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

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Reply to
Steve B
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Steve, I hope you'll post details. I've been scratching my head about how to move a boulder next to my carport. This one is about 4'x8'x1.5'. Sure, I could run down and rent a forklift, but where's the fun in that?

Reply to
RBnDFW

Rent a telehandler so you can drop said boulder from a significant height onto something interesting. Shoot video of course...

Reply to
Pete C.

Actually, the way to move that rock is pyramid builder style, with a few modern additions. Use a couple hydraulic jacks to lift the rock enough to get pipe rollers and cribbing under it, then just roll it along to where it needs to go.

Reply to
Pete C.

To me, there's two ways to go. An arm like an engine puller, or a horseshoe lifting frame that has to be pulled over the stone. Trouble is that with the horseshoe device, placement would be limited by the wheels. But then, with the arm, the extension of the arm might be limited, but with either at all times, the load should only just clear the deck. I have tons of rocks that I'd like to move around. They grow here.

Steve

Heart surgery pending? Read up and prepare. Learn how to care for a friend.

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Reply to
Steve B

That is a good size rock. I'd be tempted to break it into little 1' wide pebbles before anything else.

Tripod hoist?

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--Winston

Reply to
Winston

NOooooO! It's a Fine Rock, it's just in an inconvenient spot.

If this one were not so long and thin that would make more sense. It's sandstone, so would likely break if I try to single-point lift it. It's actually elevated a small amount, and I can tunnel under it easily to inset bars or straps. It's backed up to a tree at one end, and 18" from the carport slab along one side. The other side is open to a dirt parking area. I probably need to measure it accurately and get a good estimate of the weight. I think lifting it off the ground would be the easy part. Moving it would be the challenge. Even if I had a trailer stout enough to carry it, I don't think I could roll one under it, especially with tripod legs to avoid.

I keep coming back to that forklift. But... I do have a pallet jack. Is there any way to make an "off-road" adaptation of that?

Reply to
RBnDFW

Yes, you build a temporary road for it, i.e. a couple overlapped layers of 3/4" plywood. You may need to make rails of something like 2x12 with

1x2 cleats for the palette jack rollers to run on or they could crush through the plywood if the load is heavy enough. If you do that, you may be able to use some 2x4 ties instead of the plywood.
Reply to
Pete C.

(...)

~145 lb/cu. ft. for sandstone. ~7000 lbs?!

Time to build a humongous offroad gantry crane!

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Ok, so two palette jacks, one from each end (mine is rated 5,500#)

Nah, two palette jacks, running on 2x12 rails with edge guide cleats, use a standard winch to tug the whole mess along. Piece of cake :)

Need help?

Reply to
Pete C.

Sure. Bring a pallet jack :) Did I mention I'm on a hillside?

Reply to
RBnDFW

Did I mention I have a 10,000# winch for the back of my F350?

Reply to
Pete C.

The fun part is when he gets to excavating around it and finds out that it's the other half of the 4x8x27' rock which was there before the house went in.

-- You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. --Jack London

Reply to
Larry Jaques

No, I've dug under it all the way through. No tip o' the iceberg here.

Reply to
RBnDFW

Ooooh! My kinda guy!

Not sure how a winch would be employed here.

I've hooked up to this thing twice just to see if I could drag it. First time was with a 1994 F150 4X4. nope

2nd time was with a 1996 F350 2WD. nope Maybe with a ton of rocks in the back? Rocks I've got.
Reply to
RBnDFW

  1. Get rock elevated
  2. Build 2x railway to run palette jacks on
  3. Get custom long palette under it
  4. Get two palette jacks on railway and under palette
  5. Secure two palette jacks so they can't come out i.e. 2" cargo straps down both sides
  6. Position truck (F350 diesel 4x4 DRW) with winch appropriately to pull rock/palette jack combo along railway
Reply to
Pete C.

There was a pallet jack on the local CL last week that had 8-ft forks. Gone now, of course.

How about your winch and a ginpole setup. Lift rock, set it in my truck. Drive to front yard. Lift out of my truck onto ground.

Yeah, I know ;)

Reply to
RBnDFW

Put a 7,000# rock in your truck eh? Must be a big truck...

Reply to
Pete C.

Drill holes, and put in blasting powder?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

It's a matter of time before someone mentions male anatomy.

And so.... Several years ago, I was chatting with a woman. She was saying how her boyfriend brags about having a "really big one". I asked if Mr. Really Big One had a job? And she about fell over, laughing so hard.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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