Crafty DIYers

[xoxoxoBruce]

Since everyone is busy with football or getting ready for the coming work week, I slip this in while nobody's looking.
It's not very pretty, and sure isn't art, but by god it worked flawlessly for nine months and I'm very proud of that.
Backstory - She broke her back and was going in for surgery with a long recovery. It came down to moving home with Mother, or install a toilet in the kitchen of the house(twin) she rented, since the bathroom and bedroom were upstairs. The dude on TV says, "Just don't fall" but those things are very spendy, so I built one. Time and money constraints said I had one shot at it.



A steel channel, actually two lengths, some angle iron, pipe, leather reclaimed from a diner booth, some roller bearings, and two garage door openers. Turned out I only need one opener but used both remotes.
The steel channel had been for an elevator in a private mansion, my buddy pulled it out of the dumpster during a renovation.
I measured her butt(12") and made the seat exactly as big as necessary to minimize the space used and not hit the wall when it swiveled.
The leather needed a serious treatment with Lexol to not crack when bent, and minimal padding because she's only sitting in it for less than a minute.
It rides in the channel on a steel plate with eight roller bearings for wheels, 4 on the bottom and 4 on the top so it couldn't lift or tip.
One remote at the bottom of the stairs and one at the top so she couldn't screw up and leave it behind.
Put a piece of 1 inch marine plywood in the landing at the bottom, pushed up against the door jambs, to attach the bottom to, and brackets screwed down through the carpet, midway and at the top.

The only problem she had was near the end of convalescence she would start to get off before it came to a full stop. Hey, garage door, do that and it changes direction. I hadn't anticipated that. Later she used it to carry laundry and shit, up and down, until she could carry it. I could have made it prettier but the paint was hardly dry when I installed it.

[glatt]

That's really impressive, Bruce.

[busterb]

Old boy you are bright. I knew about this, but never saw any photos. I want 2.

[fargon]

Originally Posted by glatt

That's really impressive, Bruce.

What glatt said.

[Clodfobble]

Dude, you built that? That's incredible. I hope my son is as crafty and clever as you.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I was lucky, I'd intended to use garage door tracks, even tried a couple local installers but all they had was rusty bent take-outs. I'd dismissed that steel channel we had used to hang my 3,000 lb safe from, to get it off the truck, because it was too short. I mentioned it to me buddy and he says, oh, I have two of those. Badda bing, badda boom, everything fell in place. I still have the unused garage door opener in the box up in the attic, and the rest of that rig in the garage under the ElCamino. After she healed she didn't want it... or me.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Back to the crafty...

[Griff]

That was brilliant Bruce! What'd you end up spending on parts?

[xoxoxoBruce]

I think I paid $300 for the two garage door openers, but only used one of them. Then the channel was free and most everything else was in stock. I might have picked up some paint or something, but nothing major.

My main hobby has been capability, the goal being to be able to fix, or build/improvise anything, at any hour. Of course that's an unattainable goal, but I've done pretty well. Now my brother is pissing and moaning about all the crap I've accumulated, and urging me to divest before he has to clean up after my demise.

[BigV]

I volunteer.

but I'm busy for the next twenty five years, so you'll have to just tough it out.

[Griff]

Where do you store all that good karma?

[xoxoxoBruce]

He sprinkles a little around the neighborhood every morning, keeping lawns neat and streets clean.


Old MacDonald had some wood strips, e-i-e-i-o
with a glued strip here, and a glued strip there
Here a joint, there a joint, everywhere a glued joint
Old MacDonald has a dining room set, e-i-e-i-o

[xoxoxoBruce]

I guess with leather backs not offering any stiffening, the frames would have to be extra strong. Love the joints.

[Happy Monkey]

Very interesting joint. I had to sketch it out. It's a symmetrical joint (all boards have the same cut), but a 2x3 rather than square cross-section.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I wonder what the joint at the rear upright looks like, I see it has an open notch at the outside.