Tucked away in an inconspicuous place!

We had a successful mission to Texas and back.  We even received a compliment about the trailer from a toll operator in Oklahoma!  The mission was not without casualties – somewhere in the first half of the trip back we lost one of the two ramps (we think it was a defective locking pin because we have a picture of it properly locked when we departed).

I had to open a section of fence and turn it into a gate so we can move the trailer again more easily later.

Section of fence removed

Brand new 2009 model year deckover trailer just east of Dallas.  I will be accompanied by my friend Philip who had no hesitation when I called and asked him to join me out of the blue!  State Farm agent is coming out over my lunch break to have me add it to my policy.

Parker DO8412

I got some time to assemble the platform framing for the enclosure (foreground) and the frame for the motion base that will sit on the concrete pad (background).  My son came to inspect my work.  The universal joint looks awfully small compared to the platform.

Sly is checking my work

We received it Wednesday but I didn’t get to take it out and test it until today.

It powered on and the menu was very vibrant but once I started a movie I noticed there was a “valance” effect on the top which would be visible inside the cockpit.  The seller offered to have UPS pick it up free of charge or he would refund $150.  I opted to have him pick it up and he will try and replace it with a working unit.

Your design looks sound but you need a decentralized stabilizer.

The decentralized stabilizer is a mechanism that needs to be installed on the edge of the platform to make sure that is stays in the same direction as the pneumatic cylinder alows the platform to turn 360°. This must be quite strong as the forces on this are high.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Marnix T

President

I thought that was really nice for him to go so far as to give me advice on my design since he builds these professionally.  I can see why they charge so much, there are a lot of specialized pieces which have added up to $2000 easily when all is said and done (let alone the custom software I will need to write).

The moral of the story is if they sell a large-bore non-rotating cylinder – BUY THAT.  I know they have non-rotating cylinders but haven’t seen one that big.  You could also tie two of them together (I think most of the non-rotating ones have 2 rods) so that there is a single U-joint at the top.