School me on Chairlift Porch Swings

[Norseman]

I think that with limited articulation of the ball joint, it would be best to have the ball joint stud axis pointed down. That would give equal range of motion for every swinging direction and also provides 360 degree z axis swivel.

If the ball joint is mounted horizontally, it'll be limited in swing range in one direction (and risk destruction of the joint in a hard swing/crash) and won't provide swivel.

[Norseman]

Shit quick sketch....

[snoqpass]

Four 75 mm shells make excellent legs

[snoqpass]

Some fir works too

[SB]

Four 75 mm shells make excellent legs

Recoilless rifle casings. Got any extras?

[Bunion 2020]

Chairlift Porch Swings: A cool idea in the abstract. In reality, kind of a pain in the ass.

[schindlerpiste]

Whatever happened to the days when resorts sold old and unwanted chairs for $350? Nowadays, it seems that they are looking to unload them for over $1000/chair. FKNA!

[glademaster]

Of course. But those don't seem to be handed out with surplus chairs. Do they get rebuilt or reused?

Plus, you'd still have to build some mechanism to provide the side-to-side swinging that the cable twist would normally offer. Or not. I like the real feelz tho

Not sure, my dad ended up with an old Heron double chair that he got for free from a ski area in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and it included the grip and all the hardware. He's in the process of designing a frame to hang his and ideally wants to mount it on a length of cable.

Whatever happened to the days when resorts sold old and unwanted chairs for $350? Nowadays, it seems that they are looking to unload them for over $1000/chair. FKNA!

Plenty of places still give them away, or ask for a modest donation to a local charity in exchange for one. I can think of one large destination resort that recently gave away old chairs from a lift it is replacing for a $200 donation to a charity.

[::: :::]

T-line "sold" them for $500ea
$100 to T-line for labor
$200 donation to Friends of Timberline
$200 donation to Mt Hood Cultural Center & Museum

He's in the process of designing a frame to hang his and ideally wants to mount it on a length of cable.

that sounds very complicated

[glademaster]

T-line "sold" them for $500ea
$100 to T-line for labor
$200 donation to Friends of Timberline
$200 donation to Mt Hood Cultural Center & Museum


that sounds very complicated

He's recently semi-retired, he has the time, but you're correct.

[SB]

Local ski area selling old chairs for $250 here in Canaanistan

[Huskier]

Whatever happened to the days when resorts sold old and unwanted chairs for $350? Nowadays, it seems that they are looking to unload them for over $1000/chair. FKNA!

Ya no way I got mine for a tidy $300ish donation to some charity. If you go on fleabay and go for one fully restored w mounting hardware then yeah it's a racket.

And Norse you don't give yourself enough credit that's solid looking! I'm just trying to figure out if there's just a bolt going throught the grip boss if there will be some sort of unequal load resulting in an unwanted tilt

[m2711c]

Lift grips need to be replaced every few years. Once they fail inspection, they are not reusable for lift operations anymore but they should still work fine for your needs.

I would check with the lift maintenance department at the ski area to see if they have any old grips that they are planning on throwing away.

[snoqpass]

Recoilless rifle casings. Got any extras?

Do you live in the Seattle area ?

[XXX-er]

My buddy told me there are lots of old chairs in yurp, he looked into getting a fixed triple for the local hill hoping to make a little money as well but the cost to import/ upgrade made it not worth doing

[SB]

Do you live in the Seattle area ?

Negative ghost rider.

[frorider]

Local ski area selling old chairs for $250 here in Canaanistan

That’s what, like ten bucks right?

Huskydoc, since your chair has a wide flange on the top bar, an easy solution is to drill 2 equally spaced holes and suspend from two swaged steel cables from any horizontal beam or tree branch or whatever. I.e rather than trying to emulate the single attach balance point of the chairlift, use two attach points.

[Huskier]

That’s what, like ten bucks right?

Huskydoc, since your chair has a wide flange on the top bar, an easy solution is to drill 2 equally spaced holes and suspend from two swaged steel cables from any horizontal beam or tree branch or whatever. I.e rather than trying to emulate the single attach balance point of the chairlift, use two attach points.

That's an interesting point, maybe even keeping the stem and grip boss in place and utilizing cables running from the flange. One concern is that this thing is going to be up against the house and the old lady is worried it's going to twist/fly around and bang up the siding.

Below is what I kind of have schemed up so far: utilizing a length of galvanized pipe running through two pillow bearings, with eh grip boss secured in place by shaft collars. The pillow bearings will in turn be mounted to a frame welded up from super strut which will in turn be mounted to the rafters in three places per side.

[Norseman]

For that kind of setup, you could omit the bearings since the grip boss is itself a greasable plain bearing.

Shredhead suggested this early.

The galvanized surface of the pipe might tear up the bearing surface, and pipe diameter would need to be within a narrow range for the bearing to work best (not too much slop which would wear it out early, not too tight to impinge grease layer)

But then you'd risk grease drips. And the mounted bearings would be super easy to work with. Shrug

[Huskier]

For that kind of setup, you could omit the bearings since the grip boss is itself a greasable plain bearing.

Shredhead suggested this early.

The galvanized surface of the pipe might tear up the bearing surface, and pipe diameter would need to be within a narrow range for the bearing to work best (not too much slop which would wear it out early, not too tight to impinge grease layer)

But then you'd risk grease drips. And the mounted bearings would be super easy to work with. Shrug

Yeah saw that but wasn't sure how much swing/creak-free use I'd get without bearings involved at some point. I'll poke the thing some more tonight but it didn't seem like that inner layer rotated too freely, I thought the bearings were in the grip? I see the grease fitting on the grip boss though...

[Norseman]

It's a plain bearing, without roller elements like in a ball bearing. The lining of the grip boss is a low-friction material, maybe brass or PTFE etc which have natural lubricity, plus the perforations hold pockets of grease for long-term lubrication. The lining is not meant to move at all within the steel boss, only provide a slick bore for a smooth shaft. As for longevity... it lasted decades on the haul rope, right? But getting something to fit as well as the original grip would be best.

[SB]

Frodo’s off on his math but the method wood work.

KISS

[frorider]

Frodo’s off on his math but the method wood work.

KISS

My math is on point. Do we need to draw a diagram?

[bigdude2468]

This works

[lobstahmeatwad]

Made this last week. Had to section out the vert to fit with dimensional lumber I found. Made the custom brackets from 1/4" plate and 1/2" round stock. Stuck some 1" gas pipe in there.
Works great. Cost me about 50 bucks. Lots of found materials that and the chair was $350 10 years ago.