[ITman496] is one of us hackers working his way around health problems, in his case, a back injury. He is eager to solve various difficulties he has to deal with, and in case of the video he made, it was about moving a large trashcan through ice-covered roads on his property. Not willing to risk his health any further and dissatisfied with the flimsy solutions for sale requiring him to do the heavy lifting, still, he designed and built a winch-powered trashcan lifter mechanism – not entirely unlike a forklift. He mounted it to his ATV, tested it, improved upon it, filming his progress along the way – and then made a video detailing the entire build for us!
Having sketched the concept on his phone, he modeled and tested it in SketchUp, then cut and welded the parts, describing a welding alignment trick along the way – using 3D-printed joints to hold the two parts-to-be-welded together for tack welds, ensuring nigh-perfect alignment. Initial testing was a success! From there, he describes a good few surprising but in retrospect expected ease-of-use improvements that didn’t crop up during simulations, like adding chamfers to the scoop, so that he doesn’t have to angle his ATV super precisely to pick the trashcan up. In the end, having used it for about a month now, he tells us it’s been working extremely well for his purposes!
Not all such garbage cans need to be taken out, thankfully – some of them go voluntarily, and you can even get smaller ones that catch stuff you throw from across the room. We’ve covered the adventures of [ITman496] before, learning lessons from a failed robot build in 2016., and adopting an ultralight plane in 2018!
The “wench” power trash can lifter definitely brought a smile to my face, but you should fix that.
Nah. Don’t fix it. It’s funny.
But why do you need an ATV when you have a wench to do it?
Yes, I was very disappointed to find there is only this one article with the “wench” tag.
3d printed alignment jigs?
WTF is wrong with magnets or a welding table? Too quick and easy?
Human bodies ‘rust’ more than wear out. PT your back or regret it when older. Getting old not for sissies.
The jigs are nice in more complex things that are difficult to align. I made a gallery here of some complex parts that have a lot of off angles and need parts held in very precise locations.
https://imgur.com/a/pIrqx93
As for the human bodies thing, this was mainly a temporary thing as I had a back injury and could barely walk, let alone drag things around. I’m better now, but it was a fun contraption to make.
I agree, as while I use magnets a lot I also make jigs at times (normally out of wood, and I don’t care if they get burnt a bit)