out with the old in with the new

[KiwiMtnClmbr]

Ha! yeah right, that sounds like me for sure! No, only one was slower than the rest and ended up cutting as much wire as I could to speed it up, its still slightly slower than the other three actuators. I did start with those wires exactly the same length, very ghetto but works well, is about as simple as it gets!

Pods8, the actuators dont rise at the same rate, I have around half an inch gap and never had a binding problem, but if you are trying to have them move at the same speed, there are speed controllers available. Another ghetto way of adjusting the speed is with longer wire runs for the faster actuators, wire length changes the speed alot. These actuators are now about $100 each, and am very happy with the set up, but I like to be able to tilt the roof structure the way I want so water run off flows away from the door. There is a thread on expo some where about actuator speed control, maybe the trailer site??

Hey Westyss,

I’m still amazed and in love with this build. What was the lifting/static load rating for the actuators that you finally ended up with? And they were 18” right?

 

[westyss]

Hey Westyss,

I’m still amazed and in love with this build. What was the lifting/static load rating for the actuators that you finally ended up with? And they were 18” right?

Yup, 18 inch and I am using 1000lb actuators so that they don’t wind down once the roof is up, the 200lb actuators lift the roof no problem but after several years of use they would start to wind down slowly and these have been working for six years and work great although slower than the 200’s.

 

[Sean Rock]

Yup, 18 inch and I am using 1000lb actuators so that they don’t wind down once the roof is up, the 200lb actuators lift the roof no problem but after several years of use they would start to wind down slowly and these have been working for six years and work great although slower than the 200’s.

4x 1000lb actuaters?

 

[westyss]

4x 1000lb actuaters?

Yup

 

[Mules]

lift

Wow, thanks for the nice comments, I appreciate it. To answer some questions

1) The walls were made by Rhinocore, and they were mostly all the people from Big foot I believe, and I recently heard that they are reopening Big foot so I am not too sure how available the wall product will be, I am very happy that they worked with me, good folks, there is another Co. that says they supply the same stuff , Canadian Commercial Vehicles. I tried to work with them but was not successful, they quoted me double Rhinocore's quote and it only took them seven months with constant calls to give me that quote, so good luck with them.

2) The height inside when the roof is up is 6' 6", down is 5'.

3)Weight, well let me tell you a story about myself first, I have this problem of over building things, it stems from my childhood so I cant help it, like I said before , it is strong, probably too strong, I am sure one could lighten it up alot, but as it stands, the deck came in at 900 pounds and the cabin just under 2000 pounds.

4) Water collecting, well that is a bit of the plan, right now it just dumps on the ground, I put my dogs water dish there so it fills up, but someway I will collect water, it just makes sense, as for pooling, in these next series of pics you will see a 4 toggle double throw double pole switchy thingy, so I control all the actuators individualy, so if it rains I tilt the roof any way I want, which is usually to the side without the door.

There is just a temporary interior, I am trying out locations before I commit, so not much inside.


Next step in the process was to install the door. My dog was complaining that she wasnt in enough pics so I had to put one in, for the install I had to get the truck as close to the shop as possible due to rain and wind. It was not too hard as the hole in the wall was already there, just had to cut out the aluminum corner that was conveniently left unglued.

This is the one I call, door to no where.

Up til now I have not tried raising the roof, so its time, I wired up the actuators to give it a go,

So away we go, half way, sooo exciting!

All the way.

Sorry if you already stated in the thread about the linear actuators, but did you use simple DC actuators or did you use synchronized Hall effect actuators. I'm considering an actuated roof, and was wondering if all your actuators stay straight when going up. Any help would be appreciated.