Source for lifting roof actuators?

Ramdough

Ramdough

Adventurer
I am planning a lifting roof camper. I have seen other campers with lifting roofs that uses 4 tiny hydraulic cylinders and have a hand crank option to back up a failed motor.

I have been unable to find these systems fir sale. Anyone have any ideas on where to buy them? I contemplated building my own, but it would be way overkill and cost too much.

I need 36” of lift approximately.

Thanks in advance.


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S

S2DM

Adventurer
Linak ( LA-36) and progressive automation are both options but there are quite a fewYou need something that allows parallel operation if it’s to be hard sided. They have to go up evenly which requires some of position feedback control system.

linaks customer service is atrocious and they are pricey (5500 for a set of 4 with ic parallel sync) but that’s what I used.

you can PM me if you have questions.
 
S

socceronly

Active member
S2DM said:
Linak ( LA-36) and progressive automation are both options but there are quite a fewYou need something that allows parallel operation if it’s to be hard sided. They have to go up evenly which requires some of position feedback control system.

linaks customer service is atrocious and they are pricey (5500 for a set of 4 with ic parallel sync) but that’s what I used.

you can PM me if you have questions.
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What am I missing here. If I go on PA, the Canadian site, the most expensive actuator on there in that stroke range is about $600 Can with specs that at least appear to be well beyond the need of a small camper.

Those LA-36 are like $1900 Canadian.

Am I missing some key specs I don't know to look for?
 
S

S2DM

Adventurer
socceronly said:
What am I missing here. If I go on PA, the Canadian site, the most expensive actuator on there in that stroke range is about $600 Can with specs that at least appear to be well beyond the need of a small camper.

Those LA-36 are like $1900 Canadian.

Am I missing some key specs I don't know to look for?
Click to expand...

it usually has to do with quality of internals, IP rating, but ultimately, accuracy. If you do an earth cruiser style lifting roof, cheaper is ok, but I wouldn’t go cheaper than PA ( firgelli etc). If you do a hard sided lifting roof, it needs to be accurate and have a very robust parallel or hull position control. My experience has been that for four corner lifting roof with hard sides type designs, you get what you pay for. Going cheap manifests in other problems or damaging the top from not coming down square. I’ve also had issues with actuators that use external motor controllers as they are rarely actually truly hull position sensing (I.e.have a continuous true actuator extension position read out) and more commonly just speed controllers.
 
S

socceronly

Active member
S2DM said:
it usually has to do with quality of internals, IP rating, but ultimately, accuracy. If you do an earth cruiser style lifting roof, cheaper is ok, but I wouldn’t go cheaper than PA ( firgelli etc). If you do a hard sided lifting roof, it needs to be accurate and have a very robust parallel or hull position control. My experience has been that for four corner lifting roof with hard sides type designs, you get what you pay for. Going cheap manifests in other problems or damaging the top from not coming down square. I’ve also had issues with actuators that use external motor controllers as they are rarely actually truly hull position sensing (I.e.have a continuous true actuator extension position read out) and more commonly just speed controllers.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks!

JM
 
J

john61ct

Adventurer
I like the idea of wire rope and pulleys to the four lift points

from a central electric or even hand-crank winch.

I definitely want a hard sided "lid" with overlapping sides, straight up and down,

like Duckwork's vardo "slidavan"

bollocks.gif


and I'm am thinking like a 1/2" gap would provide enough tolerance, and be easy enough to seal with a soft closed-cell foam when needed. . .

Are there any detailed schematics howTo pages out there?

Duckworks uses a single screw lift, but I need to raise maybe 400-600lbs on the exoskeleton roof rack, the living pod roof and half-walls, I'm hoping to keep under 100.
 
C

Chuck1

Active member
I saved that one too, i would pick a slide seal and design the gap for that seal, you could double the seal also for better air control.

amazon has a bunch, might be good to figure out a common seal RVs use so you can find replacements easy
 
T

tanuki.himself

Active member
look at 3d printing/CNC components for acme/lead screws - places like ebay usually list a whole range. Robotics companies are a good source of 12v motors and gearboxes. I paid about euro65 each for my motors and euro30 for each 1m 24mm lead screw to make my camper jacks which is probably a lot bigger and heavier than you will need just to lift a roof, and the robotics guys gave me a wiring diagram to fit limit switches that just used cheap microswitches and relays. Of course if you want synchronised stepper motors that is more difficult but i kept my jacks individual to allow me to balance the camper then lift in stages front then back.

could you get away with 2 motors and toothed belt drives to lead screws in the corners, one set at the front, one at the back? might make raising them level easier
 
Ramdough

Ramdough

Adventurer
I appreciate all of the feedback.

I was looking at firgeli 50cal actuators with the synchronizing controller, but I still have an issue with them.

If one every fails, I am stuck. There is no manual backup system. I did find several examples in Germany on YouTube that had hydraulic units with manual backup cranks. That is what I am looking for. At least so I can get a cost comparison.

Here is an example truck:



I was hoping this would be easy to find if I posted it here.

My roof will be almost 20 feet long, with a decent amount of weight from AC, glass windows, sky light, solar..... etc. My backup plan is a pulley system. But, I would rather have something that easily pulls up and and down and locks it into either position.


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Ramdough

Ramdough

Adventurer
Euro6 said:
Some of european self builders use hydraulic systems from Ergoswiss :

Hydraulic lifting systems, linear unit & height-adjustment

Hydraulic lifting systems, cylinders, linear units and height-adjustable lifting columns with hydraulic drive which are working precisely, quietly and synchronously.
www.ergoswiss.com www.ergoswiss.com
Click to expand...

Thanks, that is closer. It does not have the lift travel I need and the longer travel units do not have much force. That is probably the closest option to those videos I have seen yet.

Thank you!


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E

Euro6

Member
600 Kg seems largely enough to lift a rooftop with reasonable dimensions. The system is really reliable and can work manually with crank, or by using a cordless drill.
An affordable alternative option could be pneumatic cylinders actuated by air compressor (but without any manual option...).
 
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