homemade gasless gas struts

[madjack]

madjack wrote:
...I guess I will haveta post some photos of our homemade "gas struts" now
madjack Cool


This I gotta see. Cool
_________________
Rich

Rich...go look at the end of my personal album...I now return ya to the old Pirate.............................................



further pics can be seen at my WWW button...if anyone is very confused, I split these posts off from Steves hatch support thread because I didn't wanno pirates mad at me for playing hi-jacker...MJ

[Nitetimes]

Rich...go look at the end of my personal album...I now return ya to the old Pirate.............................................

I see, you mean your gasless gas struts. Purty cool and you just gave me an idea how I think I'm gonna make mine.

[Steve_Cox]

Rich...go look at the end of my personal album...I now return ya to the old Pirate.............................................

I see, you mean your gasless gas struts. Purty cool and you just gave me an idea how I think I'm gonna make mine.

Thanks guys, now I have a back up plan

Steve

[madjack]

..purty simple...used up some old EMT, old $5 folding chair and a pair of hair pin clips for a grand total of 56cents...awfully durned expensive huh...will powder coat them and put a line up mark on the inside tube for the pin holes
madjack

[AmyH]

Guys, these hatch supports are great!!

Madjack, not to steal the thread, but I have been looking at that wonderful water tank that you built and wondering how many gallons it holds. I really like that idea, and it seems like it would save space over the one that I ended up purchasing.

Amy

[madjack]

Guys, these hatch supports are great!!

Madjack, not to steal the thread, but I have been looking at that wonderful water tank that you built and wondering how many gallons it holds. I really like that idea, and it seems like it would save space over the one that I ended up purchasing.

Amy

...a hijack here? Say it ain't so Joe Amy the tank hold 5 gals, is comprised of about 7' of 4" PVC and cost less than 20 bucks to build...and to save the hi-jack...it mounts under the floor below where the hatch supports mount
madjack
tank size calculator at http://www.watertanks.com/calc.asp

[Jim Marshall]

OK Jack, I give up. How do I view your personal album. I am computer challenged.

[madjack]

Jim, click the profile button at the bottom of my post, then click "personal gallery of madjack"...............................

[AmyH]

Thanks for the info Madjack.

Back to the actual topic now ( heeheehee), Steve, does the hatch support lock off somehow when the hatch is propped in the open position? It is hard to tell from the photo, since you can still see the spring.

Amy

[Jim Marshall]

Thanks Jack,I stand in awe of your talent! And your shop!

[madjack]

Thanks Jack,I stand in awe of your talent! And your shop!

thanks Jim...the shop actually belongs to my partner but I'll claim at least 50%of the talent.................................
p.s. there are more strut/build photos under my WWW button

[madjack]

...these posts were split off from the hijack of Steves hatch support thread...sorrry for any confusion
madjack

[Steve_Cox]

Thanks Jack,I stand in awe of your talent! And your shop!

thanks Jim...the shop actually belongs to my partner but I'll claim at least 50%of the talent.................................
p.s. there are more strut/build photos under my WWW button

MJ,
I looked at the photos of your struts, oh yeah, beautiful craftsmanship on the woodworking. The struts, I see they are two different lengths and I was hoping to see the hatched closed in one of the photos. I was wondering if you could give us a short "theory of operation" ? Pictures often make things look much better, me for instance. But I couldn't tell from the photos how the hatch would close when the pins were pulled. Maybe I'm missing something.

Thanks,
Steve

[madjack]

Steve, I was wondering how long it would take for someone to notice the different lengths...first off on closing, they work exactly like a gas strut does with the black leg sliding into the silver leg when closed...opened or closed, they neve come apart and they have to be installed as 1 piece...just like a gas strut does...in other words, just think of them as a gasless gas strut...the different lengths, well if you look at the galley photos on my Yahoo Picture site(WWWbutton) you will see that the galley is open on the right and blocked by the big drawer on the left...we engineered the strut on the right first ...the length on the right strut would not work on the left because of the big drawer so we had to re-engineer the left strut...did we realize this was gonna happen...YES...why didn't we do the left strut first and then the right so as to make them both the length...well it may have had something to do with what was in the pipe sorry I don't have a pic with the hatch closed and it is now skinned so a closed view of the struts is impossible but it works really well....
madjack

[sunny16]

Madjack,
You say opened or closed, they never come apart. What keeps them together? Or is is just that the length and the hatch don't allow them to come apart? And do the clips go thru both tubes or just keep the tubes from sliding into each other? I looked at your phots but can't seem to figure it out. It is a great idea for struts, though. I have been thinking what to use. I don't want the old broomstick style and I don't want to pay for gas struts. I want to dp it simple yet good looking.