DIY Wooden appliance for lifting 160lbs keg

I made a kegerator many years ago works fine.
The problem is getting it from the back of my truck into the fridge, 160lbs.

1. man up and toss it around and hope you don't get a hernia
2. wait for a friend a lift together
3. build a lift and do it easily and safely by yourself

I ideas are to create roll around seesaw.
push it over to the back of the truck attach it to the keg
lift 3 - 60lbs buckets of cement to hang individually on the opposite end
roll over to fridge remove buckets
done

I'm thinking a 2 piece device base and mast
bolting a base together using 2x6's
a base that with the mast removed I can use for moving other things
I'm thinking the mast 2 2x6 bolted together would slide into a square hole deep enough to secure it
i have some awesome 5 inch caster wheels to use.

I have Ideas but would really like some input

 

Sounds like a fun project... You can get all sorts of design ideas on this page: Homemade Tools: hoist

 

Hmmm none of them seem relevant, i was hopeful when i saw the quarter keg but its a oil catcher. lol

 

What about something like this:High Position Motorcycle Lift It is even on wheels to slide it into the van.

 

There is no access under the fridge so the cherry picker will never get close enough. Thats why i went with the see-saw because it extends beyond the base

 

Couldn't you just leave it on the lift? Or put casters under the fridge so you can roll it around and slip the forks of the lift under it.

 

There's like 20 pages of homemade contraptions, I thought maybe one of them would get your creative juices flowing. The one that I saw on one of those pages that was most like your idea was a huge trailer that a guy made that was simply a long plank that acted like a fulcrum (see-saw) and in the picture it was lifting what looked like a railroad tie or similar. I'm sure you could create something smaller but similar with a 4 wheel furniture cart... an upright pole, a bolt, and a long 2x4... using your own weight to lift. As you move the pivot point away from center, it increases the amount of leverage and reduces the amount of force needed to lift an object on the opposite side. The counterweight needed to balance such a device would not need to be equal to the weight of the object being lifted.

 

You have a full keg.....you have a friend. Combine the two and it will work out. He will help, believe me.

 

no silly it has to go into the fridge and the door must close.

Yes, I could do that. but that would require buying a huge expensive device that will "take up space" as my wife will say. I'm going to make it where it comes apart base/mast.

 

chandler
yes that is true there in no short supply of people that will help if it is the right time of day. But finding a friend that is available when I desire and punctual is a different matter entirely. I get off work at 1:30 pm its a half hour drive to the only keg store that has kegs for $65. Most days i really like just to get the drive over with early, but most people are still working at the time. Then there are a few i get in touch with let them know ahead of time that i'll be home in exactly one hour, be ready. text them 15 minuets ETA gets a response of ok I'll be there. then waiting 30-45 minutes for them to arrive. meanwhile the temp is rising in my keg causing all sorts of flow problems.

Believe me I have been doing this every 3 weeks for over two years.
I have made the decision to make this thing.

*********************

yes XSleeper thats sounds exactly like what i posted. I just thought someone might have a little technical advise before i started.
thanks for all the ideas.

 

the mast will be fairly simple.

any ideas on the base

 

I think I'd have a rectangular steel plate welded up that has a steel tube coming up off the rear end of it. The steel plate could be bolted to a 4 wheel furniture dolly, like what you can buy from Harbor Freight for under $10. Long and rectangular is better. Sandbags could be put on the dolly for ballast. A hole drilled in the steel tube would provide the fulcrum. Your lever, which could be a couple 2x4's, could be through bolted on each side of the vertical tube.

I don't know that you'd "need" to have a counterweight on the lever, but just a little bit of weight on the back side of the lever might not hurt. If 1/4 of the lever is on one side of the fulcrum and 3/4 of the lever is on the side that you are operating... you aren't going to need to exert much pressure to lift it... only 1/4 of the weight would balance it. (not 50:50 as you have it drawn) Achieving balance while moving and rolling the cart will probably be the trick.

 

What about the easier solution - two 1/4 kegs instead of one 1/2 keg. Easier to lift buy yourself. Less of a problem with the beer going stale as you swap a new one at half way. You always can run and get a back up so you never run dry. And they both should fit into the fridge together, I would surmise. Still get the cheap furniture dolly so you don't have to carry them, simply roll from car to fridge.

 

correct a pony key weighs about half 87 lbs I wish the price dropped as well. but because no one buys quarter kegs any more the price is not 65 its 69. just called for price they don't even have any in stock.


XSleeper good idea, i'm going to make the counter weight from buckets of quikrete, balanced equally so that it will stay close to the position it was lifted to while moving or all the way up.

 

The more I think about this, I think the smart way to do it would be to incorporate some block and tackle pulleys into the design somehow. With a little steel cable, a boat crank and a few pulleys, you should be able to create a mechanical advantage whereby you could lift 160 lbs by using as little strength as it would take to move 40 lbs. Go to Google images and search for block and tackle mechanical advantage.

 

it would still need a counterweight to be able to extend further than the base