How to rig up a 'horizontal' jack?

A bottle jack?

If the gap/corridor is 600mm and you need to push the partition back 100m (say) then how about two bits of wood, each one 350mm long (I'm thinking

Put them one against the partition and one agains the batten on the other side so they stick up in the middle.

Then stand on the raised point in the middle to push the ends out.

Makes more sense in my head than it does trying to explain what I mean :-)

Darren

In article , snipped-for-privacy@isbd.net writes

If the initial gap is small then use opposing tapered wooden wedges bashed together to increase the gap or if it is larger use a piece of

In both cases just use packers as the gap grows.

I assume there's a good reason not to spread force with a 2x2 and use a sledge or club hammer to move it across.

I thought I had seen some in the 50-75cm range but can't seem to find any shorter than 1.1m at the mo.

A scissor jack laid on its side with appropriate packing?

Malcolm

Tony Bryer told me last year the magic phrase is "trench prop".

AldiLidl occasionally sell a 'dead man' prop for plaasterboarding etc, it is effectively one tube screwed inside another, which you can ratchet into place, then unscrew to exhert pressure, quite like these

Whether it's enough pressure for your purposes, I wouldn't know.

They're called Trench Struts. The type with rotating collars might be difficult to use close to the floor.

A scissor jack (the sort with a screw thread) or two might be a cheaper and more re-useable option. They tend to have a maximum extension around

How about one of these - or a shorter one with some packing?

As it says, you can easily move the free jaw to the other end, so that it becomes a spreader. I don't know how much force you need, but you can generate quite a lot with these jobbies. It will be useful for other things, too.

A quick'n'dirty carpenters trick is to cut a strut a bit longer than the gap. Insert at an angle, and then hammer one end so that it slides the strut toward the horizontal. Needs sacrificial timbers each side.

They rarely work when horizontal, that's the problem.

Yes, I understand you, it's a possibility certainly - thanks.

Yes, when I said "can't use a bottle jack" I realised this was a possibility.... Do I still have a scissor jack??? :-)

Yes, I reckon a scissor jack is probably the answer and they can be found pretty cheap.

Thanks all.

I've used a bottle jack to do this once

jack a bit then put in a prop to hold it jacked, then relase the bottle jack and put a spacer in, and repeat.. boring as hell, but for a one off, it works.

I have some Wolfcraft equivalents to those, they might do the job, thanks for the idea.

that is truly neat and might work.

They can usually be found completely free, if you look in the boot of your car.

What thickness of steel are you trying to move? Is this something like a narrow boat that is 6mm+?

The usual method would be to use a body jack. Some can supply up to 10 tons force, and come with appropriate packing to get the overall desired length.

:-) Yes, but often with stange ends designed only to fit into rusty orifices in the underside of your car.