How to rig up a 'horizontal' jack?

[cl]

I need to push hard on a partition (in a boat) to push it back into place. The push needs to be at floor level and is across a 600mm (or so) wide corridor. I can put battens against each side to distribute the pressure but what's a simple way to actually do the push?

It's a one off job so I only need something fairly crude and simple (though a reusable solution wouldn't go amiss, I seem to need to do this sort of thing fairly often).

A small Acrow prop would do the job, but is there such a thing and, if so, what's it called?

[Adrian]

A bottle jack?

[D.M.Chapman]

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

3x3 fence post sort of thing).

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

[fred]

In article , [e-mail] 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

2x2 starting at an angle (say 20deg initial) then bash into line to move 50-100mm at a time.

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.

[Malcolm]

A scissor jack laid on its side with appropriate packing?

Malcolm

[Robin]

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

[Andy Burns]

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.

[MrWeld]

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

400mm.

[Roger Mills]

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.

[John Rumm]

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.

[cl]

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

[cl]

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

[cl]

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

[cl]

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

Thanks all.

[The Natural Philosopher]

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.

[cl]

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

[The Natural Philosopher]

that is truly neat and might work.

[Adrian]

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

[Fredxx]

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.

[cl]

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