Simple (for a change) DIY trolley

[David]

One very minor success amongst all the other bits of aggravation.

We moved the sofa out of the lounge before the prolonged refurbishment and it involved three men and a lot of huffing and puffing to get it between rooms and through the hall.

I bought a boxed set of castors (two fixed, two swivel) from Lidl because they looked useful and they were.

An off cut from the shelving (well, I say off cut - in fact I trimmed an over size piece along the wrong axis but fortunately had some spare ply left) and some M6 roofing screws from Homebase and I had a nice squarish trolley board with big white wheels.

After a bit of juggling we (my Lady Wife and myself) had the sofa up ended and balanced on the trolley.

It was then remarkably simple to walk and juggle it through the door ways into the lounge.

Board is roughly 400 * 420 in 18mm ply.

I am now trying to think of other uses :-)

Moving large out door plant pots could be one of them.

Cheers

Dave R

[Nightjar]

I have a couple of triangular lumps of ply with 100m swivel castors on each corner of each one. They are always coming in useful for moving large, heavy or just difficult items, indoors and outdoors.

[Bill Wright]

Do you live at the top of a hill? If so it could be a fun way to get to the shops.

Bill

[spuorgelgoog]

I have a couple of sets of furniture moving thingmies like that from Aldi.

Unfortunately experience to date is that one corner of the lounge unit always slips off the thingmy and the whole thing is then inclined to tip over.

Having a 6' high lounge unit land on top of one is slightly disconcerting.

Owain

[Capitol]

Amateur! All you need is one of the childrens skate boards. Much less effort and goes over sills and around corners easily(?).

[David]

A few small flaws in that plan.

Firstly the kids are well off our hands and both over 30. And they took their skate boards with them. [Well, no we gave the skate boards away a couple of decades ago.]

I note the (?) after easily :-)

Short and square with swivel castors trumps long and thin and wobbly.

Still very smug about the ease with which we moved the sofa.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

We live on the flat so it could work both ways - apart from the lack of directional stability.

Tempting, but I don't bounce or mend as easily as I used to.

If it was a bit larger I could sit on it and employ someone to push me along.

Cheers

Dave R

[Nightjar]

If they are the things I've found as Aldi furniture movers on Google, the castors are too small. At that size, they will catch on just about any surface imperfection.

[Capitol]

David wrote: [Well, no we gave the skate boards away a couple of decades ago.]

That's against ukd-i-y principles! Everything should be kept in case it is useful later!

[Murmansk]

I have a similar trolley and it's been VERY useful for all sorts of things but I can recommend having two wheel at one end that don't swivel and two at the other than do as this helps with keeping it going in the right direction when loaded.

Also, a bit of rope is essential to help pull it along and it's better if the wheels are bigger rather than smaller so it goes over bumps easier when loaded.

[Bob Eager]

On Mon, 23 Mar 2015 14:56:27 +0000, Nightjar I have a couple of triangular lumps of ply with 100m swivel castors on

Obviously REALLY large items, with castors that big! :-)

[Brian Gaff]

How would you get it under the pot though? Brian

[Nightjar]

They have allowed me to move a three-seat settee by myself, but the real advantage of the large castors is that they don't need a smooth surface to work. They are perfectly happy running over the 20mm grid chippings in my garden.

[Bob Eager]

Whoosh. "100m..."

[Nightjar]

We often read what we expect to see and I knew I had written 100mm :-)

[David]

I'll get back to you on that......

......my blue sky thinking goes more or less......

...a short effort to raise the pot whilst standing still and then push/ pull the trolley is easier than two of you trying to walk bent over double gripping a heavy pot.

Been there, done that, didn't like it .