Ramp Project Threaded Fastener Joinery

[Jim Koepke]

We live off the road about a hundred yards or so. The refuse bin needs to be taken up to the road for pick up. I did make a handle that makes it easier to haul the bin up to the road, but sometimes that is a lot of effort. Especially when it has been raining or snowing.

So years ago I made a platform that could attach to our car via the trailer hitch mounting. That vehicle eventually went to the great dismantler in the skies over Seattle. So a platform was built to attach to my truck.

With recycling, sometimes weeks go by without needing to take the garbage bin to the curb. With three cats the bin can get heavy in that time. With my advancing age it can be difficult to lift when really full.

My solution was to build a ramp. This is often the extent of my plans for building something.

a The Plan.jpg

Just a simple drawing to work out some math and away we go. The length of the hypotenuse was set at six feet since that is the length of the 1X8s for this project.

Lumber was cut to size and set on the bench for the first side.

b Lumber on the Bench WIP.jpg

This image is actually taken after the next image for marking the placement of saw cuts for the angled half lap joints.

c Joinery layout.jpg

The lap shoulder was cut first, visible as a dark line in this image.

d Cutting Angled Half Lap Joint.jpg

A piece of the scrap worked well as not only a support but worked well with my vises that tend to rack. Also when there is small scrap my tendency is to take it to the drill press with a forstner bit to make an anti-rack block for the job.

e Vise Antirack block.jpg

After sawing the lap joints the piece were test fit.

f Test Fitting.jpg

Clean up of the joints and any trimming adjustments were done with rabbet planes.

g #10-1:2 Cleaning Lap Joint.jpg

h Shoulder Plane on Lap Wall.jpg

A shoulder plane is a type of rabbet plane.

After the joints were satisfactorily fitted, these pieces were assembled using #12 brass screws. These were round head screws that came in an organizer drawer case my brother gave me. The placement was by eye. The holes were first bored with a forstner bit to set the head below the surface. Then another bit was used to bore the pilot holes. Candle wax was used on the threads to ease their installation.

The cross brasses were cut to be just a little longer than the platform is wide.

The image limit means this needs to be continued later.

jtk

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Great Job Mr. Koepke! Those planes are Dandies!

[Jim Koepke]

Great Job Mr. Koepke! Those planes are Dandies!

Thanks Maurice, the #93 was from ebay. There is a long meandering story about finding the #10-1/2 on a run for supplies when the road into town got blocked by a landslide > http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?163796

They both get regular use.

jtk

[Cameron Wood]

Looking good. There appears to be a bunch of math, followed by direct measurement.

[Jim Koepke]

Looking good. There appears to be a bunch of math, followed by direct measurement.

Being one to be easily distracted, my tendency is to do math problems at least two different ways. Here the Pythagorean theory and trigonometry were used. It actually revealed my error. It has been a long time since using either and instead of subtracting 73 from 90, it was subtracted from 100. (DUH!)

After the base length and the height were set, all the rest of the measurements were made with a pair of dividers, parts being laid on other parts or by eye.

For me a stick and my thumb can be a dividers.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

After the base frame triangles were assembled, any remaining waste was removed.

j Removing the Waste.jpg

This is where a Japanese pull saw is handy.

The brace in the picture was used for driving the screws.

All the rest of the joinery is done with pocket screws. Even this can be complex at times.

k Nonjoinery Joinery?.jpg

Shown is the pockets being set up for the 2X6 board to hold the wheels. The wheels were originally from my roll around toolbox that was refitted with different wheels.

All the cross braces (ramp supports or stretchers) were cut and drilled for pocket holes before starting. Their lengths were also checked and adjusted as needed before much else was done. They were cut to be just a bit wider than the platform that will carry the bin on the back of my truck.

The ramp supports (top stretchers) were set in 3/4” to match the thickness of the 1X8s to be used for the ramp by clamping a piece of scrap to the triangle.

l Lining up Ramp Supports:Cross Braces.jpg

These were set at pretty much equal distances with a pair of dividers. Once these were attached, the second triangle was placed on the bench and this was set on top of it. Gravity can be helpful when one knows how to use it.

m Using Gravity to Align the Sides.jpg

A plumb bob makes lining up two pieces fairly easy. Getting the three corners aligned and start driving in the screws. The ramp side again had a spacer to set the cross beams in 3/4”.

Next the wheel support board was placed and attached.

n Positioning Wheel Board.jpg

A pencil line was drawn on the frame with the wheel and board positioned by eye after the triangles were built.

The 1X8 six foot boards were set in place and the positions for the #10 screws were marked. A bit made for drilling pilot, shank and countersink for #10 flathead screws was used. It can make a deep well so the round heads on the screws are not above the ramp surface.

o Laying Out Screw Positions.jpg

After install9ing the 1X8s, the wheels were attached with 1/4-20, 2” carriage bolts. The ones on hand were 2-1/2” so they were cut down for this project. That usually requires a little grinding or file work to make them safe and useable.

My son in law helped me carry it out of the shop and set it on the ground. It was then rolled across the yard to my truck.

p Ready to Roll.jpg

Likely be a couple weeks before the bin has to go out again. I can wait. Maybe if we get a few dry days I’ll give it a coat of paint or something.

jtk