Weighty project!

[John Hill]

Turn a chunk of round scrap and make two big buckets of swarf...





Turned another piece to be a cosy fit and cut a groove in it for an o-ring.



Put the two pieces together and fill the gap with oil.


Put the ensemble under the end of this shipping container.


There is a 100Bar pressure gauge on the end of that copper pipe!

The piston is 114mm in diameter and according to my calculation and indication of 100Bar would be 10 tonnes, here we can see a much lower reading showing this end of the container weights about 1.4 tonnes,  I will need to do the other end too and add them together but I am guessing this fairly empty container weighs 3 tonnes.

This is useful information as it shows I can put 3 tonnes of my treasures in there and still get it shipped to our new house at the lowest freight rate!

[Trion]

Good thinking, will keep this in mind if i ever need to weigh something that large!

[Stilldrillin]

Well thought through John!     

As someone used to say.... "Think literally. Think laterally".

David D

[AdeV]

Hmmm, I like that a lot.... where did you find the calculations (or are you just extremely brainy...)? I can see this being adapted to make a low-cost set of corner scales for a race car, for example...

[John Hill]

Hmmm, I like that a lot.... where did you find the calculations (or are you just extremely brainy...)? I can see this being adapted to make a low-cost set of corner scales for a race car, for example...

Hi AdeV



Calculations are not difficult, I used an on-line circle calculator to find the diameter for a particular area.

Say you want your load cell to weigh 500Kgs, so choose a gauge with a scale of, or some multiple of, 0 to 500.  Lets say 500 KPa.  (Thats about 75 PSI)  Looking up an online converter I find that 500KPa is equal to 0.05098 kgs per square millimetre.  So we divide our 500Kgs by 0.05098 = 9808 sq mm required for our load cell.

Look up a handly online circle calculator and I find a circle of 9808 sq mm area has a diameter of 111.75mm.

Cheers

[tony ennis]

What keeps the oil from squirting out from between the two pieces?

[Stilldrillin]

What keeps the oil from squirting out from between the two pieces?

The O ring, mentioned in the 2nd pic......

David D

[ozzie46]

  I thought all shipping containers  had their empty weight marked on them?

   Ron

[tumutbound]

  I thought all shipping containers  had their empty weight marked on them?

   Ron

John had already started loading his Lego before the decision to weight the container.

[dsquire]

John

Very good John. Leave it to the Artfull Dodger to come up with the solution to the problem. That is definitly thinking outside the box. (no pun intended). How does this weight compare with the Listed tare weight on the container? 


I don't envy you with all the work involved in the move but I am sure that once you are settled in your new place it will have been worth it. 

Cheers 

Don

[fatal-exception]

Hmmm, a hydraulic pancake loadcell. Nice work, and probably well accurate enough for what your intended use is.

If you have a scale company around that calibrates loadcells, they could probably confirm your pressure reading against a known deadload.

Good thinking. 

[John Hill]

  I thought all shipping containers  had their empty weight marked on them?

   Ron

Yes it did Ron, since painted over.  Besides, this was a refrigerated container and that equipment has been removed so the tare weight would no longer be applicable, plus there is quite a bit of stuff in it already.

The real aim of this exercise is to avoid loading it past the weight for the cheapest shipping rate .

[John Hill]

Hmmm, a hydraulic pancake loadcell. Nice work, and probably well accurate enough for what your intended use is.

If you have a scale company around that calibrates loadcells, they could probably confirm your pressure reading against a known deadload.

Good thinking. 

I can not think of such a place right now but I could easily take it to someone with a workshop press and confirm I am not grossly out of range.

[AdeV]

John,

I'm just about ready to make some of these, but unfortunately your pics have gone missing..... any chance they could be resurrected?

Ta in advance!