[Boatanchors] Handling Heavy Chassis

[W7FE]

I have my Valiant on the bench today, and I do the following to minimize effort:

1. I cut a piece of 1/2 inch plywood somewhat larger than the chassis dimensions, glued a piece of terrycloth to the side which contacts my formica-topped bench, and set the rig on top of that. Turning this plywood base reduces a good bit of the lifting and sliding.  Also, I try to do as much of the work as possible with the rig set up on one end, heavy iron end down, giving access to both chassis top and bottom by rotation of the plywood base. If your rig is pristine, you might want to apply some protective material on the lips of the front panel.

2. When being bottom side up is necessary, I rotate it from the end up position, again to save a bit of lifting and use a couple of pieces of 2 x 4 to rest each transformer/choke top on so the rig does not rest on the more fragile parts. By the way, don't be alarmed if the meter does not read properly when testing in the bottom up position.

3. I use a four-wheel cart with a hydraulic table to transport the rig from the bench to the operating area. Mine came from Harbor Freight and, since I have several boatanchors in the Valiant weight class (see my qrz.com page), it has proven to be really worth the modest price and a great back-saver. 

73 de Stu, W7FE
Henderson, NV

Richard Solomon <w1ksz at earthlink.net> wrote:

>I have a Viking Valiant that will need work. The idea of man-handling this
>behemoth (turning it upside down and back right again, many times) does
>not appeal to me, besides, I am sure to break something.
>
>Has anyone used something akin to a Motor Stand or similar device to
>facilitate rotation ?
>
>Thanks for any ideas,
>
>73, Dick, W1KSZ
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