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Rebuilding a 1960's Poma lift


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#41 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 23 April 2009 - 06:02 PM

View PostBogong, on Apr 23 2009, 08:04 AM, said:

Don. I just have to congratulate you on your wonderful project.

.....Please keep us updated on your progress.


Thanks. I've always had a deep appreciation for all things old and mechanical.

I hate all motor vehicles manufactured after 1976. (They're just not the same).

Cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, ski-lifts,......... even old movie projectors. (I have several 8mm, super-8, and 16mm porjectors and films).

I love to maintain and preserve the past for all to appreciate. :cool:


.....(Or just me).
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#42 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 23 April 2009 - 06:24 PM

View Postskier691, on Apr 22 2009, 05:34 PM, said:

I was wondering why the hill held the snow so good this year??..... lots of packing with your trusty Tucker?


I don't know,.... but it sure was nice.

Saturday, April 11 was the last day the Boys and I got out to hike the hills and ride our boards. We set up a couple rails that were sitting around since 1994. The mountain WAS actually open for business at that time, as a snowboard park. We only had a single rope-tow that went halfway up the hill, under the T-bar. The following year, the owner decided to lease the business out, instead of running it himself,..... but that turned out to be a nightmare. Also, an electrical malfunction led some dipshit to bypass a safety-stop, and when the State Inspector showed up and tried the stop and the rope-tow continued to run,.... he shut us down. :censored2:


But anyway, ...it was fun hiking the hill in the warm weather. It would've been nicer to have an operational Lift. :rolleyes:
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#43 mikest2

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Posted 23 April 2009 - 06:56 PM

View PostDon CoyoteŽ, on Apr 23 2009, 07:02 PM, said:

Thanks. I've always had a deep appreciation for all things old and mechanical.

I hate all motor vehicles manufactured after 1976. (They're just not the same).

Cars, motorcycles, snowmobiles, ski-lifts,......... even old movie projectors. (I have several 8mm, super-8, and 16mm porjectors and films).

I love to maintain and preserve the past for all to appreciate. :cool:


.....(Or just me).

Of all the sleds I've run, my favorite was our 1980 Alpine 640 ER. The ski used to break off, but more exciting was when the shear pin in the brake disc sheared. I'm not sure I ever rode that thing sitting down !!
...Mike

#44 liftmech

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Posted 24 April 2009 - 05:23 AM

View PostLift Dinosaur, on Apr 19 2009, 10:13 AM, said:

liftmech- jump in here and help me, but the picture in Post #1 doesn't appear to have a "slide rack" required for a detachable poma, and the grip shown in Post #10 doesn't have the "notches" in the button like I remember or as shown in the Doppel drawing supplied by Petz.

Dino


Maybe the rack is missing? Sounds like the lift was/is in disrepair. I didn't see the notches either but my browser only loads fuzzy pictures :cursing: Perhaps the ones you and I are used to are a special model for our 'special' lift?
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#45 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 24 April 2009 - 03:07 PM

View Postmikest2, on Apr 23 2009, 06:56 PM, said:

Of all the sleds I've run, my favorite was our 1980 Alpine 640 ER. The ski used to break off.....



My friend at the Mountain had a 1981 Alpine. The ski broke off. I was the one who repaired it.

..... It was a piss-poor manufacturing job from the factory,..... the steering shaft was about 1/16th of an inch smaller in diameter than the mating part that it was welded to. The only thing keeping it in place was the weld..... but it had lots of room to flex! :blink: I ran a bead of weld around the whole outside of the steering shaft, turned it down on a lathe, and made it almost a press-fit into the mating part and THEN I welded it back on.

It never came apart again. :cool:


Engineers need a good spanking once-in-a-while. :cursing:
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#46 liftmech

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Posted 25 April 2009 - 04:23 AM

I hear you on that one. I've had the opposite problem, where the part is machined to the correct tolerance and then plated so that it's a few thousandths thicker and I have to remove the plating to make it fit.

Does your lift have a rack for stick storage as Dino and I were discussing above?
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#47 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 25 April 2009 - 02:27 PM

View Postliftmech, on Apr 25 2009, 05:23 AM, said:

.....Does your lift have a rack for stick storage as Dino and I were discussing above?



Don't'cha mean THIS thing? :huh:

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#48 liftmech

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Posted 27 April 2009 - 04:45 AM

Nope, that's the guidage to prevent the sticks from getting tangled up as they whip around the bullwheel. I mean a long, straight set of steel bars that parallel the haul rope at the bottom terminal. The rope actually goes through these bars, and when the sticks aren't on line they're supported by, and stored in, the rack
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#49 Lift Dinosaur

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Posted 27 April 2009 - 05:19 AM

liftmech and Don-
Looks like the slide rack is in place. If you look above the guidage noted, you can see the entrance guides to the slide rack back by the bullwheel.
John, it's missing the work walkway we're used to seeing.

Dino
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#50 Petz

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Posted 27 April 2009 - 09:38 AM

The lift surely has a rack cause on the picture we can see the chain hanging down used for the coupling release.
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#51 skiersage

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Posted 27 April 2009 - 09:54 AM

Wow, I am surprised this whole rack debate is still going on. I for one am used to seeing Poma lifts lift this one as I am from the area. There used to be a bunch of them around Michigan. As one can see, the racks are much smaller because the lifts are short and don't need many platter sticks.
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#52 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 27 April 2009 - 01:37 PM

View PostPetz, on Apr 27 2009, 10:38 AM, said:

The lift surely has a rack cause on the picture we can see the chain hanging down used for the coupling release.



Yes,..... and no. :unsure:


You actually can't see the coupling release lever,..... the pic is a little dark. The chain that you're seeing is actually my one-and-only carriage. It is a set of handlebars on a chain. I actually have a "stick" wth a platter-seat on it,..... it is sitting in the grass, where it has been for about twenty-five years. It's all bent and twisted. I was buildng this lift for snowboarders, so a "seat" wasn't going to be an option.

.....(I put handlebars on it).


Here is a bigger pic that shows the carriage AND the coupling release handle........

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#53 liftmech

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Posted 28 April 2009 - 04:11 AM

I see them now. What kind of handlebars did you put on? I'm interested to see how those work (when you get the lift running) because I've seen so many snowboarders have problems with this kind of lift. If you can come up with something that works, there are a few areas that may steal your idea (with credit of course).
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#54 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 28 April 2009 - 03:47 PM

I'm pretty sure it may take some practice to use the handlebars. The three times I attempted to get up the hill, I had to remember to simply HANG from the handlebars and not try to use brute force to hang on. Our hills are fairly short, so I'm HOPING that an average user has the upper-body strength to use the thing. (That's why I only made ONE set of handlebars,..... I didn't want to make FIVE and find that I wasted my time building things I can't use).

If only I had realized that my "Grips" were backward,... sooner. :sad:



The more I (try to) use the handlebars, the more I feel I may need to re-engineer the design. :dry:


AFTER I make the proper Grip,..... I'll give the handlebars one more try. (Maybe two).

I still think it's a decent design. :rolleyes:

This post has been edited by Don CoyoteŽ: 28 April 2009 - 03:48 PM

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#55 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 28 April 2009 - 03:55 PM

View Postliftmech, on Apr 28 2009, 05:11 AM, said:

What kind of handlebars did you put on?



I just turned two short pieces of one-inch solid steel to .875 and put a bolt between them and put bicycle handgrips on them.



Hey,..... off-topic,....... how do you get that "Title" under your avatar? I want mine to say "Cheeeeese!" :unsure:

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#56 liftmech

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Posted 29 April 2009 - 04:20 AM

Consider it done.

We had a batch of platters made a few years ago that had 'handgrips' cut into them (rather than being a solid disc). The hope was that snowboarders could hang onto those instead. They didn't seem to work well.
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#57 Bogong

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Posted 12 September 2009 - 05:05 PM

I was just wondering if Don has made any progress in the past five months?

In this country, the small resort of Ben Lomond in the state of Tasmania was having so much trouble getting snowboarders to ride platters (not Pomas), that they added J-bars to a lift and mixed them in with the platters.

Apparently boarders find riding the new J-bars a lot easier than platters.
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#58 Don CoyoteŽ

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Posted 18 September 2009 - 01:13 PM

View PostBogong, on 12 September 2009 - 05:05 PM, said:

.........Apparently boarders find riding the new J-bars a lot easier than platters.



Can I get a few pics? Posted Image

I've been pretty busy with the Poma AND the T-bar.

I'll be using them BOTH, this year!!! Posted Image


..... I'm almost finished with five new PROPER grips for the platter and I've got almost all the pieces (including the motor) for the T-Bar,..... I just need to get the thing all assembled.

(I'll start taking pics, soon).Posted Image
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#59 Bogong

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Posted 19 September 2009 - 05:47 AM

I haven't been to that resort for a few years, but I sent a message to a friend in the state of Tasmania who lives in the city of Launceston
which is only 30 minutes from Ben Lomond ski resort and this is what he said about converting platters into J-bars for snowboarders:

"I don't know that they were overly successful. I will try to explain what they did.

From the bottom of the platter pole (that you grab onto) they inserted an L shaped piece of aluminium tubing.

Then they attached the platter disc onto the top of the bottom of the L (if that makes sense) what allowed the disc to sit flush against the inside of your front leg

I don't think that they did a great deal and they weren't very comfortable to ride as the length in the botton of the L probably wasn't long enough (only about 15cm)

I will see if I can dig up a photo for you.



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#60 Bogong

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Posted 19 September 2009 - 06:14 AM

Okay, it was a very bad ski season in Tasmania and the snow is melting already. Posted Image

This photo was taken a couple of days ago.

Posted Image

The unused poma stick on the far right, (in front of the person in red) shows the modification.

That's the best photo of it my friend can find.

This post has been edited by Bogong: 19 September 2009 - 06:15 AM

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