PIVOT SHAFTS
With the swing frame done, better pivots were needed. Better than the bolts used for initial testing. Nicely machined steel rods with tapped end holes were beyond my means. It would have required a machine shop to do. As a home brew solution, 1/4 inch I.D. plumbing pipe is used. It has a larger outside diameter, a little over 3/8 inch. The ends were made very flat and perpendicular to the pipe. A large carriage bolt holds the pipe against several fender washers. When tight, it forms a strong pivot shaft for the frame. It is also easily adjustable. The disassembled parts are shown below.
(Pivot Shaft Parts)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]520657[/ATTACH]
The wooden discs were cut from 3/8 inch plywood, sanded smooth and painted. The disc on the left side is used to lock the frame in place. The lock mechanism used here will be covered in a later post, along with some alternate ideas for a lock mechanism. The smaller disc on the right is just for spacing, symmetrical with the other side. The final assembly is shown below.
(Stand-Swing Frame)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]520658[/ATTACH]
In the time since making these pivots, I have thought of a number of other ways that this could have been done. Anyone building this might consider other possibilities. It needs to be strong enough. It needs to be smooth in order to rotate easily. It should be adjustable. And it needs to be something you can do easily, depending on what materials and tools you have. If you think of something better than this, go ahead and be creative.