New Ramps

[Aletank]

I've been looking for a decent set of ramps for a while that arn't too steep or too narrow. I came across Car Ramps Custom Built Extra Long for sports cars and 4x4's, Low entry car ramp for lowered cars I liked the designs on the website but i wanted something a little more custom. I wanted them made from checker plate for a smooth drive up/down and also a little plate attached to the front to stop the ramps slipping forward when entering them.
These are a nice 300mm wide to allow for my 245mm rear tyres.
The service was great from Car Ramps Custom Built Extra Long for sports cars and 4x4's, Low entry car ramp for lowered cars -
Pic below anyway

 

[Dieselman]

Very posh ramps.

That reminds me, I picked up a pair of high load (and I mean high, perhaps 10 tonne), high lift axle stands from a Romanian gipsy collecting scrap, the other day.

One of the legs is a bit bent, but at £2 I can sort that...

 

[markjay]

I watch and I weep... well I suppose that living in a flat in Central London has some advantages, but I can't of any right now...

 

[grober]

No offence ----nicely finished but don't seem particularly stable [ load wise] to me? Personally I would like to see a bit of diagonal/ floor level bracing on that front platform section for example. Makes em a bit heavier of course sorry!

 

[Aletank]

No offence ----nicely finished but don't seem particularly stable [ load wise] to me? Personally I would like to see a bit of diagonal/ floor level bracing on that front platform section for example. Makes em a bit heavier of course sorry!

Andy at Ramps4cars does a 3Dstrength analysis via a computer program, CAD design thing. He use to have a picture on his site showing the stress levels on the different parts of the ramps, starts of green then goes to red etc.
So his designs are all tested properly.
Here's a picture from another part of his website, he use to have a example of the ramps being tested.
I'm sure Andy would add some extra bracing for your piece of mind if you was interested.
Browns Welding Ayrshire, Gates and railings, bespoke steel fabrications, 3D CAD Design.

 

[moonloops]

A car ramp with better build quality than the car

 

[silver_star]

They look a nice set.

I got a nice set for free a year or so ago. I was working underneath a mates car kerb side.......then one of the neighbours walks over (I though it was going to be another "moaner" for me working on cars on the road rather than in the garage or on the drive).....alas it wasn't. "I was clearing my garage out and wondered if you wanted a set of ramps?"

They are the heaviest things you have ever seen all made out of angle iron and nice and wide so good for modern tyres. Apparently he made them as an apprentice, but they look a professional job....Result!

 

[Aletank]

Andy from Ramps4Cars got back to me with the 2 below pictures and a 12 page Microsoft Word Stress Report on the Ramps also a single Ramp was tested with a 2000kg load.

 

[Druk]

no offence ----nicely finished but don't seem particularly stable [ load wise] to me? Personally i would like to see a bit of diagonal/ floor level bracing on that front platform section for example. Makes em a bit heavier of course sorry!

+1.





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[Aletank]

no offence ----nicely finished but don't seem particularly stable [ load wise] to me? Personally i would like to see a bit of diagonal/ floor level bracing on that front platform section for example. Makes em a bit heavier of course sorry!

+1.
.

Andy from Ramps4Cars is reading these posts, he has just contacted me with the below

The guys at the mbclub may be concerned with additional bracing, if for peace of mind any customer requires additional bracing as seen in the picture attached it would be no problem to integrate.

I had a couple of concerns before buying mine ie - The ramps slipping, Andy quickly suggested adding plates to the front of the ramps.
Any concerns you have just contact Andy and he soon has a solution even if he thinks there is no need for it he will add a solution just for your piece of mind.

 

[grober]

Andy certainly sounds like a guy who is prepared to listen to his customers which is recommendation in itself.

 

[wemorgan]

Nice to see some stress analysis in action - I imagine most fabricators go on gut feelings.

These tools are only as good as the information fed in to them. A few general comments:

The boundary conditions of constraining the ramp in 3 degrees of freedom (it maybe be 6, but I can't tell from the picture) is perhaps a little optimistic. I would have constrained one or maybe two corners in 3 degrees of freedom and all the rest to 1 degree of freedom.

The load looks to have been applied as a uniform pressure over the whole ramp surface. Depending on the actual load values how representative is this of when the car is resting on the top of the ramp?

An off-axis load might be a good additional load case to try, to simulate the car being jacked or generally worked on when in situ. This is where the triangulation 'may' be needed.

I'm not having a go, as like I said it's good that some calculations are being done, but it's also worth exploring the robustness of a solution, which quite possibly won't change the design, but it's nice to go through the motions