Heavy Folding Canopy - Ideas for a Lift Aid?

[Mickey]

I'm really hoping some of you DIYers can help me come up with a workable solution.

My tank is 72" x 30" wide x 24" deep and it has a canopy that is fully enclosed and very heavy. It is built with two piano hinges so the front panel lifts up and stays up for feeding and various maintenance chores. Another piano hinge is in the center so for major maintenance I can fold the canopy back on itself. Works great.

Problem is it is very heavy and I need my husband to help me lift it and fold it back. I can manage to get it back down myself, though it's a bit precarious. As we get older (and unfortunately we are!) I'm concerned and I'm looking for a way to lift it with one person.

I'd rather not hook up wires or anything from the ceiling. The only thing I can think of is some kind of gas or pneumatic lift thing-a-ma-jigger, but it seems like it would need to work backwards from normal. In other words, it would be fully extended normally, then would need to use some force to contract as I started to lift it.

Tank is against the wall and you can't get behind it due to spacing. Half of it backs up to the garage, and the other half is actually the outside wall.

Any other ideas out there?

 

[mcgyvr]

Yep.. gas spring like on the rear door of a hatchback/suv,etc...

Google "gas spring calculator" for tons of use examples/calculations,etc..

Other way to reduce opening force is to move the pivot point

Having an image/drawing of your setup would help greatly in offering better suggestions..

 

[Anthony357]

in interested to know about this as well

 

[Mickey]

Here's a couple of pictures of the canopy that may make it easier to understand what I'm trying to solve.

View of Canopy closed. You can see it is right up against the wall in back. On the far side there is only 8-12 inches of room. I can't fit there to stand.


View with the front panel raised for feeding or minor maintenance


View with Canopy open and folded back on itself. You can see two 2x4s on top at the wall and that's to prevent it from folding all the way back as I found it really difficult to close it again if it was opened that far.

 

[mcgyvr]

yep.. 2 x gas struts in normal configuration

 

[Mickey]

I can't picture how they would attach. I was thinking of something on the top to pull as I was lifting. I can't envision something on the side that is small enough when it's closed yet can expand the full reach when it's open. Can you point me to a website or draw me a picture?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[mcgyvr]

I can't picture how they would attach. I was thinking of something on the top to pull as I was lifting. I can't envision something on the side that is small enough when it's closed yet can expand the full reach when it's open. Can you point me to a website or draw me a picture?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Something like this..
see attached..