Umbrella on "Casters" Idea/Dream

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T

toofast

0
May 9, 2013
993
North East Ohio
Ok, so LONG STORY short - how the sun "moves" across our yard makes a single umbrella useless.

But I have an idea...and hoping some creative genius has already made something as I am not that good at anything other than ideas.

Basically what I want/need to do is figure out how to put one of those say offset umbrellas on some kind of "rollers/track" so as the sun moves I can simply PUSH the umbrella/base down a straight line keeping the sun at bay.

Hopefully this is enough of an idea to let me know if anyone has ever seen/heard of such a DYI setup.

Thanks in advance!
 
Do you already have this offset umbrella? Do you know the recommended weight that must be used to secure it in place? Mine has about 200lbs. holding it down. If i wanted to do as you suggest, i could build a small plywood base and mount casters to it, the set the umbrella with weights on that. That is a good idea i'm going to think about doing it. Only problem i see is you would need locking casters, and whether 4 wheels locked (small surface area contact vs. my weights that contact ground) would be enough to keep the wind from blowing it around.
 
Shopko had an off-set on wheels a few years ago that I wish i had seen before I bought mine withhout wheels. Not sure how easily it actually moved around, but it seemed like a good idea.
 
wow, love this forum.

NO I do not have the exact umbrella just yet...I have seen the offset ones, it is just I think I need/want more.

What Harley outlined MIGHT work...I think I might try to take it a bit further and see if I can design a TRACK for this to slide on. My Father in Law is in engineer so maybe I will give this idea to him.

Any other idea, keep em coming.
 
So funny, I HAVE looked at the sun shades and in fact I spent quite a bit of money trying to design a system, however my sun's track is so wacked that we could never get decent coverage. I build a model with sun tracking software, etc....

So I gave up on that idea....although that is what we really wanted.
 
I have one of the big (11') offsets and I also wish I could move it. I would like to get a metal shop to build me a low, wide platform with some locking casters on it, so I can sorta wheel it around the patio. I don't think it'll be any more unstable than having it sit directly on the patio. If I ever do I'll be sure to post pictures...
 
Swung by Home Depot at lunch and picked up 4 locking rubber casters rated for 175 lbs and 16 Stainless steel screws and washers. I think i have some plywood at home i can cut into squares and glue together to make my base. My umbrella base is an X, where you place 4 weights (i use 2" thick square pieces of flagstone. That is what will be placed on top of the plywood. I'm thinking about putting a few screws in the X prior to adding the stone just because.

Only thing i don't like is the wheels are red rubber, they didn't have any black ones that functioned the way i wanted them too.
I'm thinking they will be far enough under the plywood that they won't really be noticeable. I could also add a rim around the bottom of he plywood to help hide them.
 
harleysilo said:
Swung by Home Depot at lunch and picked up 4 locking rubber casters rated for 175 lbs and 16 Stainless steel screws and washers. I think i have some plywood at home i can cut into squares and glue together to make my base. My umbrella base is an X, where you place 4 weights (i use 2" thick square pieces of flagstone. That is what will be placed on top of the plywood. I'm thinking about putting a few screws in the X prior to adding the stone just because.

Only thing i don't like is the wheels are red rubber, they didn't have any black ones that functioned the way i wanted them too.
I'm thinking they will be far enough under the plywood that they won't really be noticeable. I could also add a rim around the bottom of he plywood to help hide them.
Click to expand...


No locks on the casters? I would be worried that the first wind storm would result in an umbrella at the bottom of my pool. I have had to fish bar stools out after a monsoon storm.
 

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If "they will be far enough under the plywood that they won't really be noticeable" and you "also add a rim around the bottom of the plywood to help hide them", how on earth can you lock them?
 
chiefwej said:
If "they will be far enough under the plywood that they won't really be noticeable" and you "also add a rim around the bottom of the plywood to help hide them", how on earth can you lock them?
Click to expand...
So i should get to work on this tonight. If you looked at the link you might have noticed that the lock part sticks out quite a bit from the actual wheel. Two of the wheels i'm going to lock in place, so they don't swivel. Those two the locks will stick out of a slot in the plywood "rim".
The other two will swivel, and where the lock contacts the "rim" it will be slotted out.

At least that is the current plan. If it doesn't work out, or looks worse then seeing the wheels i'll just forget the rim, and mount the wheels further in from the edges. My stones that weight it down are currently a couple inches larger than needed, which will help hide, but i could also toss them on the tile cutter and make them perfect size.
 
So cool that we have two of us on a similar project...you are going to beat me though, as I am down for a few weeks from recent back surgery. Can't wait to see the pics when you are done, but I love the idea. I went to my local HD and bought the same casters, just so they don't suddenly run out.
 
This is not exactly what you are talking about but a lot of the people who have them are using them as you describe.

http://www.sunsetter.com/oasis_awning.asp

Our pool is due to begin construction in the next week or so and when it is finished the deck area will have no shade to speak of (no trees, no leaves . . . Yea!). Most of the reviewers on the site seem to feel it is stable with just the base as long as the awning is retracted when not in use. If the budget can stand it after everything with the pool project is settled I can see one of the 10'x16' models coming to live on our pool deck. I won't want to move it around so we will probably attach it to a large locking storage box at the base to provide a little added stability.
 
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