easyfix..

James..Redcar

James..Redcar

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As part of my limited working week this week(2 days so far lol) i erected 4 separate inde. scaffolds to access windows on a council flat, ( i won't bore you with the exact dims) they were all 4 lifts. My experience in easyfix isn't vast but as my supervisor told me i didn't need dog-legs i said fair enough. Until i got up onto the 1st lift and tried to bubble the job and it was like trying to bubble a jelly, at least until i put my 1st ties in under the 2nd lift.. I am pretty confident my supervisor was correct in saying it didn't need dog-legs but would have preferred to have them in to make it more rigid. SO, Does easyfix require leger bracing,(dog-legs)..?? oh, i call easyfix crabs or double-enders just to be clear..... cheers..
 
i call them crap mate lol,were using them on olympics just now mate and we aint got ledger brace in sight,the brickies get a clear run when using easyfix.ps i really dont like em.
 
I'm not keen on them either, but as a competative type of person i like to think i can put anything up to a high standard(not a pun), just don't like the movement when you've based the 1st lift out..
 
We used to put temp brace from ground to ledger with a single until first tie was in , seemed to work but as said above I was never a fan of these .
 
scaffarobbo said:
We used to put temp brace from ground to ledger with a single until first tie was in , seemed to work but as said above I was never a fan of these .
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thats how i did it mate, but i took the brace out once i got my 1st square in, hence it shook like a wet dog... haha.
 
Handy way if ground is level enough is to place in position sole boards an base plates and lay the transoms upside down on them. Put in the inside ledger and tighten and then stand the standards into them and tighten up, you can walk away they'll stay there.you can level up the ledger and the transom nearly automatically finds its own level. Put in the outside standards tighten, put in the outside ledger, fix a sway prace, plumb the standard, you can now put in the first lift, only have to plum the standards from the sway brace. On a 20ft section, 8 standards, 4 ledgers, 8 easyfix, 2 men, approx 15 minutes. After that its a doddle.
 
brandy said:
Handy way if ground is level enough is to place in position sole boards an base plates and lay the transoms upside down on them. Put in the inside ledger and tighten and then stand the standards into them and tighten up, you can walk away they'll stay there.you can level up the ledger and the transom nearly automatically finds its own level. Put in the outside standards tighten, put in the outside ledger, fix a sway prace, plumb the standard, you can now put in the first lift, only have to plum the standards from the sway brace. On a 20ft section, 8 standards, 4 ledgers, 8 easyfix, 2 men, approx 15 minutes. After that its a doddle.
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Once the job was up and tied, it was pretty solid. I think i was just trying to speed things up a little, as it was snowing quite bad and my trainee was pretty green and not much assistance(bless him). It was also a public footpath and any kicker, bracing had to be removed, but thanks for the advice, lessons have been learned..
 
brace the base lift then tie in acordingly pal
 
Hi All
It is interesting that the scaffold is not as stiff for the first lift until a tie is fitted.

We have ongoing problem in the design if ledger braces should be fitted or not.

Is the scaffold stiffer to the upper lifts without the ledger braces, or is it more reliant on the ties for stabilty. ???

Thanks for your opinion
 
ChrisEng said:
Hi All
It is interesting that the scaffold is not as stiff for the first lift until a tie is fitted.

We have ongoing problem in the design if ledger braces should be fitted or not.

Is the scaffold stiffer to the upper lifts without the ledger braces, or is it more reliant on the ties for stabilty. ???

Thanks for your opinion
Click to expand...

its deffo the ties that make it more solid.. one of the jobs was only 13ftx4 lifts(no inside board) so i "face braced" front and back. the other 2 jobs were 21ft and was only able to brace the front of them, leaving the working face clear..

---------- Post added at 08:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:47 AM ----------

Not forgetting the 1st lift was an intermediate lift, therefore had "sg4" handrail to 3 sides and it was tied just beneath the 2nd lift, which was the 1st landing for the ladder access..(ladder went from ground to 2nd lift)..
 
i use double arms all the time. they are much quicker than t & f , i always ledger brace the base lift if you cannot then plan brace. A ledger brace will strengthen the scaffold if needed but you dont need to level your legs all the time. Please give me something in writing chris :D
 
ive allways been told that bracing is not needed but when i was at lyndons we allways braced and i do belive that this is really the correct way?infact there was iam sure a comment about this on the forum a few weeks ago???
 
I've been told several times now that ledger bracing is not required with easyfix... i do agree that easyfix is quicker than t+f after the 1st lift... marking lat is the best way to use it..(if the 1st lift is plumb) lol..
 
I have used it in the 70's and 80's on street work and never used or seen ledger bracing on it, except in the case of a 4 standard tower. Incidentely Easyfix was a Mills design and Readylok SGB. I still have both origionals and while both are the same dimensions and can be intermixed there is a slight difference in the gates. Mills used the curved bolt of their 90 double while SGB used a straight bolt. There was also an intermediate transom that just needed to be fastened on the outside ledger, there was no extenda transom in those days. As I said in an earlier post we based it out by turning the transoms upside down, placing the ledgers in and tightening and then putting the standards in and tightening, you could walk away from it as it would free stand. Level out the first lift and use a marking lath after that, When the 2nd lift was tied in you could remove the kicker. The intermediate transoms came in 1 and 2 board inside transoms and the 2 board ones were ideal for using for drops on some hangers as you did'nt need a check fitting on the top. I have only got the origional ones so dont know what the newer ones are like.
 
Great post mate.. i've been using SGB and Mills (curved and straight bolts), Shamefully i was aware of the trannie upside down as a kicker but was being lazy when i based out.. trying to be too clever i suppose. Hence the job shaking like a wet dog on the 1st lift.. LESSON LEARNED..
 
If you need to brace them whats the point in using them , there sh!t and wilson they are definetly not quick especially stripping , the only advantage of these horrible things was you missed the bracing . There are so many disadvantages ,the measure for inside and outside toe boards is pathetic , how often do you erect a scaffold with both of them ,they are awkward as fook to hand ball , the bolts seize at any hint of water .,the gates fall off ,its pointless trying to net or sheet the scaffold because of the gap . If you put a broken one in and run the lift in before you realise you have to strip it all back out to change it ,you end up with extra standards in your returns , its hard as fook to keep the returns square because of the width of them , you cant add extra standards when altering scaffold as they wont be on line . I could go on for ever . I know a lot of people will defend them but i think there sh!t and so does every one i work with
 
easy fix or ready lock ?

the transom rystem i used was called ready lock , ifound it alot faster than transom tubes and great for hangers , stick on check fittings on droppers and slide them down with rope , then down u go , great for above water jobs if u aint got the room for butts to stand on , old ones are durable os fcuk
 
i think there ok if the firm looks after them ! you should brace base lift and tie it there they r quick when loading lift out i just tell labours 2 hang the next lifts of ready lock then i just move them up my self but they need servicing every time the come back to yard
 
As to the question thats been continually asked, do they require ledger bracing or not ? The ones I use are the origional Easyfix (Mills) and Readylok (SGB) and I would imagine both firms done tests on them and both firms marketed them as not requiring ledger bracing. They seem to be coming popular again and I dont know where or who are manufacturing them or if the same quality of steel is in them, I've seen on the internet Chinese companies manufacturing them obviously the origional patents have run out, maybe those are the ones widely used now and the reason why its hard to get data on as to the need for bracing or not. But the origionals did not require it and there was data.
 
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