Comments on: [It Got Away] Ladder Spreaders

By: dy/dan » Blog Archive » The Yellow Pages Are My PLC

dy/dan » Blog Archive » The Yellow Pages Are My PLC — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:48:48 +0000

[…] [It Got Away] Ladder Spreaders. I called Werner Ladder Co. and spoke to an engineer who gave me the skinny on ladder construction. […]

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:26:03 +0000

@got_legos: So if there is no spreader present, is it plausible (for let’s say a 180lb person) to stand on it and have the legs remain still?

Right. Assuming the person opened the ladder up to the OSHA specifications, her body weight would keep the ladder in place.

By: Chad T. Lower

Chad T. Lower — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:43:18 +0000

I know in a lot of industries, a zero would be required before the decimal point. Specifically, when my daughter was having surgery this summer, her chart (and I presume every chart for every patient) had a list of “no-no”s, things that should or should no be written down.

One was the zero in front of the decimal point. The example given was if it were a prescription, the pharmacist may fill it for 8 instead of 0.8 overdosing the patient, so the zero in front is required.

However, a trailing zero is omitted. For example 8 vs. 8.0. Again the example given would be for the pharmacist to fill for 80 instead of 8, again overdosing the patient. I know I require my students to keep leading zeros and omit trailing zeros.

By: @got_legos

@got_legos — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:53:12 +0000

So if there is no spreader present, is it plausible (for let’s say a 180lb person) to stand on it and have the legs remain still?

By: MrW

MrW — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 14:56:19 +0000

Can I ask why you used a decimal label the height of the spreader instead of a fraction? Just thinking about how it would be measured by a student and outside of using a laser to measure the height, we’d get 9 1/4 inch (or so), right?

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 04:39:32 +0000

I am LOVING these inquiries that “got away.” It’s so fun to see more of your process. I’m getting a better feel for the WCYDWT process than I did from only seeing/experiencing the final products.

Thanks for taking the time to bare this to the world :)

By: Dan Meyer

Dan Meyer — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:02:16 +0000

Aw man … I already punched up the decimal point once. Not again.

By: Chad T. Lower

Chad T. Lower — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:43:32 +0000

An 8 ft long spreader? Sounds like an unsafe ladder to me. Would take hours to fully extend!! ;-)

By: Zach

Zach — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 16:57:24 +0000

Wow, that’s pretty interesting. There is probably some mathematics in that balancing point, though. That might be interesting to investigate.

By: Jen Des

Jen Des — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:10:06 +0000

My question is this? Has anyone ever made a ladder without a spreader, and would you really feel “safe” without the legs locked in the correct position???