Thread: Any ideas for a small jackable platform?

I'm a member of our local SES unit and every so often we go along to school fairs etc. to raise awareness of what we do, drum up support/volunteers etc. We try to have something for kids to do, but the choices are fairly limited (apparently giving them chainsaws and cut-quicks to play with isn't the done thing). We usually resort to strapping them into a stretcher and carrying them a short distance. This time however, we brought the hydraulic gear along with us and I placed one of the spreaders under the tool box, got one of our more gravitationally gifted members to stand on the box and showed the kids how they could lift the big bloke up just by pumping up and down on a handle. It was a fairly popular demo, but very much thrown together on the spur of the moment and not particularly stable (only one end of the box was lifted, the other stayed on the ground, but it was pretty wobbly).

I was thinking that for events like this I could build a small platform, under which we could stick one of our rams, and raise somebody off the ground a little more smoothly. A scissor lift is probably the best in terms of retaining a level platform, but that would likely require additions/alterations to our rams and that's not an option. The next best is probably just a platform with telescoping legs at each corner (just steel tubes running inside each other) but in that case there's probably a risk of the legs binding if the load/person isn't properly centred.

I'll probably give the telescoping legs a go and maybe make them 2-3 times longer than the throw of one of the rams (only 6 inches) to minimise the risk of binding, but I'd like to throw it open to you guys in case you can add any inspiration, so fire away!

Thanks,

Graeme