Quoted from swampwiz:These are old EMs I'm taking about, and so there is no hinge to make it nice & safe.
I see some past threads about this where folks have modified the jack so that the handle swivels. While I see some benefit for that, I don't see why they couldn't have just situated the pin sideways.
It's not about the handle swiveling. The issue is that you can't get the table far enough under the pin to find the center of gravity. (I'm lazy and have not modified mine yet...too embarrassed to say how long I've owned it, so I just remove the handle, slide it under the pin and use the handle for the lift to drag it around. This is fine for short moves around the gameroom) Coming from the side would be an issue since you have less surface area to have the weight distributed and would likely make it 'tippy'
How tippy it is is a function of the COG of the machine to the lift table top since that is the surface it is resting on, not the COG to the ground. That may seem counter-intuitive; however, if you think about, it makes sense. A pinball machine is not more tippy on the second floor of a house than the basement. The one caveat, of course is the stability of the table at various points of extension.
