John, do you just push and hold the green micro switch button to lift, or do these lifts have a wired, controller, to lift the vehicle? I assume the lever control is simply a return valve to allow the vehicle to lower. Interesting. I would have thought the manufacturer, would have designed a setup like that, in the first place. It appears the elec./hydraulic unit is properly equipped with a pressure regulator. So, if the elec. control were to get stuck in the lift position, would the lift cylinders just go to the top, over pressure, and the bypass kick in and allow you to kill power at the breaker? What happens if a hyd. hose blows, the vehicle should catch on a safety? Does the factory pressure regulator have a tamper resistant seal on it? It should, and I would be surprised if it doesn't. Steve.
Yes the small round green microswitch when pushed in starts the power unit That's correct. There is a cross over bar at the top of the lift that has a limit switch. If anything touches the bar, it shuts off the lift. The lift has an upper cross over beam. There is a cable that connects the right and left side that goes up and over the cross over beam. If a hose fails both sides would drop at the same time, until the next safety stop engages. No seal. I wasn't to concerned about the lift staying on until a guy told me his stuck on prior to him having the arms located correctly under the vehicle. Stop and think about that. I typically eye ball the arms into position, then engage and stop the lift when the arms are close to the vehicle lift points. If it just kept going it could do serious damage. For instance, on my '69 Camaro (unibody), the rear lift point is at the leaf spring front bracket. It's small and takes some precise locating... and the brake line is close too. If the lift didn't stop it could lift the car by the floorpan.. or crush the brake line. I'm surprised that all ALI certified lifts aren't required to have a kill switch, or a disconnect, adjacent to the micro switch... seems penny wise, dollar foolish. If you were a quick thinker you'd just depress the lowering valve if the micro switch stuck on... but if your in the shop by yourself.. how do you kill power to the unit? Call for back-up? John
Yikes. Or, pop out just enough to hook the quarter panels, and remove them... I'm surprised something hasn't happened, and forced the manufacturer to make revisions. Soon, it should be time to get the fun cars out and blow out the winter cobwebs... Steve.
Sika Flex Crack Filler Getting tired of shop vacuuming the control joints after every woodworking project so I bought some Sika Flex Self Leveling Sealant at Home Depot. Tips: 1) Fill the joint partially with sand before using the SikaFlex. They recommend a 2:1 width to depth ratio. The sand also helps seal the crack so you don't waste caulk. 2) Don't set the tubes in the sun before using them. It gets runny the warmer it gets. Update 12-1-2017 Only down side to the Sika Flex is tire tracking. It doesn't dry hard, it remains soft and flexible. Not a big deal, just looks a bit dirty all the time. You can kind of see it in this photo.
Loft Stairway I grew weary of using my big ole werner A-frame ladder each time I wanted to access the loft in the barn. So I built a stairway. Lots of great storage space under the stairway. ______________________________________________________________ Used My Grandpa Henry's 1940's DeWalt RAS To Bevel The Vertical Railing Boards... every time I use the RAS it's like he is there helping ;-) ________________________________________________________________ Newel Post Attachment at Landing. I modified some Simpson Brackets To Fit The Bevels. ________________________________________________________________ Accessing stuff in the loft is now a breeze _________________________________________________________________ John
Nice detail work. Beveled boards, and modified brackets... Streetrodders can't just leave it plain and store bought... I like it. Steve.
Reservoir Guard For Lift Hydraulic Power Unit. Ever since we bought our 2 post Rotary lift the plastic reservoir makes me nervous. 2 gallons of ATF in a plastic container just waiting to be busted by an errant 2x4 or other such project piece or part. I decided to build a guard for the reservoir from some left over parts from a fencing project. Here are the parts before assembly... Basically a couple Simpson galvanized brackets bent into submission on my vice and some 3/4" pine. _______________________ And here the parts are being mocked up. I drilled and tapped some holes into the lift columns, so the entire assembly is a bolt on affair. _______________________ I finished the boards with spar urethane... and since it looks like a cask added a Makers Mark label, just for shits and giggles _______________________ John
Back before I got my lift I wanted a way to set a vehicle on the wheels, but lifted up off the ground. I had a set of wooden ramps my Grandfather had given me back in the 1980's. And I had a bunch of 2x material and 1/2" plywood left over from other projects. So I built these lift boxes... They are screwed together and are hell for stout. Thy have served me well. Plus there's that neat old school grandpa factor when using them and the ramps.
That is a really cool picture of your roadster pickup, "in progress". Must be a "OHIO", picture? Steve.
Thanks Steve. Yep, photo is circa 2003 ish from our place on Old National Road. The RPU only had about 5 miles on it when we moved. In the photo below you can see my hi-tech blasting booth hanging from the ceiling. These two old Fords are buddies for life..... I wish they could talk.. what stories they would tell.
Anybody else here do any wood turning? Dad had one when I was a teenager and it was a lot of fun. I picked one up here locally a while back. Made some goblets from the trunk of our 2017 / 2018 Christmas tree trunks, some candle bases from a pinion pine we cut down at our place and a stool for our wood stove.
I did in the middle 1960's ~ where I lived in New Hampshire they had all manner of WWII Military surplus including a HUGE manual lathe that we'd use to turn old farm beams bowling pins and so on into things, kids you know, I made some lamps and others made some nice cups . I always enjoy seeing the results of your labors .
Thanks Nate. I'm in the final throws of finishing a scratch build computer desk. It's designed to fit in the corner of our great room and not block windows or our baseboard hydronic heat. Now it's time for my least favorite part.. staining and poly.
"Scratch build", computer desk.... with precision drawings, huh. I would expect no less from you, John. Wonder what the allowable tolerances are with this wooden wonder? REALLY COOL! Now, I would like to know the story behind the nice western horse saddle. I never noticed it before. Steve.
Wow, that's a beautiful computer desk . I need to find one ere long as the contractor is maybe, possibly finally going to be finished on the burned out house before......... Well Christmas anyway . Meantime the $ allotted for 'temporary housing' ran out a while back so my Sweet is paying $3,600 / month for this rental PLUS her house note on a house we've been out of for close to TWO YEARS now..... Sorry, ranting again . You would have liked my late step father Lawrence, he was a Yankee Carpenter who built boats in the 40's & 50's and loved tinkering in his wood shop until he couldn't any longer . I'm sure he'd have loved to learn to use the computer design program you show .
Good eye Steve! That's my Grandpa's saddle. When I was a kid I spent summers at Grandpa's. He lived about 2 miles from where we lived. I'd ride my 3-speed Huffy there. When Dad died he had Grandpa's saddle hanging out in his pole barn. It was pretty gnarly at that point, the leather was molded and the conches were all rusty. I was lucky enough to claim it. I did a mild restoration on it and mounted it to a bar stool. We had it in the house... but since Grandpa was a motor head, my barn seemed a more fitting home for it.
Thanks Nate. We're living in a charmed era, yet many folks don't realize it. I'd love to have helped Lawrence learn CAD...... folks that have mechanical aptitude learn it quick... it's almost like an extension of their already God given experience based well honed talents. Here's the finished desk.... in our home.
