In the just wondering department, has anyone ever considered building a frame table on (or with select components from) one those Backyard Buddy kinds of vertical lifts? Or some type of HD scissors lift? I'm thinking something like that might be useful to check ride heights, or help welding hard to reach places. It could be cut down to a workable size, or perhaps just the ramp areas removed? Worth it? Gary
I'm not sure if this is what you are thinking of but I can move my table off and still use my lift for other things
I,m not sure if we are on the same track but a mate of mine has a hospital bed/bench he got at a scrap yard ,raises and lowers with foot operated pump.
I have made this one out of a 4500 pounds sissor-lift that was a left over from a local resturants loading dock. Very easy, just fab a bigger platform and it was done
Interesting replys, guys. Anyone else? I was expecting to hear that such a device (especially with the scissors lifts) would be too flimsy, or not rigid / accurate enough to keep the work in allignment after repeated movements. Gary
Gary, I think the top frame or plate itself could be made rigid enough. I'd be more worried about the support stand being so far inside the edge of the top. We used a Snap-On portable car lift as a frame table for my supermodified for awhile, and I never got over the uneasy feeling that it wouldn't be very hard to tip it over... My own table is made from 2) 12" tall "H" beams, and I made the support assembly on one end removable so I could "kneel" it with a floor jack. This allows me to back right over it with a pickup or trailer and slide a chassis out on to the "high" end of the table. Not the most elegant solution, but it seems to work ok...
I see, no sense making it tipsy and an ulcer inducer, eh? But perhaps widening the base legs on the scissors lift would help that? I've also been considering some sort of 4 post lift mech to elevate it. I'd replace the horizontal platforms that support the car with the beams that make up the table. Or just rest the table on the platforms. It would sort of be like a short, narrow small four post lift. I'd love to keep the posts the standard height and perhaps convert it back to an auto lift later, but my garage's ceiling is too low for that Gary
I was a little concerned about it being a widow maker too!!! I bolted the table to the lift and that made it not feel spooky. The thing that totally rocks about the scissor lift is you can get to every side with out any thing in the way. Although dropping a transmission is impossible. If I could do any thing different I would use something bigger than 2x4 box for the main rails maybe 2x8. Leveling seems to stay every time I set it down no sweat.
There is a guy just south of you in north fort myers by the name of E J Trivette that has built what i think you looking for. Has ramps up to it but frame table move seperately. Don't have a # handy, but he's in the book, good gut, built a lot of record holding race cars their.
The Jalopy Journal
