Archive for January, 2015

Bike-lift cum work bench/welding table.

Monday, January 26th, 2015

Wow, over 2 years since my last post. Every so often, probably every few months, work becomes busier than ever, but it never gets less busy, so that’s the new norm until it gets busier again…

Anyway, my knees are not so good after years of crawling around on rocks manhandling seals when we were tagging them. I always take kneepads on the rare occasions I get into the field now. That also means I’m done with crawling around on my knees servicing my motorbikes, so I built a multipurpose bike-lift/workbench from scratch using a cheap trolley jack to lift it. The bench sits at 250mm when lowered and there is a ramp which clips on to run the bike up and down. For bike work it will only be lifted to 400mm, or 500mm, but the bench can be lifted to 900mm and locked at every 100mm increment in between. At 800mm, or 900mm it is a heavy duty bench for engine/gearbox work and a welding bench – earth the bench and for most welding jobs, contact is made through the bench.

It’s been built over a few months inbetween travel, but I’ve finished it during the Xmas/New Year break. I used my landlord’s industrial MIG welder for a lot of the structural stuff, not to mention his vertical milling machine for the precision drilling, as well as his metal bandsaw and guillotine. My Xmas treat to myself was a 200Amp AC/DC TIG welder which has been used to finish the job.

BikeLift

The picture shows the Speed Triple on the lift for a quick service, the ramp only fits when the table is fully lowered.