Shop Built Work Tables?

Years ago I had a buddy who rebuilt props (TIG welding AL and SS). He was a bit of a non-conformist … sleep till noon, work till 2 AM … and he had a gig with a Bike / Snowmobile / ATV Yamaha dealership. He had keys to the shop and would work "his" hours, starting when the shop closed at 5 or 6 … whatever it was.

I would help him sometimes and he would teach me how to TIG. I did OK, the props I welded had no voids and were better than most rebuilt props out there.

Anyway, what this shop had for lifts they fabled themselves. They used an expired Acetylene bottle, a steel shaft + fabled mount placed in the bottle, then air / hydraulic fittings were fitted, and the whole thing sunk into the concrete of the shop floor.

The fabled mount was then attached to a steel ramp / stand setup. I don't remember the details exactly but it seems to me they just poured concrete around the bottle and sunk bolts into the concrete, then used about a 12x12" steel plate to fix and locate the top of the bottle / shaft.

They worked very slick, gave you zero to about 3 foot capacity, and it seems to me the cost wasn't too high.

old.wrench said:

It looks like the lifting pad on top of the jack doesn't connect to the table. The lifting pad makes contact with the metal plate that's secured to the underside of the table and actually slides on the plate as the table is raised or lowered.

Click to expand...

I think you are right. Maybe a caster in place of the lifting pad would work as well...

I am tempted to make one out of steel, but my budget is tight, since I just built a 4'x6' steel welding table.


I'd like to knock something together out of wood and use it a while to see what I like/don't like. A prototype, if you will.

Can't find a better Pic, but you can see it's pretty simple to put together.It is sturdy.

Frisco67,
The plans for the wooden tilt table that you posted are out of the old Motorcycle Mechanics book. That table works on a simple principle - gravity. There is no jack or lifting mechanism involved. It's a little funny, but every time I see the plan for that table I envision a Evel Knevel type move for getting your bike up on it. You start off by taking a practice run at it and stop at the base of the ramp while you rev your motor a little bit and give the table a hard stare . . . then turn around and get lined up with the ramp. . . . let the suspense build a little bit as you blip the throttle . . . start off with a little wheelie maybe . . . your cape flares out behind you as you accelerate . . . then hit the ramp and as you pass the pivot point and gravity takes over, you lock your brakes and slide up to the front wheel stop and the rear support leg of the lift drops down and locks the table in the horizontal position! ! !

Kinda like loading a bike in a pick-up truck using a short plank !

Geo.

Table was a old machine mover table with a nice size cylinder that was a hand pump which is now a foot pump.table was 3ft by 4ft but at work i made up a 8ft top and welded it on.This thing works great,also a must is the casters to be able to move it around.

This was a heavy duty work table from the place I used to work. They were throwing it out, so I brought it home, narrowed and lowered it. It's 75" long, 25" high, and 24" wide. I have a Handy Industries lift I do most of my work on, but this one will support a second bike if I need it. Mostly it's a horizontal surface that collects stuff.

well the only thing done by me to this table was adjusting the valves on the pistons for slower lowering and fitting the vise and english wheel to it,takes 1500kg easy and is big enough to have a car on (all though with one set of wheels dangling) used to sit as a loading area at my local booze store hahaha

love it even though it collects alot of stuff

didn't have any pics without the CZ,sorry