pump truck eticute

[Bill Dufour]

In the spirit of a pump truck my father told me they used fire hoses to lift multi ton magnets at work. just clamp the far end off and shove the empty hoses under the load. turn on the water and watch it lift the load. then insert wood blocks to hold it up until jacks can be inserted.
With the modern synthetic fire hose I do not think that fire departments replace their hoses as often as they used to. So there is less used hose floating around for jobs like this. I do know that they no longer hang them up to dry after each use.
Bill

[Warren Lake]

ive heard of capping off the ends and putting air in them as well for lifting, probably other things think some companies have a system called air lift. You could also mcgiver this up for clamping. Type I got is Lift Rite and no idea on dimensions but thanks for all the good responses and can see looking at machines narrow would probably be the best choice. Will see what it is can think of one machine with a totally different base so will have to build something for that. thanks,

[Mike Delyster]

I have one of the narrow pump jacks and wouldn't want to be without it. Most of my machines I end up blocking up three inches or so which is a better height for me to work on. My 24" bandsaw is one of the machines that would be to tall for me if I lifted it though. So I use a pry bar and block, lift one side at a time and put some 2X4 scraps under each side to move it with the jack. Then just do the opposite to set it back down.

[Mike Delyster]

Will see what it is can think of one machine with a totally different base so will have to build something for that. thanks,

Kind of ugly but it works.

[Warren Lake]

that is exactly what ill have to do for one, thanks for the photos. As far as ugly well the machine itself is far too clean and pretty, do you want me to bring over some sawdust

[Mike Delyster]

that is exactly what ill have to do for one, thanks for the photos. As far as ugly well the machine itself is far too clean and pretty, do you want me to bring over some sawdust

Sure bring over some sawdust.
If you ever get out my way you are more than welcome to stop by the shop Warren.

[Keith Weber]

I usually make bases like the one below for my heavier machines that I need mobile. A pallet jack just fits in underneath and away you go. The rubber feet are adjustable to level the machine and add vibration damping. I weld 2" x 2" x 3/8" plates under the thick tubing where the feet are, so that I have about 5/8" of solid steel to tap for the threaded rods.

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BTW, for the mods -- I am unable to view or post attachments using Firefox, so I had to switch to Safari to make this post. Just another one of many reasons I don't like this new SMC format. The old format worked so well.

[Keith Outten]

Keith,

You will surely enjoy the Xenforo software we will be installing in about a month. It will take some getting used to but we think the improvements will worth the adjustment.

[Warren Lake]

have picked it up, cleaned oiled and greased could see never been greased before. Bit damaged at the front but works well. Peter on the lowering you can creep so its barley moving or go too fast if you dont do it with feel but its easy to control going down slow. Moved one shaper and it worked well but not that straight forward. On that one had to come in from the end to fit between two other machines. You cant get under the feet so had to block up the machine with cross pieces. Coming from the front is easier but im not so sure I like what it rests on as some shapers have the spindle lock and brake and its not a very strong piece of metal they are attached to. The next one has to be moved from the end as well and again no way to slide it under so will have to do a cross pieces that is blocked up then slide under and move it with the cross pieces in. Keith how big is your tubing im thinking most jacks need 3" clearance other than special low ones think they work to 2".

Raising up to be able to get the lift under is an issue with each, im back to a pry bar and blocks which is fine. Bit more time with it and sure some more ideas will arrive. some sort of metal thing slipped onto the lift truck fork that was low to raise would be nice


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should have put the cross pieces closer to the ends, lifted to block up with the lift truck and it extends in a bit to work not ideal, anyone modified a bottle jack for raising? I should probably get a big lifting bar or one of those larger professional things


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Out of interest there was one brand of lift that was adjustable so the outside fork width could be from 21" to 27".

guess when you have a machine on it you dont leave it that way for extended periods you take the load off the piston? I noticed when I moved it I raised to what i needed but as you move the machine and the handle you change your height so it must be fine to get the height you want then clic the handle to release the raise function?

thanks

[peter gagliardi]

Most pallet jacks have a "neutral" position, but I have one or two that don't.
If you could ever find a "toe lift jack" you would have it made. Heavy machines on the floor usually require another guy to run the johnson bar while you block. I saw a guy walk into a place with a toe jack and some machine rollers similar to those made by Jung. He was picking up a 6000 lb milling machine. He had it off the floor, on rollers, and out the door, by himself in about 5-8 minutes!

[Andy Giddings]

guess when you have a machine on it you dont leave it that way for extended periods you take the load off the piston? I noticed when I moved it I raised to what i needed but as you move the machine and the handle you change your height so it must be fine to get the height you want then clic the handle to release the raise function?

thanks

Regarding leaving the jack with weight on it - I don't know whether it will harm the jack or not but I always leave mine with no load just in case

[Warren Lake]

checked today and no load was the answer as logic said.

Other question and had to ask them twice was when moving if you clic the handle so its not in raise mode. I told her I did two different floor heights and on angled concrete this puts the handle in diff positions and the machine rose up on me, not a big deal pretty sure her answer was you can leave it in the off raise position so clicked off. Peter I dont know what a two lift jack is but maybe it is what the bottle type things I saw are, mcgivered and real ones. ill look. Real ones whatever I saw can be pretty pricey.

One friend has his own welded bases on each machine then a handle with two wheels hooks in you can move anything easy. I dont like most of the pre made bases look like junk and if I made some id have to be happy with my design maybe removable wheels that just slip on leave you on heavy vibration adjustable height feet. Ill keep on this for now, the LIft truck thing is good but have more to figure out, I could not figure out a better solution than my two pieces of wood sticking out and blocked up to get the forks in. Maybe some of you have a better way. My floor quality is not very smooth but it still moved around fine. One thing ive left the SCM 130 on pieces of 2 x 6 for now, table height is 37 1/2 inches then add on a tennon thingy or false top table as I often do and its getting pretty high. have a 120 beside it and its much lower, seems they added on to the machine at the factory, at first I thought a previous owner did it looks like they added on electrical boxes however its how they came.

Peter thanks on the toe lift those are the ones I saw proper professional ones some up to 1,500.00 then the mcgivered ones guys take a simple bottle jack and put a welded up thing on them held on with muffler clamps or something simimlar worked fine. still a few machines id need to place on something to be able to put that but thats fine as well would be nicer than the pry bar and blocks i have always used. Can do alot with them like to make it a bit easier I end up kneeling on my pry bar to free up hands to put blocks under.

[Keith Weber]

Keith how big is your tubing im thinking most jacks need 3" clearance other than special low ones think they work to 2".

Warren,

The tubing on that air compressor stand is 3.5" x 2.5" x 1/4" wall thickness. The compressor is only about 800-1000 lbs., so it's surely overkill, but I had some of that tubing around to make a base for my 2600 lb. Bridgeport. The extra footprint of the base makes it much more stable than without it, and it stays put and is not tippy without having to put concrete anchors into my floor. Both machines are very solid on their bases. Here's a pic of the Bridgeport base. Just two pieces on that one because it has a very solid base to begin with that I wanted to tie into, and I didn't want to raise it too high.

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I can come in from the front or either side with the 21" pallet jack on that one. On the compressor base I can come in from the front with the 27" pallet jack, or from any direction with the 21". I can go down to 3" with the 27", but down to 2" with my 5000 lb., 21" Lift-Rite. Here's one that's substantially less overkill. It's under my Surface Grinder. Tubing is 3" x 1.5" x 1/8" wall. It's strong enough that the 550 lb. machine won't move at all while running, but if I grab onto the top of the surface grinder and put some weight into it, it will wiggle a little bit.

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This last pic shows how I weld a little flat bar to the tubing on all of these bases, so that the threaded foot posts have about 5/8" or so of metal to grab on to versus just threading the tubing. Where the foot posts go through the top of the tubing, the holes are the gross size of the threaded post. You don't want to thread that, because your threads won't match the pitch of the lower threads unless you used really long taps to go through the whole thing in one step.

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[Warren Lake]

Maybe a 21" jack is alot more useful ill have to look at what is between the feet on this one and the width of the other, might be more machines you can get a 21" into blocking up not have to have a cross piece as I did. See the added stability as well. s that is neatly done and nice vibration feet.