Drywall Lift Has Saw Blade Ratchet

Drywall Lift Has Saw Blade Ratchet FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 30-2-40 Putting up drywall on a wall or ceiling can be quite a job, especially if you have to work by yourself. Tom Reitsma, Staffordville, Ct., solved the problem by building his own drywall lift. "It has saved me a lot of time and muscle power," says Reitsma. "I came up with the idea because I needed to hang a lot of 4 by 8-ft. drywall sheets on the 9-ft. high ceiling of my garage." The drywall lift rides on four small caster wheels and consists of two wooden uprights that slide up or down inside wooden guides. Using an old circular saw blade and a piece of angle iron with a spring attached to it, Reitsma made a ratcheting mechanism that holds the sliding part of the frame up. Webbing is attached to a round dowel that's hooked to the bottom of the uprights. Turning a crank causes the uprights to move up or down. A hinged wooden frame on top supports the drywall and is mounted over center, allowing Reitsma to load a 4 by 8 sheet of drywall by himself. When the drywall is on it, the weight of the sheet levels the frame out. "It works great and can lift drywall sheets up to 9 ft. 3 in. high. I already had most of the material except for the wheels, so it cost a lot less than renting or buying a commercial model," he notes. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tom Reitsma, 7 Wales Road, Stafford Springs, Ct. 06076 (ph 860 565-3054; walstibn@cox.net).

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