Reader Shares His Shop Ideas

Reader Shares His Shop Ideas FARM SHOP Handy Hints “I built a handy device to organize tools above my welding table ” says Hastings Minn farmer Robert Bauer “I put a barn door hinge on one end of a 30-in piece of 2 by 4 and screwed the other part of the hinge to the wall The 2 by 4 has a power strip on it along with hooks to hold all of my grinders I frequently use several grinders when I’m building something so this way they’re all hanging right in front of me and plugged in I put a bungee cord on both sides so the hanger can swing both ways and I can adjust it anywhere I want ” Bauer has an upper level in his shop that he uses for storage and says “I can’t always carry heavy items up 12 steps so I built an elevator out of the 3-stage lifting mechanism from the front of an old Hyster forklift I rescued the old rig when it was heading for the junkyard I removed the hydraulic lift mechanism and made brackets for the back so I could weld it to a 16-in steel post embedded in my shop floor I use an electric motor to run the hydraulic pump and control it with a handheld switch ” Bauer shortened the forks to 20-in long and welded the vertical back portions to the outside of the lift arms The 24-in deep by 48-in wide lift platform is made of plate steel The lift capacity is probably 2 000 lbs or more and it’s rock solid without any sway or movement Bauer says For projects where he needs to sit down Bauer made a sturdy wheeled dolly “I’ve probably got the only shop dolly in the country made from the seat and part of the gearcase from a Farmall F-20 ” Bauer says “The tractor was wrecked and not worth repairing so I cut away the gearcase and seat then made an angle iron frame with mounting points for the casters ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Robert Bauer 10162 160th St E Hastings Minn 55033

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