Rolling Work Bench Lifted By Foot-Operated Jack

Rolling Work Bench Lifted By Foot-Operated Jack FARM SHOP Miscellaneous “I made it to fit into the tight space my small shop office but I can also quickly move it around wherever I want Also I can quickly lengthen it by 3 ft to work on longer objects ” says Rick Young Darlington S C about his portable work bench     The work bench rides on 4 caster wheels and measures 5 ft long by 30 in wide by 3 ft high A foot-operated bottle jack is used to lower the wheels onto the floor for rolling the bench around     “We use this table all the time It’s really handy to repair equipment on our poultry farm ” says Young who notes that employees Robert Dedrick and William Warden did most of the construction work     He started with a table equipped with an attached vise that he bought at an auction for $100 “The table came with a 1/2-in thick steel top supported by four 3-in dia pipes and weighed 300 lbs making it too heavy to easily move around ” says Young      He slid short lengths of 3 1/2-in dia pipe onto each leg to form sleeves and then connected each pipe to an X-shaped frame made from 5-in channel iron “A major consideration was to shim each sleeve so that it was centered around the pipe before welding the X-frame in place Afterward the shims were removed This idea allowed the X-frame to slide freely up or down the legs without binding ” says Young     A small steel plate was placed on the X-frame as a platform to support the bottle jack A 2-ft long pipe with a small plate on one end was welded under the center of the table allowing the bottle jack to lift the table from the X-frame on the floor     Swivel caster wheels were then attached to brackets at the ends of the X-frame     A homemade foot pedal made from 1/2-in dia pipe is used to operate the jack Young welded a short pipe into the jack’s socket and it attaches to a 2-ft long pipe that has a metal foot peg at the bottom “Pushing down on the foot peg raises the jack up against the center-mounted pipe which pushes the caster wheels down and raises the table Releasing the jack lowers the table back down to the floor ” says Young     One end of the table can be lengthened by pulling a pair of telescoping steel tubes out from under the table “The extension leaves that end of the table open so we can weld from underneath ” says Young     Both sides of the table have an angle iron lip to keep tools from falling off he adds     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Horsebranch Farm 205 W Horsebranch Trail Darlington S C 29540 ph 843 621-5777; rick young@nucor com

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