Hoist work.

[sberry]

I was somewhat stalled and finally decided to do well put off shop work that is time consuming and should have been done in the first place or sooner than I have but the time was NOW. So I moved and vastly improved some air lines and went to work on the electric to my hoist area/bay/one wall and replaced an undersized panel and the cable with a flying "temp splice" put in 5 years ago with real pipe and mostly legal recepts and cords.
I had been working on it a while and never outright stopped the week it takes to obsess. The light stands were a simple project is more complex than it looks and finally worked out some of the most basic geometry today and with a factory 25 ft cord can reach 30 plus feet diam circle with cord coming from overhead and when its at its home base is tendered by gravity and off the floor.

 

[sberry]

It took me a while to figure out where to put the disconnect. These are a cobble job out of crude stuff that worked but there were issues with the cord wanting to get snagged by a hot light. Now I guided it out of the way, its coming out of a 20 ft ceiling and now hangs pretty much out of the way plumb over the stand which is what I was shooting for and trying for the least parts.
The drop cord to one unit is a 16, it will get replaced by 12 when I get a chance making the feed a 20A circuit.

 

[sberry]

I was going to be a farter and rig a quad wth some overcurrent protection on it, I have a power strip on the one which would make 14 ok but will wait for a 12 to come along.

 

[sberry]

This conduit is hooked to the hoist, supplys light power to passenger underhood of car, rides up, pretty much 100% out of the way. If one has just a minutes worth of discipline here and sets the air gun down in the right place never has to walk on the hose.
I have early battery guns, ok and maybe newer ones g have better feel but I am still air on most auto work.

 

[Thumper68]

Nice fixes/upgrades!

 

[sberry]

I figured how to add another short cord that will hang just below the lift arm when raised. I may work on the stands, especially one, May but one too for under car. Nothing about this is fancy but works quite well as of now and is super simple

 

[bczygan]

sberry,
So is this your new wiring layout?

Bill

 

[sberry]

One of these days I will start over on the stands but wanted to get the geometry right before building another finished unit although it may never end. Back in the day I raced off with the saw and welder and every fitting they ever made but today am a bit more inclined to go the tie wrap and tape route along with power strips along with cord and plug especially till I get it down.
I try to use as much common hardware as possible as standard or typical as it can be. I do a lot of modification, a lot of used materials, got nothing against making changes but it doesn't mean I try to build in every gizmo I can. If it can be done with a ball valve or a drop cord I am all over it.

 

[sberry]

I have seen a lot of dumb shits carry water in a bucket every day when a hose or a pipe would have done it for free. I understand sometimes the easiest way is some hard work but if I can plumb or wire my way out of a labor intensive problem than I am willing to upfront the work and expense to get it out of the way.
A lot of people mistake my interest in mechanical as an interest in mechanical but it really isn't. Its utilities and production, moving the infeed and the outfeed and fukkin with it till it works smooth somewhat like a firehouse, not as fast as a nascar pit but similar to where the utilities are mated to the task at hand.

 

[sberry]

A bud cae in a while back and turned a switch on, it was to the wrong light but I could see it was a problem, next day he comes in and its been changed,, ha It had been the way it was for years but never really was correct.
I love the proliferation of materials and stores. When I was a kid it all sucked, we had some stuff but not tie wraps, beam clamps, conduit connectors and 1000's of items I keep on hand now. I bought a panel and about 6 pcs of pipe and been wiring for 2 weeks from stock on hand. I only missed a couple opportunities to use up some old pipe, mostly late at night and I didnt want to get it.
I got a chance to go thru and clear some shelves, used a bushel of old electric boxes and a bunch of recovered wire that was a mess as well as a couple dozen recepts, box covers, pile of connectors that were riding shelves.

 

[sberry]

Started on this about noon. All the equipment was really screwed to the door subframe and rattled every time someone went in or out and although it all worked after replacing a timer earlier finally got around to moving the mounting and relocating some switches to the column where it belongs. A full work day just to move a few things and it isn't done yet. Still have an hour to go but after picking my nose over a few places and some refit I am somewhat happy with it and time to close it in.

 

[MikeF2316]

What are those disks for? Shelves? Or to prevent the shop squirrels from running up the posts?

 

[sberry]

Man, that thing has been around. I made it when I was a sprout and its time may have came except for the fact the light on it has worked forever. It has outlived a dozen others and now I just changed the wiring and wheels.
The thing is so much heavier than it needed to be and originally it was weatherproof. I was staring at the other one and thinking I should do the work to it to replace the taper and tie wrap as well as add adjustable riser but didn't get to it yet.
I think I might start over. Believe it or not the concept looks simple but its harder than one may think to get it "right" and with design and build the easiest way is often to do it again. I change a ton of stuff I am not happy with, in the end I am usually glad I did.
My helper thinks its insane on occasion,, we did something like that the other day and I just outright said,,, no point in delay, I am not going to ever be happy with it, may as well get it over with now and fix the thing the way I want it.

 

[toddoky]

It could have a second life as a lighted/Halogen heated bird feeder.

 

[sberry]

I wasn't paying close attn. but something I didn't hear was a creak from the hoist. I did re shim and plumb one post more closely. It was two fold, one to see if it was quieter and second was to get the arms to stop dragging on the floor. We tightened the arm bolts a bit too and took one apart and managed to get the nut off from the installer seizing it, chased the threads and got it right.
I have a leaking wonky clutch slave cyl, don't really want to change it. Probably not going to get any newer.

 

[bczygan]

Sberry,
I like your process of continually tweaking things.

Every improvement you make, makes life easier.

An example at my house would be a camera/intercom for the front door.

I can't see the front door from the bedroom window upstairs. So when someone knocks, I can't tell who it is without going downstairs. I would love to be able to see who it is and talk to them from up here. It would also be great to be able to see the side street, so when the dogs bark, I can see what's going on.

Water,air and electric all over the house and yard, would shorten hoses and extension cords.

Bill

 

[signcrafter]

I got a question for you Sberry. You have said many times to keep it simple, especially when it comes to airlines. Every air line thread I read that you reply to you suggest only having a couple drops and using an air hose. If I remember correct you have two drops in your whole shop and just use an air hose from those drops. But from this post it looks like you added more electrical drops and cords for convenience. So why the difference between your simple air line theory and added electrical drops? If I were to guess based on your airline suggestions you would only have a handful of outlets and run extension cords when needed instead of having dedicated cord drops for tasks like underhood lighting.

I like your additions and not questioning them. Just curious why with air lines you like to keep it simple with as few drops as possible but with electrical you seem to be willing to do more.

 

[sberry]

The scope of my shop is different from most common garages. What I said is I could easily get by and reduce by design and location and that there wasn't a need for an air hydrant every 4 ft or a half a dozen in a 2 car garage.
I favor starting somewhat simple and tailoring from there. I have made the mistake of building in way to many features and using a fraction of them and by the time I get to it the details and a lot of the geometry is worked out and I can build from stock or free,,, which is not always good. I should have bought 3 rolls of air line and saved a week of piping labor, had 200 in pipe I had to buy anyway.
I basically kept the same drops I have been using, I improved them some and added a couple switched outlets. Along the way I did add in a couple details I said I would leave out at the start but those kinds of things are not costly and deal breakers, have a case of boxes and recepts and it was free and easy and kept another wire or cord off the floor or out of the way.
I think shimming the hoist did help, I lifted a heavy pickup today and its a bit smoother and not a creak in it. 1 post was a pinch out of plumb leaning in, I put the 4 ft on it and tape measure and partially due to the combination of shims I had at the moment cambered it out a pinch and I only checked with level today and didn't measure but it looked to be about perfect loaded.

 

[sberry]

These types of things are simple, last a long time, low maintenance.

 

[sberry]

I have cords and hoses well over 30 yrs now that look near new as I don't walk in grease and floor dry or run over them.
I was in a busy tire shop a while back and it was pretty obvious the utilities were a drag on the joint. They have 100 ft of water hose strung across center of building all day every day lacking a hydrant and the air is the same. Cost this guy 1000's a year.
Battery tools may have helped.