Well the table is done, two more weeks and I order the the machine?
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I would be terrified of leaving my $1000 dollar machine hanging from a cable O_o
What about electrical connections? Will you be disconnecting everything to hoist it?
Well if it falls It lands on the car below it. That setup says it will hold 250lbs. ( http://www.racorstoragesolutions.com/p/detail/phl-1r?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 )And yes I will have to unplug the electrical. I am in a condo so I don’t have allot of room.
Hey, you’re making due. Do? Anyways, good job.
I have four of these units in my basement shop that has 9.5’ ceilings. All I can say is “Awesome!!!” They are great for storage and they will carry a lot of weight. Originally I thought about mounting my machine to one of these, but then I decided to upgrade the Y axis length. My other concern was that I do not have the footprint available in my shop to completely sit the table top down to keep the momentum from the movements of the machine from starting the entire thing from swinging.
In my opinion this is a great idea. I have several thousands of dollars worth of tools being stored on these lifts and I work beneath them daily. As long as they are PROPERLY MOUNTED TO A SECURE SURFACE and the weight limit is not compromised then All should be good.
These lifts each add around 16 sqft of storage space that would typically just be wasted air space.
I would like to add two HUGE Recomendations.
ALWAYS USE EYE PROTECTION!!! When raising and lowering the unit.
The hook and the loop will flake off metal fragments while cranking the lift up and down. This will be while you are standing directly under it looking right at the area flaking off. So Please Protect Your Eyesight!!!
Tip #2. Purchase a decent hammer drill that has a cord and preferably a keyed chuck. Chuck the second half of the bar into the chuck, the one with the the hook on it. This will allow you to power lift the unit up and down. The keyed chuck locks the hooked bar into the chuck better. The corded hammer drill gives you the power needed to raise and lower. I have a dedicated hammer drill just for this purpose that hangs in the corner from its own hook. It also has an extension cord that allows it to reach all of the lifts in my shop.
I want to add that I originally used a 19 volt battery operated hammer drill to raise and lower the lifts. I burnt it out. I do not recommend using the above method with battery operated hammer drill unless you are ready to replace it in the near future.
Great idea. Keep it up!!
Lol (pun intended) lol
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Nice! I have the same Racor lift, great minds and all that.
I haven’t bothered putting a table under mine, so far it seems to cut fine just hanging in the breeze, although that might change as I do more stuff.
-Kelly
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I also want to mention a few more thoughts/comments.
My four units have been in operation since 2007.
Only once have I had any type of issue with them. The issue occurred when I took the last of the weight off of the table, such as when you will be sitting the table onto the ground. Any extra slack that was wound around the bar sprung loose. I had to realign the cables before I could retract the lift. Do not quote me on this but I think the problem might be correctable by adjusting the overall length of the cables so that all excess loops are gone at the point the table touches down.
As to your torsion box table, one problem that would concern me are the legs. Especially if you will be parking your vehicle underneath. It would be a horrible morning to come outside to find something had slipped and the table leg is through the front windshield. If it was me I would consider a stable rolling cart for the machine and table to drop onto. But with the current design I would definitely make sure those legs are secured and double secured, if not triple secured. I might be a little over catious here, but an ounce of prevention might save a windshield, and how much is that worth?? Just my two cents.
One downfall, is the fact that your overhead space has now deminished. Watch out for longer workpieces. It is easy to damage a long workpiece by bumping the now shorter overhead obstruction. But this is easy to get accoustomed to.
I also noticed that someone mentioned that they just had their machine sitting on the lift and operating it while it is hanging. Have you tried to get the X-carve moving enough to introduce a swing into the overall unit? I am curious to see if the Xcarve with a dewalt 611 is even capable of making the overall unit actually swing even without the extra weight of a new sub-table. If it does not introduce a swing to the table or slop into the final workpiece, then these lifts are a perfect solution for the 1000mm X Carve. I would be interested in seeing a video, if at all possible, of the XC in fast motions, trying to get the lift swinging.
With a lift like this, a program can be set and started with the lift retracted to the ceiling as long as the lift is stable. This would allow for floor space to be open while the machine is running. With that theory I could have four 1000mm XCs running on my current lifts (overkill but just pointing out possibilities). This would clear up lots of “floor space”.
My machine is not up and running yet, so I have not had the opportunity to test things out yet.
As to the wiring, an easy solution would to have an outlet in the ceiling with a retractable extension cord reel mounted next to it. There are other solutions as well and options for running dual circuits to split the vac and 611 onto separate breakers. Of course this will take some proficiency in electrical wiring and should only be performed by qualified individuals. But the option is available.
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That was me, I’m only getting started with the x-carve, but I have had the machine cutting up in the air, and while moving the lift. There is a bit of sway, but really not much, and it seems fairly gentle. This may change as I do larger projects, or during big movements, but at least for the moment, there’s no real downside.
As far as overhead space, I already have multiple hanging racks in my garage, and this left, with the x-carve on it, ends up with more clearance underneath than the other fixed racks, so not a big deal.
For power, I have wire-tied a power strip to the edge of the lift, and I just plug it into an extension cord when in use, I had thought about looping it over the winding shaft of the lift, but I don’t think I’ll end up going that far.
I have thought about wrapping some paracord (akak shock cord) around the shaft and using that to take some of the weight from the vacuum hose, I’ll be looking into that once I get a dust shoe built.
Here’s a pic of my setup, I added a “table” for the electronics, including the laptop and power relay for the dewalt.
That’s definitely a work in progress, I need to brace up the MDF table, and maybe put a vertical piece between the machine and the electronics to divert the mess, although I’m hoping a dust shoe will solve that.
-Kelly
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Kelly, thanks for responding.
When you get some free time, can you perform an experiment for me?
Try to get the unit swinging when you get a chance. Just performing fast action air movements with no bit in the collet should do the trick.
Here you go, not great quality, but you can see it sway a bit.
I induced some sway by hitting the laptop to make it move.
At first I was moving it 10 inches per move, then I changed to 20 inches per.
-Kelly
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Thank you Kelly
The swinging would annoy me when reaching for the keypad. I have to admit.
I have not finished building my machine yet, is this the fastest that the machine runs? I would assume that the speed could be increased which should add more momentum, resulting in more swing.
The lift does only swing a foot or so, it seems from your video, so I wonder actually how much slop will be introduced bc of this. For roughing cuts this should not cause a noticeable difference but for precision detail work, might be a different story.
Overall I really like the idea
@MichaelGrigg Just to come back around to this, now that I’m actually cutting out a “real” project, the swinging seems to be within a circle no larger than 0.75 inch radius.
This is cutting 3/4 select pine, 100 ipm, 0.05 inch depth per cut with a 1/8 inch 2 flute upcut bit, DW611 set at speed of 2.
What I’m cutting is mostly straight angles and circles (“HO HO HO” letters for the wife), and they look just as I’d expect, so there doesn’t seem to be any slop being introduced at this point.
YMMV.
-Kelly
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Thank you for following up Kelly.
Just out of curiosity, what does YMMV stand for?
Your mileage may vary
Thank you, have not seen that abbreviation before.
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Yep, that’s it!
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I’ve been using the same lift mechanism since I got my xcarve, but I used a double layer of 3/4" plywood instead of the wire rack. When mine is in the down position, it rests on a couple of fold-up sawhorses. I never drop it down enough to completely take tension off the cables, though, it just touches the sqwhorses for support and stability. When I lift it up, I fold up the sawhorses and stash them in a corner.
Though I use it so much that it is rarely lifted up anyway.
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Just following up, the x-carve with just a normal MDF waste board sitting on the wire rack of this lift was way too flexible. I built a “half-torsion box” (no bottom skin) out of some 3/4 oak plywood and 1x3 stock that I had lying around, then screwed that down to the 3/4 skin and put in t-track.
I’m planning to lay down sacrificial pieces of MDF between the t-tracks, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
-Kelly
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When it is hoisted in final storing position can you tell me how much distance you need from the celing. Im trying to see if this set up will squeeze above my garage door. Thanks