Its as simple as: Lift and Lower...

   / Its as simple as: Lift and Lower... #1  

bcarter

Silver Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2000
Messages
136
Location
Far Eastern Central MA
Tractor
Kubota B2710
Where would we be without hydraulic power? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

After agonizing for several months over how to get my tools into the basement of our new house, I decided to use my new source of hydraulic power to my advantage. This past weekend I used my FEL to ever-so-gently lower my table saw and my planer/joiner into the basement. At 500+ pounds each, I was not looking forward to doing this job "manually" but I was hesitant about using the tractor to lift something that would be dramatically damaged if it got dropped.

Dad and I took plently of time "staging" the event before we actually lifted the tools, but we got everything down the bulkhead and into the cellar without incident (and with my back intact!). ...thank you Mr. Kubota...

All I need to do now is run a couple of 220V lines and the wood chips can start flying again! ...I wonder if I can figure out a way to use the backhoe to help with that job? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bill
 
   / Its as simple as: Lift and Lower... #2  
Bill:

I have just the opposite task ahead of me.

When I finish the workshop out in the barn, I'll need to get all of my tools (power and other) OUT of my basement. I have a radial arm saw, a band saw, a table saw and drill press.

Just curious, can you describe your rigging? Did your FEL extend far enough over the stair well to make a straight lift or did you need to use a ramp?

Bill
 
   / Its as simple as: Lift and Lower... #3  
Bill, I have this terrible picture in my mind of you being able to get finished projects out of that basement! Boy, I would be looking at that basement with a juandiced eye, and tractor with a cognitative glint, while contemplating excavating a ramp that I could concrete in and knocking a hole in the basement foundation wall to add a door!

It always boils down to M-O-N-E-Y, which I know is not the most fun to come by, or retain.
 
   / Its as simple as: Lift and Lower...
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Bill

I used a 20' "vehicle recovery strap" (15K lbs breaking strength/5k lbs working load) choked around the tool and looped over a tooth on my FEL bucket.

If my bulkhead had been poured as part of the foundation and the stairs were removable I could (and would) have lowered the tools straight down. However, my bulkhead is one of these "precast" stair units that is bolted to the foundation wall, so I was forced to use a ramp. I didn't have enough loader height to get up over the lip of the stairs and still have enough length to lower the tools all the way to the bottom, so I had to do it in two stages. The FEL loader would reach to about the middle of the stairs so I lowered straight down until the tool hit the ramp and then I slide the tool down the ramp. When I got to the lower limit of the loader, we installed a cleat to hold the tool from sliding any further, re-rigged the strap with more length, removed the cleat, and slid the tool to the basement floor. We put a rope on the tool so that dad could belay the load and guide it down the stairs without being either beside or below it.

The strap worked well and didn't ding up the tools. We did have to put some rags over the edge of the FEL and on the edge of the table saw table so the strap wouldn't get cut. The working load on the strap was 5 times the capacity of my FEL and 10 times the load we were moving, so I felt pretty safe about using it.

I'm hoping that the process will work equally well in reverse as I expect that I'll eventually have to move these tools out of the cellar at some point.

Let me know how you make out...


Bill
 
   / Its as simple as: Lift and Lower... #5  
>>Bill, I have this terrible picture in my mind of you being able to get finished projects out of that basement! Boy, I would be looking at that basement with a juandiced eye,<<

I have lived this. I built a small wooden boat. All of my tools were in the basment. Well, what I did was prefab everything, and assamble it out side.

Paul b
 
 
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