My Personnel Lift Project

[Spencer]

I got more argon gas and got back to welding today. I think I have about 16 hours into the project now. I have the top safety rail completed. I have the ladder rungs and the hand rail completed. I have the expanded metal on the front side of the upper level.

The quick-tach plate will not reach from the lower section to the upper section so I am going to have to weld on some metal to mount the plate to. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Here is a pic where I left off tonight.

 

[MarkV]

Spencer,

Not to minimize the importance of safety, I am wondering if the expanded metal on the front would be limiting for certain projects. An example might be painting siding where working the largest possible area before repositioning the FEL would be desirable. Or placing your barn siding and reaching the largest number of screw point without moving the FEL. (if you are using metal siding)

I was wondering if a hinged top rail that could swing out of the way when in position and several saftey chains that could be unhooked might work and still be safe.

I am just throwing out ideas, not criticizing your design, it looks great.

MarkV

 

[Spencer]

MarkV,
Thanks for the comments. I was wondering the same thing. Most lifts I have looked at (only from a distance) seem to only have bracing in the center and you could easily stick an arm or leg out between them. I can easily make what was the front the back and leave the front open just by attaching the quick-tach plate to the other side.

What do the rest of you think.

 

[EdKing]

<font color=blue>What do the rest of you think. </font color=blue>

Spencer
I would run a bar (pipe, square tubing, etc.) midway around the sides. (see markup of your photo)

 

[Spencer]

Well the new Bobcat Quick-Tach plate will not have to be modified after all. They told me that it would but it fit just perfect.

Here is a pic of my locking pin through the Bobcat plates square hole.

 

[Spencer]

I went and got some 8" wide 1/4" plate steel to weld the quick-tach plate to and then I will weld the 8" plate to the 2" tubing on the lift.

I had to break out my larger plasma cutter to cut this steel. This is a pic of my Miller Spectrum Cutmate 375. It will cut up to 3/8" thick steel.

 

[Spencer]

You need to use good clean dry air with these plasma cutters. Here is a pic of the filter/dryer that I got for mine. It was the best that the welding shop had and cost about 60 dollars. The filter inside looks like a roll of toilet paper.

 

[Spencer]

Here is the cut that the plasma cutter made through the 1/4" plate. I had the plasma cutter set to 24 amps with 60 psi of air. It takes a while to figure out the correct travel speed. I usually only cut thinner stainless steel sheet metal so this thick stuff is new to me.

 

[Spencer]

Here is a view of the cut after 2 minutes of grinding to clean it up a little. The pro's like Wroughtn_Harv probably don't even need to clean theres up.

 

[Spencer]

Here is a pic of the first weld I made from the quick-tach plate to the 1/4" plate. I had my little tig unit maxed out on amperage (190). I hope that the weld is adequate; it looks good enough to me.