Shopsmith Forums

The elegance of Ed's solution is that the winch moves on a track. I am looking to put one end of the track where I store my SPT and the other over my Shopsmith. You lift, slide and lower, I have yet to figure how to handle the 3 SPT's I have unless I put the storage unit on wheels also.

Currently I store my SPT's on top of the under Shopsmith storage cabinet that doesn't fit under the Shopsmith since I purchased the Lift-Assist and 520 upgrade.

charlese wrote: Come alongs should be available at places like Harbor Freight or Sears, but, couldn't find one in a quick search. A 2 ton come along only costs around $30 or less. The one for $12.95 should get the job done just fine. That's really enough if you want to lift your Mark V or an auto engine.

I would rethink the come along. Here is some food for thought.

Yes you have the lifting power and control (pulling or lifting) but on all the come alongs I've seen you have no control when releasing. Push the lever and the cable is totally released and free to travel. Add weight and a straight down run to the mixture and you may be buying repair parts real soon.

?????? both of my come-a-longs have ratcheting mechanisems to lower the load and have been safely used to lift/lower car engines. i see no potential safety issues using them to handle shopsmith spt's or even a whole shopsmith, bob

Is there a difference between a come-along and a winch?

I've used come-alongs to stretch barb wire fence and I've used winches to pull cars out of snow banks. I don't see them as being the same.

Not that a winch couldn't be used to stretch barb wire.

But a point has been made. No one wants their SPT crashing to the floor.

for the most part winches do not have brakes and should never be used for vertical lifting. i would reccommend a hoist or come-a-long for vertical lifting, bob

randymci wrote:I would rethink the come along. Here is some food for thought.

Yes you have the lifting power and control (pulling or lifting) but on all the come alongs I've seen you have no control when releasing. Push the lever and the cable is totally released and free to travel. Add weight and a straight down run to the mixture and you may be buying repair parts real soon.

Hi there randymci!
Ah! But they DO have control upon releasing. In order to achieve this control, simply lift slightly to relieve pressure on the dog - lift the dog - and slowly move the object downward one or two cogs then let the dog re-engage the ratchet. I've used a variety of these suckers over the years and find they all can be released slowly with control. Yes, labor intensive and time consuming, but magnitudes less expensive and more portable than winches. If they were not able to control during lowering, I would have had some pretty badly damaged heavy equipment and parts.

Like I just said elsewhere, it's amazing what one can learn while doing wood working.

charlese wrote:Ah! But they DO have control upon releasing.....snip they all can be released slowly with control. Yes, labor intensive and time consuming, ...snip.

Well I've learned something new today.

Thanks