The Lift Assist

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:11 am

The Lift Assist has become an absolute necessity in my shop. I don't know what the consequences might be if I no longer had one.

Last week I had this brought to my attention most effectively. For reasons that became obvious, I could no longer lower the Mark V back into the horizontal position. As it turns out, the Lift Assist brackets that attach to the way tubes had relocated themselves and apparently the angle was such that cylinder would not compress.

I ended up taking the entire lift assist off. Not because I had to but I just decided to remove it and reinstall from scratch. This time I intended to follow the instructions verbatim; something I very seldom do.

I ended up not following them this time - because they seem to be wrong.

Everything was going per the instructions until it came time to attach the cylinder. The cylinder was too long; that is, it is longer than required to span the two points (Ball Studs) where the cylinder attaches.

The instructions clearly address this situation; it is not unexpected.

I moved the brackets attached to the Way Tubes to the LEFT (toward the tie bar) about 1/4+ inches. All is well. I again have my Lift Assist working for me.

But did I do what the instructions say or not? They read as follows:

If the distance from Ball Stud to Ball Stud seems too short (my condition) for the cylinder to fit properly, you should loosen and raise the Upper Assembly toward the Headrest or left end of the Mark V.

HOWEVER

If the distance from Ball Stud to Ball Stud seems too long for the cylinder to fit properly, you should loosen and move the Lower Assembly to the left, toward the Headrest or left end of the Mark V.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:08 pm

dusty wrote:The Lift Assist has become an absolute necessity in my shop. I don't know what the consequences might be if I no longer had one.

Last week I had this brought to my attention most effectively. For reasons that became obvious, I could no longer lower the Mark V back into the horizontal position. As it turns out, the Lift Assist brackets that attach to the way tubes had relocated themselves and apparently the angle was such that cylinder would not compress.

I ended up taking the entire lift assist off. Not because I had to but I just decided to remove it and reinstall from scratch. This time I intended to follow the instructions verbatim](my condition)[/I] for the cylinder to fit properly, you should loosen and raise the Upper Assembly toward the Headrest or left end of the Mark V.

HOWEVER

If the distance from Ball Stud to Ball Stud seems too long for the cylinder to fit properly, you should loosen and move the Lower Assembly to the left, toward the Headrest or left end of the Mark V.

I believe what you described you did is consistent with the quoted instructions.

I believe the instructions assumed a vertical positioning of the way tubes, thus the reference to 'raising' towards the headstock/left end.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:34 pm

Thankfully I can still load thirty 60# hay bales on my pickup while standing on the ground. I do notice that it does take longer than it used to and there seems to be no end to the strange noises it takes for the top layer...

With the double push-me pull-me drill press I see no reason why I will ever need to move one to the upright position. If my shop was too small for the double I would make a dedicated drill press out of an SS either on a special space conserving stand or as a wall mount. I have less than the price of a lift assist in most of my greenies. I would do that even if I had to build a special "bay window" (with or without glass) on the shop somewhere to house it. In some neighborhoods the bump-out could be disguised as a garden tool cabinet.

For a new Mark 7 so it could lift from either end I would probably go with a block and tackle from over head.
I did look seriously at the lift assist at one time and I am sure it does the job fine, I just went the other direction (to the dark side) to stand alone tools

but most of my stand alone tools are Shopsmith based.

BTW, I am still considering building a new work bench on 2 SS frames.

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JPG · Post by **JPG** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:49 pm

robinson46176 wrote: . . .

BTW, I am still considering building a new work bench on 2 SS frames.

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Only 2?????????:D

mbcabinetmaker · Post by **mbcabinetmaker** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:11 pm

robinson46176 wrote: I did look seriously at the lift assist at one time and I am sure it does the job fine, I just went the other direction (to the dark side) to stand alone tools but most of my stand alone tools are Shopsmith based.

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Stand alone tools are perfectly acceptable as long as they are SS based.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:16 pm

I have had several different kinds of shops in several different locations over the years and one constant that I have observed is that if I have "space to waste" that I do tend to waste it.

When I would have our store in a big building I would start looking for other small enterprises to fit in the empty space. At one time I had our store in a pretty small building on the public square and it was the most efficient location I ever had, it had to be... At another time we were in a pretty big strip mall location that was a mile deep. It was terrible, I about ran myself silly working in it.

I like to think that my woodshop now is big enough to work well but small enough to be comfortable to work in efficiently. Well, efficiently for me...

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