Quart Into A Pint Pot…..

Okay, so you asked about my workshop!

I don’t have a lot of room in my garden and a large workshop was not an option.  I wanted a quality shed and there was nothing around of the right size so decided to build it myself.  It is lined with 2” thick insulation and hardboard covering.  The internal measurements are 7 foot long by 6 foot wide.  On the right I have a Myford Super 7 lathe sitting on a tray on concrete blocks that go through the floor to the concrete base.  Beyond the lathe sits a pillar drill.

I knew that I wanted to work on a big loco and I would need storage space as well as a work top so I built an electric powered lift to allow me to have the loco at working level and also be able to put it away so that I could work on items on the bench.

The ‘storage’ level is at the right height to have a door out of the workshop to allow me to pull the loco out on rails and straight in to the flat boot of my car.

First I built the wooden bench with removable top.

 

 

Then I acquired 4 pieces of M24 threaded rod and a friend turned 4 M24 threaded blocks to carry the lift.  I seated thrust bearings in large washers that I drilled and screwed to the floor and fixed a sprocket wheel to the bottom of each rod with locking nuts.

 

I acquired a 24 volt DC motor out of a child’s scooter and used some reduction gearing from an old Kenwood food mixer to drive sprocket (that also acts as a tensioner) which power a motorbike chain that turns all the threaded rods at the same time.  To power the motor I found an old 18v power pack from a computer server.  18v is enough to power the lift.  I got on top of it and it can lift me and I am 80 kg (12 stone 8lbs).

I wanted it to stop in exactly the right place at the top and bottom positions so I wired up the circuit with 2 micro switches.

The whole thing cost me less than £40.

Workbench on left has a removable panel in the top.

The loco sits on the lift under the bench when I need the space.

This is the loco coming up on the lift

 

 

This is the loco at working height. I also have a way of raising it further at both ends so that I can turn the whole loco upside down.

Under the bench I also have a lower level where I store the tender.

I made my drawers out of old wine boxes.

 

Father’s Day and my birthday!

The picture of ‘Number 9’ is my spur to finish the model.

Ah well, no excuse now.  Plenty of time at the moment to get into the workshop!

Here is a video of the unit in operation

Editor:- ‘Andrew had described his solution to a limited space to me last year which I thought was inspirational.  I thought it would be of great interest to members to read about it & I am pleased that my ‘nagging him’ has finally paid off – even though it was only due to the Co-Vid 19 that Andrew had the time to write it!’