Scissor lift table

[Cherryville Chuck]

I saw this on FB and went to the site where it's sold. https://www.fourseason.store/products/l ... OzM1rvFXvQ I'm a little suspect that they can sell you one of these for the price shown so I don't recommend anyone buy one without doing more investigating but it's a clever idea. It uses a threaded rod, probably an Acme thread, to raise and lower the table. I'm not sure what the load capacity is but it should be enough to use it to wheel boards around. Plus it could be used as an outfeed table at times and an easy way to move machines like miter saws around the shop. Just raise the table to the height it's sitting at now and slide it onto the cart.

I was thinking about building a cart to move boards around with and I might upgrade that idea to this and have something that is quite a bit more versatile.

[DaninVan]

*Shock!*... it'd cost that at least to make one.

[Cherryville Chuck]

The acme threaded rod would cost that much. Which is why I think it might be a scam. A realistic price for that would be at the least $200.

[Herb Stoops]

In a previous life I made a similar one from a HF hydraulic lift cart and a3'X8'X 1-3/4" thick solid core door, for a workbench. I put fold down extendable legs on it to stabilize it, it was too wobbly to work just on the platform. I also used a 1/4" thick tempered Masonite sheet for a replaceable top, and solid white oak edges around the top.
Herb

[Herb Stoops]

https://www.woodsmithplans.com/plan/sci ... workbench/

https://woodworkjunkie.com/how-to-make- ... with-plans

http://scissorliftseiroto.blogspot.com/ ... -lift.html

HErb

[roxanne562001]

Usually when the price is to good to be true it is a scam.

[Herb Stoops]

Usually when the price is to good to be true it is a scam.

I think you are right,I did a little search and they do pop up on the search, but when I emailed them for information, it kicks back to me.
I got to thinking for that price I would be willing to bet that they are only shipping the hardware i.e. the screw, nuts, and washers and some bolts, plus a plan in a box. You would have to come up with the wood and labor......Just a guess.
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

Usually when the price is to good to be true it is a scam.

I think you are right,I did a little search and they do pop up on the search, but when I emailed them for information, it kicks back to me.
I got to thinking for that price I would be willing to bet that they are only shipping the hardware i.e. the screw, nuts, and washers and some bolts, plus a plan in a box. You would have to come up with the wood and labor......Just a guess.
Herb

That's a possibility but even that seems a tad cheap for what you're getting. The adjustable height work table is a handy concept. Back when my wife and her mom were doing lots of sewing I was going to build her a table like that but I was going with a threaded rod on each corner and I was going to weld a sprocket on each one and turn them in unison with a chain drive like my planer uses. But I was too busy logging to get the time to do it and her hands gave out on her before I could.

[Herb Stoops]

And as Stick pointed out to me the caster are worth way more than the price.
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

Maybe they aren't part of the kit either. I think the best bet is to just use it for inspiration and buy your own parts. I can get good castors for about that much from Princess Auto up here which is very similar to HF down there. The locking swivel ones are $12.99 and fixed are $7.99 (Canadian dollar= around $.80 US) but I got a set on sale and I think all four were only about $25. They are very good castors with a semi hard urethane wheel which was great for the cart I made my wife which gets wheeled around the kitchen. https://www.princessauto.com/en/4-in-th ... 0008815789

[Nickp]

Judging by the squares on the floor it appears to be about 1 1/2' x 2'...I would think somewhat unstable.

If I were to build one I would make it a bit bigger. I wonder also how stable the joints would be (bolts at the hinges)...hhmmm...

[Cherryville Chuck]

I think if you drilled the holes to be tight enough you needed to drive the bolts through would help Nick. I would probably use fender washers up against the wood with a standard washer between that and the bolt head or nut. Both for more bearing surface and reduced friction of two washers so that I could tighten more. You'd also want the slots in the base and under the top that the free ends of the scissor slide in to be tight clearance. And like you say, a wider, longer stance would be more stable.

[Cherryville Chuck]

I was just thinking about different ways to McGyver this thing and it occurred to me that you could take a scissor jack and use it to raise and lower the table. One of Herb's links showed a table with a hydraulic jack mounted at the bottom doing the work so you should be able to replace the hydraulic jack with a scissor jack instead. They can often be had for nothing. No threaded rod needed with that design.

[Stick486]

use shoulder bolts for the pivots...
nylock nuts..
fender washers...
nylon or UHMW fender washers under the steel washers and between the pivoting members...
.

SOCKET SHOULDER BOLT.jpg

[Stick486]

A scissor jack seems to e the best way...
make the end of the threaded rod a hex and then you could use a speeder wrench or your cordless to raise and lower...

[Stick486]

put the scissor jack in upside down...
the threaded rod won't be so close to the floor...

[Cherryville Chuck]

Some good ideas. I use a speeder wrench to raise and lower the router in my table. The speeder is fast but still allows you to make fine adjustments. With a table like this you don't need that kind of precision so a drill with a socket adapter and socket is the smart way to go.

[Herb Stoops]

Any way you do it will still not be enough to stabilize it enough to work on it. That is why I had to put fold down adjustable legs with "X"bracing to stop the sideways movement. I have done the jack trick ,one a trailer tongue jack,other a scissor jack on 2 different drill press tables and along with the steel pipe column they are stable. Maybe a person could put a pipe column on the lift cart to stabilize it with a jack so it would work. I think the original idea was for lifting and transport, not for work table. Also the casters pose an additional problem for movement.
Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

Maybe it's something that looks good in theory but is unworkable in practice, like socialism for example. Maybe I'll go back to the idea of a threaded rod in each corner with a sprocket welded on and a chain to drive all 4 in unison. I have the parts, I just never got around to using them.

[Herb Stoops]

Didn't they used to have a portable table where they used 2 lengthwise rails with notches in them under the top for adjusting the "X" legs for height? They weren't for adjusting with a load on them, but to be adjusted before they were loaded.Or something like this:

Herb

[Cherryville Chuck]

That's a pretty good idea too but I think I would drill holes in the stationary posts and peg into them to both hold them at the right height and to make sure that I was level. If you made a jig to drill the holes then every post would be the same. Maybe that's what they did with that table.

[Herb Stoops]

On the one I made I routed an aluminum channel in the side of the inner sliding leg and put a twist knob in the outer leg to tighten them up. That way if the floor was a little uneven each leg could be adjusted tight to the floor. The one above looks like a through dowel in each leg.
Herb

[tomp]

Not a scissor lift table, but it uses a H-F trailer scissor jack. An adaptation of the workbench built by MT Stringer on the other forum, it's worked well for me over the last 5 years or so.

IMG_4154.JPG

At minimum height, I can work off a 5 gal. bucket.

IMG_4152.JPG

At max height, the workbench can be the outfeed table for the TS

IMG_4204.JPG

HF scissor jack. The corner posts are locked with knobs into threaded inserts.

IMG_4578.JPG

Using the extra space - the drawers are small but hold all the little odds and ends that are good to have close by.

[Herb Stoops]

I will give you 5 stars for that one, a simple example of the adjustable height table.
Mike came up with good ideas. and you did a good job making that table.
HErb

[Stick486]

An adaptation of the workbench built by MT Stringer

KUDOS!!!

[old55]

Excellent.

[Bushwhacker]

Very nice Tomp.

Bushwhacker