More Tools…Must Have…

The last few days were pretty neat.

A while back, I took the ergonomically disastrous giant shelves in my workshop, turned them 90°, and turned them into a tremendous, shop-enlarging asset. The remaining problem was the plastic shelves which had been about 4 feet away from them. They were now maybe 7 feet away. There was a big hole between the two sets of shelves, and it was lost space.

I was not having it. Yesterday, I fixed the problem.

The previous owner of the house had 5 sets of Keter plastic shelves in the shop. These are basically the same as Home Depot HDX plastic shelves, except they are probably made less sloppily, because the HDX shelves are a mess. You get 5 shelves, 20 legs, and some feet and top caps, and you push everything together to make a surprisingly sturdy and useful set of shelves, given how cheesy the whole idea is.

Truthfully, smart people make their own shelves. For the cost of a set of plastic shelves (around $50), I can make almost two sets of wooden shelves which will be stronger. I just didn’t feel like doing it. Setting this shop up is a big project, and I feel like I need to choose my battles. I am reusing the shelves that were here when I arrived.

One set of shelves had a mashed bottom shelf. I don’t know what happened to it. It was before my time. I had to go to Home Depot yesterday and get a new set of shelves to replace the damaged one. The old set was not a total loss, because I was able to remove the bad shelf and turn the unit into a 3-shelf job instead of a 4-shelf. I moved it to my garage, where there is plenty of junk to shove into it.

I put the new shelves together, took everything off the old ones, pressure-washed the crud off of them, and reinstalled everything several feet to the right. Now the plastic shelves are about three feet from the giant plywood shelf complex. Just enough room to go in there and use the shelves comfortably. The gaping hole between the shelf units is gone, and my workshop suddenly seems 100 square feet larger.

I guess it’s really about 60 square feet larger, but it seems like more. That may be because you always end up getting more stuff on shelves if you empty them and refill them. I was able to move all sorts of things to the shelves, and that reduced the clutter.

The plastic shelves have a flaw: they’re not solid plastic. They’re “ventilated,” according to the ad copy. This means the shelves are grids with hundreds of holes through which things can drop. It must be cheaper to make them this way.

I wanted to keep bottles and cans on the shelves, so I needed something continuous. I had a couple of big Amazon boxes I had saved for this reason. I opened them up flat, cut each in two pieces, and laid them on the shelves. They fit almost as though they had been made to go there. Now I have four shelves I can use for small items. If the cardboard gets mangled, I can replace it. Linoleum or something similar would have been better, but I haven’t found a source of free linoleum.

I liberated a tremendous amount of floor. I now have ample room on the north side of the shop for my machine tools. I bought electrical conduit and #3 wire (much cheaper online), and when the wire arrives, I’m going to get the wiring ready for the lathe, mill, and compressor.

I’m thinking I may get a Harbor Freight vehicle lift.

I have a golf cart and a small garden tractor. I have other heavy things I want to work on. I’m not going to continue working on the floor or lifting with my back. I’ve been looking for a good way to raise things.

I thought I had solved the problem when I found the K&L Supply MC655R motorcycle lift. It will raise a ton. You can add panels to it to make it wide enough for a garden tractor. It has wonderful access for motorcycle work. It’s a neat product.

I kept thinking about it, and the Harbor Freight product started to look better and better.

The K&L costs around $3600 when you fix it up with everything you need. They nickel and dime you on everything you have to have to get any real use out of it. It only lifts 2000 pounds. You can forget about putting a car or a real tractor on it.

The Harbor Freight lift would run something like $1800, delivered. It would be about $1450 when there’s a 20% coupon. It lifts 6000 pounds, not 2000. Right away, you can see why the K&L doesn’t look so good any more.

The Harbor Freight lift would need some shopmade accessories to make it hold a motorcycle, and it won’t function as a general lift table for random objects without some additions. So what? For $2150 (the additional money you would pay for the other lift), you can pimp the snot out of it. You can put a portable plywood top on it for general use. You can make a couple of plates so it will hold a Harley. I figure these additions could be done for a hundred bucks or so. Then you pocket the additional $2050 you would have spent on the K&L.

I think the K&L is marginally better for motorcycles, but how often will I work on motorcycles? What about the rest of the time? I can put everything I have except for my truck on Harbor Freight’s lift, and my truck doesn’t need a lift because you can practically walk under it.

Some people are afraid to sit under a Harbor Freight lift because…Harbor Freight. Well, if these lifts were collapsing, we would already know, and Harbor Freight would have quit selling them. People who are familiar with this product and other Chinese products such as the one from Bendpak say this lift is essentially the same machine, except that it has more stops, so you have more height choices. Everyone trusts Bendpak, so I’m willing to trust Harbor Freight.

I’m really considering it. I have the space. It’s not that big. It’s 8’4″ long and 40″ wide. Raised, it’s probably about 5 feet long. Harbor Freight designed it so you can move it using the hydraulic pump as a handtruck, so if it’s in the way, you can roll it aside. To move the K&L, you have to pay extra for a wheeled dolly.

The K&L weighs 500 pounds, and the Harbor Freight weighs 850. You can’t pick either one up and lean it against the wall, so I don’t think the K&L has any portability advantage.

I don’t know if I want this thing on my floor, but if I use it as a shop table, it won’t be a big flat object I’ll have to step over. It will be a useful flat surface where I get stuff done.

I have to think about it.

It’s wonderful to have the tractors outside instead of cluttering the shop. It was a good decision. They don’t need shelter. Tarps protect the seats and other vulnerable parts. With the tractors indoors, I had no shot at a decent shop. They were in the way, and they left manure, sand, and leaves on the floor.

I have a new layout idea for the shop, and I think it will be great. I just have to see if the lift is a viable component for it.