[How do I?] Lift Heavy Items Onto Lathe.

Kind of ironic on my part. My Dad was a warehouseman for I dunno.....50 years or so. Wholesale plumbing, so lots of water heaters, bathtubs (cast iron) and all sorts of heavy stuff. That stuff came in on a rail siding, so it was not just a few of each....they were a big supplier here in town. I do recall him having some back trouble, but not until he was in his 70's, and it was minor compared to what I have. He was not quite as big a fella as I, but I can tell he was a lot smarter. When we remodeled this house, about 30 years ago, he worked me down more than once, and he was 31 years older than I was. Plus he was semi retired, early.....another thing he was smarter than I was, although I kinda am semi retired now. He did beat me on age of retirement though.
 
I can remember back in my younger years rasling 100 lbs plus, pieces of iron up into the lathe by myself because the overhead crane was tied up for sometimes hours at a time. It's all caught up with me today, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and I not even retired yet! I can't hardly pick up anything over twenty pounds today. Have to get my son to help or use one of the jib cranes I've put in.
 
wawoodman said:
Agree 100%, Tony. Young and dumb.

And if anybody told us we'd regret it 40 years later, we would have laughed.
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We just didn't think we shouldn't be doing , and because we could we did.

I still remember my fist job on a Saturday morning, I was 14 then, stiil in high school, with two yeas to go.

My job was to unload a 7 ton truck of bagged cement. The bags were one hundred weight each, yes 112lbs.

I did it for about a year, then found an easier job pumping petrol, ( gas to you yanks). paid the same, $1 for 4 hours Saturday morning. But a lot easier with social contact with customers.

I never realised that first job did me any damage until about 40 yeas later. Too late then.
 
Living with the consequences seems to be a universal affliction.
When I think back to those years of innocence and what we did to discover our limits, I feel lucky to be alive. But I do miss the days when my body would actually heal from injury.
There may still be things I am doing these days that are not good for me but what are they???
 
I made a homemade jib crane, it is attached to the lathe cabinet at the headstock end. It will swivel around over the bed or to the front. Perfect for changing chucks and mounting work. Capacity is about 100 pounds. I will probably make a base and mount it to the floor later. It's a must have for lathes over 10 inches for us older guys! My lathe is a G4003G.
 
My Dad had a feed mill, lots of heavy sack feed to load and unload.

Yep, that's what happened to me as well.
 
jjtgrinder said:
I made a homemade jib crane, it is attached to the lathe cabinet at the headstock end. It will swivel around over the bed or to the front. Perfect for changing chucks and mounting work. Capacity is about 100 pounds. I will probably make a base and mount it to the floor later. It's a must have for lathes over 10 inches for us older guys! My lathe is a G4003G.
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Hi, thanks, Can you post a photo of you jib crane, I'm starting to think along those lines. I have bolted my lathe down to a steel base frame, athe than the floor, I'm thinking if I make a jib cane cane attached to this base at the head `stock end with maybe a stabilising am to the headstock it will not put so much stain on the lathe itself. Th only poblem is I will need to be able to move it out of the way easily, to access the change gears and main dive belt under the cover at head end.

Thanks for the idea.

Bob.
 
Yes, I'll post a photo. The lathe it was on was sold, so it is on the work shop floor upside down. First I'll post a drawing.
 
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jjtgrinder said:
Yes, I'll post a photo. The lathe it was on was sold, so it is on the work shop floor upside down. First I'll post a drawing.
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The more I think about this solution, the better I like it. If I fix a stout vertical column, of suitable height, to the rear left hand corner of the base frame. add a diagonal brace from near the top of the column to the right hand corner of the base, and another diagonal brace down to the front left hand corner of the base frame. This should take care of all the vertical forces and most of the horizontal forces. An additional brace to main bolts on the headstock should make it quite rigid, and able to handle a good lift.

I'll start on this when I get back home in a couple of weeks, and post photos during construction.
 
Now you're heading in the right direction. I put a "cup" at the base of the vertical support. In the cup I placed a trailer axle bearing. That allowed the vertical section of the jib crane rotate easily.

Photos Below..............

Click on the "Recent Comments" tab to show explanation.
 
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