I just heard from Al Hayes from the Eastern KS group. He said they will be joining us in Council Grove, so it should be a good turn out.
My second lift conversion is coming along nicely. The long awaited left hand boring bar arrived yesterday, so bright and early I was out in the garage generating more scrap. After a good amount of trial and error, I managed to get the adapter for the hydraulic cylinder whittled out and threaded on the rod. Now all I have to do is piece it all together to figure out where to weld the mount for the cylinder to the lift frame. With a little wiggling and jiggling I found out where to put it. Now to take it all apart again and get the angle grinder out to rub the paint off. After about an hour of spraying sparks all over the garage I could piece it all together and line it up. Now it's time for some serious sparks. Break out the welder. As usual I was light on protective equipment and when I went to tack the mount into place, spatter rained down on my left arm. Quite an interesting, albeit unpleasant sensation. You know me. Safety forced. As a stop gap I found an old greasy towel that I could use to cover my arm to prevent further self inflicted injury. Striking another arc I ran a bead for about 2 inches and stopped to check if I was welding the mount or the table of the lift that I was using for a bench. Well, after I stopped welding, instead of the heat going away, it seemed to be increasing. OMG! The towel covering my arm was on fire! When all was said and done, what was burning was more of the greasy grunge on the towel than the towel itself. Well I got the mount tacked in place so I could take it apart and the mount would stay in place. For the next hour, sparks were flying fast and furiously while I ran a bead all around both ends of the mount. This time I placed the mount flush with the top of the frame. On the last lift I mounted it about a quarter inch higher, That made the table tip forward and raised the ramp making it harder to get large bikes up on the lift.
Live and learn. I had to weld stops on the front of the frame to hold the front up and keep the ramp low. I won't have that problem on this lift. Some more grinding to knock off the excess weld on the top to make it flush with the frame and I could put it all back together. Now its a matter of hooking up the plumbing, mounting the switches and hooking up the wiring. If all goes well I could have it done this weekend. If all goes as usual I might have it done by the end of the year. 
With drilling a few holes a few pop rivets and a little strap stock I got the switches mounted on the lift frame. This lift has two go switches and a stop switch. Next is wiring all the switches and hooking up the plumbing. There's light at the end of the tunnel and it's not an oncoming train.
Yesterday I got all the wiring installed and hooked up. Made serious progress. It gave me all the right indications on the meter when I tested it, so I feel confident that when I put power to it I won't cast Salina into eternal darkness. Today I tackled the plumbing. All was going well until I hit the switch and it started puking oil all over the floor. It seems I got a little ahead of myself and forgot to tighten one of the fittings. No real harm done that a little oil dry won't fix. That little faux pas corrected I pressed on. I had the lift on top of the other lift while I was working on it with the table off. I hit the go switch and the rear lift arms came up right on cue. I lowered the lift arms and again hit the go switch and with the other hand hit the stop switch. The lift stopped. So far, so good. It's working as planned.
I called Shorty over to help reinstall the table. It weighs 150# so I didn't feel like wrestling with it on my own. All reassembled I rolled the lift back into position. Now for the acid test. I rolled a bike on to each lift. With the selector valve on the original lift I hit the button and it lifted the bike as usual and stopped when it hit the stop switch. Not a surprise as I've been using that lift for months. Now I move the lever to the other lift while holding my breath and hit the switch. Up it goes and stops at the stop switch. WOO HOO! THE FRANKENLIFT LIVES!! Not done testing I let it back down and tried one of the pedal switches, then the other. Same result, and the switch on the first lift didn't work, and NOBODY had to live in darkness. Now I have two, count em, two powered lifts. Shorty will love it. Whenever he had his bike on the manual lift, he kept banging his shins on the pedals for the jack. Now I guess I have to get back to working on bikes.
My lift is now broken in. I repaired my first bike on it. And nothing came crashing to the ground.
Now all I have to do is a little button up detail on it and I'm back in business. Next I attack the lathe. I'm ready for tomorrows ride,I need it. If we launch from the Rodeway Inn @ 10:00 it should put us on their doorstep just about on time.TIME....................11:30
Here it is.............. Saddlerock Cafe
15 S. 6th
Council Grove, Kansas 67481
(620) 767-9000
Facebook Page............https://www.facebook.com/saddlerockcafe
Web Page.............
Map site.............https://tinyurl.com/wd4hsez