Re: Foxy's Latest Project.
Thanks Fruitcake, it's nice to find a kindred spirit here on the forum... We do sound very much alike....
When we first moved into this new bungalow over forty years ago I couldn't afford to have a garage. Some of my early motors were bangers, being a skint mechanical engineer I did all of the maintenance myself. One such vehicle was an Austin mini that required a rebore and new rings.
It was winter and so cold, so I removed the engine and split it down in the yard. I had it rebored and built a strong floor in the loft so I could take it up there piece by piece and assemble it in somewhat more favourable conditions.
Using my lathe and lunch times at work, I made a strong winch and pulleys to lift the completed engine down when it was complete.
Washing machine motors seemed to be built more substantially in those days and the half horsepower electric motor provided just the power unit I needed to power the winch. (electrics were the easy part
)
It was a great success and the engine worked perfectly and so did the winch. Fortunately we had a very large loft hole due to the size of the cold water header tank, so the engine squeezed through beautifully. Mrs Fox and me manhandled (and womanhandled) the engine back into the yard, but it took several beefy mates to put it back into the car....
So that's where it all started, I added bits on, and using the lift (winch) used to heave telly's and other heavy items into the workshop. The lift is still in use today, and although it has easily lifted people up into the workshop, due to safety requirements, it only lifts inanimate objects up there now. It's not possible to put a loft ladder for access because you need at least one hand on the rail, and because I'm constantly zooming up and down with tools in my hands it wouldn't be practical, so a stepladder works great and it prevents Mrs Fox from straying into my workshop.....