Scissor Lift Table From The Wood Shop, For The Wood Shop

The value of a mobile adjustable height cart in the shop can’t be overestimated. From moving tools around to installing heavy fixtures on walls and ceiling, a scissor-lift platform is a great tool. Commercial versions get a bit expensive, though, so a shop-built scissor lift table made of wood might be a nice project for the budget-minded to tackle.

Wood might not be your first choice for a fixture such as this, but it’s what [Marius Hornberger] is set up to use, and with proper species selection and careful engineering, it can make for an amazingly sturdy table. [Marius] chose ash for his parts, a wood with a long history of performing well under difficult conditions. The table is not all wood, of course; metal bushings and pins are used in the scissor mechanism, and the lift drive is a stout Acme-thread screw and nut. We’re impressed by [Marius]’ joinery skill, and with how sturdy the table proved to be.

Not a lot of woodworking projects seem to show up in our tip line for some reason, which is a shame. We love to feature wood builds, and like our own [John Baichtal] recently pointed out, the health of the wood shop is often a leading indicator of the health of a hackerspace.

17 thoughts on “Scissor Lift Table From The Wood Shop, For The Wood Shop

  1. Looks nice. I’m not too keen on the ergonomics of bending over to turn the crank when the table is low. Commercial ones that I’ve seen are hydraulic and use a “foot stomp” action.

    Also, per his YouTube description “All materials together cost about 200€”. A steel 500 lb capacity hydraulic lift table would only cost $150 at my local made-in-China toy store, so building a wooden one would be for the edification.

  2. The problem I have with these projects is that this is hack-a-day, not make-magazine.

    These guys always have a full workshop with fancy tools to complete a build that isn’t a hack but just making something in a way that stuff is supposed to be made. It would make the difference if instead of a lathe the guy had made the bushings by hand with hacksaw and file and a clever jig – that would give it the a-ha! appeal that hacks have.

    1. True to an extent. However seeing this video might lead to a Eureka! moment for someone else stuck in their project, leading to a hacked together solution based on 1 or more concepts from this build. While hacks are the fundamental of this site, articles of a “just done it the right way” like this one, will serve to expose hackers to concepts they might not have come across before or give tips on how to better achieve outcomes they working on. They certainly enlighten, if not just simply entertain me.

  3. Nice build. He used a lot of fancy tools but I suspect that I could build one without them. It would take longer and perhaps be less fun to build. What would be interesting would be to integrate one of the low cost HF drivers into it and make it electric.

  4. Great video, I have been looking for specs to build a scissor lift as part of a work table to include a table saw with miter saw but wanted to be able to raise and lower the miter when using the table. Also gave me an idea for a Santa Maria grill which uses cables to lift and lower grill. The scissor lift will work easier with much better stability

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