$38 servicebench

[dropstharockalot]

^^^^^
Exactly.

To his credit, the one Honda guy is really creative (far more than me, actually).  He's got a wicked CB750 cafe that he did almost all the work on, and it just oozes attitude.  He's also got a 'Zook GS 450 cafe that screams, and he's working on a KZ-1000 basket case that should be pretty absurd once he gets done with it.  I'm probably in his garage drooling as much as he's in mine.  Plus, he's got a homemade media-blasting booth (washtub, gloves, compressor & nozzle, etc...) that he uses to clean up parts - it's not pretty but works pretty darn well.

But the Harley guys are easy marks... just catch 'em when they're polishing spokes.  They'd rather do anything other than clean all that chrome.

[dropstharockalot]

Quick update on the $38 workbench -

Anyone thinking about throwing one of these together, I highly recommend going with the angled tip-up/tip-down system I came up with.  When it was time to pull the sled down from the stand this weekend, I just moved the support arm out of the way, climbed on, and walked it back until the weight of the bike and rider canted the whole shebang.  I had the brake covered so there was no sudden dismount involved, and just eased myself down to the floor.

This goofy thing worked out way better than I could ever have planned.  Little things like oil changes and line bleeding are way less effort when the bike is elevated, and dealing with bigger issues like bolting up pipes and fairing bits would drive me insane if I was working with the bike on the kickstand.  Much thanks are due for the OP for alerting me to this idea.

[GRUBBY]

While looking at my garage this morning, I remembered this thread. I'm going to build one and borrow a few ideas from other industries. Save my money on marine grade plywood and get standard construction grade. Borrow a trick from car audio and "paint" the outside of the stand with fiberglass resin (used to stiffen MDF subwoofer enclosures - works quite well for anybody that's heard my Blazer), that way it's almost anything liquid proof. I have a drive belt from a piece of equipment at work that looks like a cam belt but is 6"wide to use for some non-slip action.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can start on it.

[nsu max]

Don't forget the pictures.

[GRUBBY]

Yessir. I plan on it. By then I should have my motoscope instrument panel ordered and that will have some good photo documentation with it also. I'll put everything up at once most likely.

[GRUBBY]

What was that link for the plans on SuperHunky? I looked for it for about an hour this morning and couldn't find it for the life of me.

[nsu max]

I found it, go to SuperHunky.com and click on features, then scroll down untill you get to "displaying 131 through 141 of 147 articles". Fifth from top. Lots o' luck.

[GRUBBY]

Oh yeah, I was looking in the wrong section. I have it now though. Thanks. I'll have to wait until morning when I get home to look though because I can't see the picture on my phone.

[GRUBBY]

I'm nixing the whole plan. While looking for plans this morning I ran across THIS!



It's safer and is going to be a whole lot more fun to build. And it's easier for me to tweak with my own ideas.

Easier to roll the bike on, jack it up with the floor jack (unless I employ pneumatic cylinders), wrench, and then let it back down. NO worries about a bike falling over that's already 2' in the air. Blueprints were ordered tonight.

[nsu max]

 Looks much better than the one bench at on Super Hunkys web site that one is more for dirt bikes. Where did you find the plans?

[GRUBBY]

http://www.afabonline.com/table_lift_plans.htm

$30 for the prints, $4 to mail it. I can source some of the stuff in the bone yard at work I'm pretty sure.

[dropstharockalot]

Well, just in case that doesn't come together...


Dims_Ramp by bignookoo, on Flickr

The distance between the two large red arrows is +/- 44".
From the start of the ramp to the small green arrow is +/- 18".
The green "Peace" sign is over the bolt hole, and is +/- 7" south of the top edge of the contraption.
The 44" distance is to the approx. midpoint of the surface.  The slope actually begins a couple inches off of that b/c of the 2x4 frame... there is a 2x4 flat on the ground at the approx. midpoint, another 2x4 running vertical inside the OSB from the 2x4 on the ground to the worktop.

Good luck with that other plan, that looks solid.

[GRUBBY]

Thank you for posting that. There's a chance I will still build one for a friend for ATV work. I like the metal table much more for what I need.