Homemade car lift. How to make a DIY car scissor lift

A professional car mechanic needs a garage, a tool kit and a lift to make decent money. Doing such a device with your own hands is much cheaper than buying industrial equipment.

Organization of own business

Having a garage will help change social status (agree on renting a room if you can’t organize a workshop on your own territory).

You need to register as an entrepreneur. After obtaining a patent or a certificate of entrepreneurial activity in a territorial state body, you can come to grips with business, purchase tools and metal products:

• channel;

• I-beams;

• corners;

• bars;

• profile (square) pipes;

• corrugated iron (for decking on the platform);

• semi-automatic welding;

• angle grinder;

• electrodes, cutting wheels, bolts and nuts of various sizes.

Useful advice: before you start making a car lift with your own hands, visit service centers or retail outlets that sell specialized equipment for car repair. Look with your own eyes and carefully study the design features of the mechanisms that engineers worked on in the factory.

Common lift design

There are several options for lifting vehicles to a given height. It makes it easier for craftsmen to inspect, diagnose and repair faulty vehicles.

Common designs are made with two or four racks that raise the platform for cars, with a mechanical or hydraulic drive.

The simplest homemade lift can be made from an I-beam or a bracket with a winch. But the owners of expensive limousines and jeeps at the sight of such equipment will run away and never return.

You can also make a homemade lift, with which the car is tilted on its side (the brackets are screwed to two right or left wheel trunnions). Such equipment is used in emergency cases, when it is necessary to urgently fix a malfunction under the bottom of the car, and all regular places in the workshop are already occupied.

Embodiment of the idea on paper

Draw a sketch of the future lift on a sheet. Mark the garage floor at the planned location for the installation of the equipment. Then take a tape measure and measure the distance from the walls to the racks, the height between the floor and the ceiling. Write down the data obtained in a notebook or on a sheet with a sketch drawn.

Knowing the overall dimensions of the cars for which you plan to make a lift, a drawing (previously made measurements will become the basis for calculations on a scale) can already be developed by yourself.

It will help to draw up an estimate, which will indicate the required number of rolled metal products (total length of channels, I-beams and corners) and other consumables.

Now you can go to the trading base and buy everything you need at wholesale prices. Take metal rolling with a margin. Each cut with a grinder turns three millimeters of strong steel into microscopic dust.

How to make a homemade lift

First of all, apply marking lines on the channels and corners with a scriber in order to cut them into blanks, from which the lift will be assembled with your own hands. Check the results of your work. Blanks must be made to the nearest millimeter in length.

Devices with two or four pillars lift vehicles using a worm gear or hydraulic cylinder. The mechanical drive is placed inside each support. It consists of a shaft with a tape thread cut on its surface. Platforms for support bearings with an alignment mechanism are welded by electric welding to the lower ends of the racks. A "paw" for the platform is wound onto the shaft. When assembled, they are inserted into the internal cavity of the rack. The upper cover of the support with the bearing is screwed with bolts and nuts.

Approximately the same work must be done when you assemble the lift with your own hands with a hydraulic drive.

Tipper for car

The simplest design for tipping the machine on its side. It will come in handy in any garage as an auxiliary device for the prompt repair of vehicles.

To make such a lift with your own hands, you need to make:

two brackets that are attached to the front and rear trunnions of the wheel;

two support platforms (to hold the machine in an overturned position).

Connect the brackets to the platforms with hinges. Thus, two identical designs are made. For the rotary mechanism, metal fingers with bushings or bearings are used.

Of the consumables you will need:

metal square pipes 50x50 mm or a corner with a shelf of the same size;

two fingers and four bushings (these parts must be machined on a lathe);

small pieces of thick sheet metal (for making scarves).

All parts of the structure are welded together. The hinged brackets need to be connected to the platforms - and the tipper is ready to go.

If you are just starting out as a business, keep in mind that car repairs do not require a lift. It is enough to have a flyover or a viewing hole. It is more difficult to carry out restoration repairs in such conditions, but it is quite possible.

The main problem you may encounter is the difficulty of making a tape-threaded shaft for the rack. This is a key part, without which it is impossible to assemble the lift. It is impossible to make such a screw at home with your own hands. Shafts are made on industrial machines. It is possible that such equipment is simply not available in your locality.

If there is an irresistible desire to create a modern workshop, but there is no way to make a car lift with your own hands, you can purchase equipment on credit or on a leasing basis.

Despite the claimed strength and durability of work, many automotive components are highly susceptible to wear. It happens that the car does not start and you need to find out what the problem is. To lift the car without assistance with your own hands, you will need a special lift.

However, despite the importance and necessity of this device, the cost of car lifts is quite high, and not all motorists can afford it. In addition, most drivers use the jack only 1-2 times and per year. Therefore, to avoid unnecessary expenses, it is better to make a car lift with your own hands.

Do-it-yourself lift to the garage

Since the product will be mounted on the walls, this device is designed to work in the garage.

Required Components

To create a lift the following details are required:

Assembly instructions

Assembly and installation process The lift is pretty simple:

That's all. The do-it-yourself lift is ready.

Using this lift

Operating principle also not very difficult:

1. Be sure to remove the bolts holding the engine and vehicle frame.
2. Bring the steel cable loops under the engine and throw the ends onto the hook.
3. Start iterating over the chain. Gradually, the movement will move to the drive shaft, which will make the cargo move and the cables will be tensioned. The engine should be lifted slowly and carefully.
4. Having taken out the engine with the help of a hoist, stop the work of a makeshift crane. The weight of the load will now securely hold the gearbox.
5. Move the machine away and put in its place a sturdy table that can withstand the heavy load from the engine.

A simple do-it-yourself lift

Not all drivers have a personal garage. In this case, it is necessary to repair either in a car service or on the street. For the second option, there is a special lift for these conditions.

This product has several parts that fastened together, forming a complete structure.

For repair and maintenance of vehicles, a lift is often required. This design is designed to fix the car and lift it to a certain height, which provides access to the suspension, running gear and many other elements of the vehicle. A similar design is often found at service stations, less often in private garages due to the high cost. If desired, you can make a homemade lift for the car. It will cost relatively inexpensively and is practically in no way inferior to purchased models in terms of performance.

Choosing the most suitable design

First you need to decide what type of structure will be created. To do this, it is enough to pay attention to the lifts of factory origin - they become the main base for creating a home-made structure.

The most widespread are:

By way of lifting the car distinguish the following types of construction:

1. Forklifts.
2. Scissor.
3. Platform.

The force can be transmitted from a screw, chain or hydraulic drive.

A home-made car lift for a car with your own hands should be created taking into account the fact that the design must be safe, securely fix the vehicle. Do not forget that during the execution of almost any work, the master is under a vehicle whose weight is more than a ton.

Difficulties in the manufacture of the lift

The installed car may break down for the following reasons:

Difficulties in manufacturing arise due to the fact that some structural elements cannot be made by hand. An example is long lead screws. Therefore, they rarely make a scissor lift with their own hands. Drawings of home-made structures often provide for the creation of a tipper, which is much easier to manufacture. Do-it-yourself scissor lift drawings, if necessary, can be downloaded on the Internet, but it should be borne in mind that most of the parts will have to be purchased, due to which the cost of the finished structure will not decrease. In addition, you will have to calculate the strength of all the elements used.

Such work can only be performed qualitatively by an engineer who has extensive experience. If errors are made at the time of the calculations, there is a possibility that the lifting mechanism will not withstand the applied load. Therefore, in the absence of confidence that the skills and knowledge will be enough to implement a complex project, it is best to create less complex mechanisms that will be more reliable.

DIY car lift in the garage can be made as follows:

This design is most suitable for lifting the engine and other heavy units. It is less suitable for lifting a vehicle.

In conclusion, we note that it is almost impossible to create a classic lifting device from improvised materials, which is found in service stations. To work with the chassis or the bottom of the car, you can create a tipper.

To service a car in a service station, a bunch of special equipment is used, from cheap to very expensive, completely inaccessible to a private master or just a vehicle owner who is used to servicing the car with his own hands. There are very highly specialized devices that can be useful to a private trader once or twice a year. And there are those without which any repair or prevention is simply impossible. Car lifts are just that case.

Why is it needed

Buying it in most cases does not make sense. Both in terms of finances and in terms of free space in the garage. Although, for car owners who have a large garage workshop, its presence is already a huge plus.

Firstly, we will not complicate life and dig an inspection ditch, which, in principle, does nothing more than to access the bottom. However, in the case of a lift of any type, we get a certain benefit:

Market prices

In a word, there are many advantages, but the price bites. For example, one of the most reliable types, scissor, costs between 150-220 thousand rubles. The price bites, especially if you have to service a ten-year-old nine, which costs three times cheaper. And the quality of cheap products leaves much to be desired, and more or less serious models can be bought already from 300 thousand.

In order not to spend such an amount, it is quite possible to do it yourself. It is worth familiarizing yourself with the factory samples and weighing the pros and cons, which we will now do. We have placed some drawings and diagrams of scissor devices on the page and they may prompt the necessary design idea. It is clear that it makes no sense to copy the dimensions from the diagrams, since the conditions are different, as well as different requirements for the mechanism.

equipment requirements

First of all, this equipment will need the ability to lift the machine to a height at which it is convenient to service it. You can just lift it, or you can raise it to full human height. The second and, perhaps, the most important requirement for it is to ensure the complete safety of people and the integrity of the car. We will not give sad examples, but, unfortunately, they exist.

In addition, it is necessary to think over the drive and the system of the lifting mechanism, think over the control, adjustment and fastening to the garage floor. By the way, most of the factory products are tightly attached to the anchors to the floor and concreted. This is necessary to prevent tipping and reduce the risk of injury and damage to property, however, there are also self-propelled hydraulic lifts.

Drive and lift

The drive of all lifts can be both hydromechanical and electromechanical. In the first case, an electric motor with a pump and a system of hydraulic cylinders are used to lift the overpass or table. Its principle of operation is quite simple and it is clear from the diagrams and the given drawings. As a rule, a three-phase 380 volt electric motor is used to operate the hydraulic lift station, and the hydraulic fittings must be strictly calibrated in terms of parameters depending on the expected load.

Budget power plants also run on a 24-volt electric motor, but their lifting capacity is very limited, and reliability, based on the country of manufacture, is incredibly low. That is why it will be much more rational and cheaper to assemble it yourself than to buy Chinese scrap metal, although the manufacturer is different from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Video tutorial

Be that as it may, but the design and technological engineering calculations must be approached very seriously. So, it will be necessary to calculate the minimum section of the beams, calculate the axes of the hydraulic cylinders, select the hydraulic cylinders according to the performance and the length of the rod, choose the right hydraulic pump and control system. When designing, special attention is paid to safety and emergency mechanisms for lifting / lowering the car.

The task is quite difficult, but solvable. With the materials and knowledge, you can assemble a small scissor lift that will be useful not only to you, but also to your friends and neighbors. Happy design!

A considerable part of motorists is trying to repair their vehicle on their own. When repairing cars, a car lift is often used. Such a device can be purchased at a specialized store. However, some, in order to save money, are engaged in the manufacture of a car lift with their own hands.

Before installing a car lift for a checkpoint on a pit in a garage, we study its main varieties in more detail. This will help you figure out what a pit lift can be.

Drive type

Jacks for lifting cars differ in the type of drive that is installed in them. There are two main models in this classification:

• hydraulic jack;
• devices with manual mechanical drives.

Experts advise using hydraulic models, as they are more efficient. However, it is not easy to make such a device on your own, and therefore many people make manual car lifts.

By type of lift

Another distinctive feature of car jacks is the type of lift used in them:

• Screw. To install such equipment, two durable racks are used, in which special screws are installed. They are responsible for lifting and lowering the vehicle. The operation of the installed propellers is controlled by an electric motor.
• Mini. In the manufacture of such models, hydraulic or mechanical drives are used. A feature of the equipment is its small size. Therefore, mini-lifts are not used to lift freight vehicles.

On electromechanical engineering

In some models, various electromechanical techniques are used. Based on this, car lifts are produced:

• Single rack. Experienced motorists are advised to use such models in small garages, as they are compact. They consist of an electric motor, a movable type carriage, as well as a vertical support.
• Scissor. Scissor car lifts can be mobile or stationary. They are equipped with a strong frame for attaching hinges and a compressor device.

By number of plungers

Based on the number of plungers, there are multi-plunger, two-plunger and single-plunger models. In models with multiple plungers, a special traverse is installed, which is responsible for the efficiency of the equipment.

Choosing the most suitable design

Before manufacturing a car lift, the most suitable design is selected.

For passenger cars

Often, single-column models are chosen to work with cars. The advantages of such car lifts include:

• ease of use;
• compactness, thanks to which the equipment does not take up much space in the garage;
• modern lubrication system that does not need constant maintenance;
• reliable protection aimed at preventing the car from tipping over during repairs.

Also, for the repair of passenger cars, scissor-type equipment is used. With it, the mechanic will be able to quickly raise or lower the vehicle to the desired height.

For truck

The main feature of any truck is its size and weight. Due to non-standard dimensions and large mass, not all lifts can lift such cars.

For the repair of such vehicles, cargo devices with a high carrying capacity are used. They can be rolling, stationary and platform. They are used only in service stations that specialize in the repair of tractors or trucks.

How to make a reliable car lift with your own hands

It is not easy to make a car lift from a jack on your own, and therefore you need to read the instructions in advance.

Calculation of dimensions and creation of a drawing

First you need to decide on the size of the equipment for working with cars.

The choice of dimensions of the car lift depends on the area of ​​​​the garage in which it will be used. The average height of the device is three and a half meters, and the width is three meters. Equipment with such dimensions is able to lift a vehicle, the mass of which reaches 3-4 tons.

Required Components and Tools

Having decided on the dimensions of the car lift, you can begin to prepare the necessary tools and materials. For work you will need:

• welding machine for joining iron components;
• drill;
• drill;
• tape measure for measuring the dimensions of device parts.

The materials from which the device is made include:

• bed corners eight centimeters wide;
• iron plates, the thickness of which should be 1-2 centimeters;
• worm gearbox.

Assembly instructions

At the initial stage of creating a lift, steel corners are installed in the walls of the garage pit. After that, a metal plate is installed on their shelves and attached to the surface. A gearbox is installed on top, after which a key is fixed on the drive shaft.

After installing the gearbox, holes are made on the surface of the plate through which the chain will be passed. When the chain is installed, an asterisk is put on the shaft. To install the second chain on the opposite side of the plate, the same holes are made.

The resulting structure can withstand a load of 2-3 tons.

Difficulties in the manufacture of the lift

When making a homemade car lift, there may be difficulties that you need to familiarize yourself with. Often problems arise with the manufacture of parts that are difficult to do with your own hands. Therefore, some components for the lift will have to be purchased. Such parts include lead screws or an electric motor, which is installed in some models.

Difficulties also appear at the stage of calculating the dimensions of lifting equipment. It is quite difficult to independently determine the optimal dimensions for such a device.

Conclusion

Motorists who regularly repair their car often use car lifts. Some prefer to make their own. However, before that, it is better to understand the types of lifts and the nuances of their manufacture.