The Foreman at CATWERKS

Earlier in the week I found time to visit the scrap yard for a look around. One of the things uncovered was large version of
the familiar machinist jack. It is actually a house jack or sometimes called a railroad jack from long ago. It had to be
sitting outside for years as it was a rusted piece of history. Heat was used on the screw housing and the top rotating part and
finally I was able to get it apart and cleaned up and even painted. These jacks are not very efficient, probably 20 percent at
best but will always work, unlike the hydraulic jack that at times needs attention before it can be used. In the casting is inscribed
"1 x 6" which I assume is one inch diameter threads and 6 inches of lift.



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Here's a photo of the jack after several hours of toil and some oil. I added a handle to the find using a foot or so of hot roll material.



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Of course, the Foreman had to claim my treasure as his roost.:)
 
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Earlier in the week I found time to visit the scrap yard for a look around. One of the things uncovered was large version of
the familiar machinist jack. It is actually a house jack or sometimes called a railroad jack from long ago. It had to be
sitting outside for years as it was a rusted piece of history. Heat was used on the screw housing and the top rotating part and
finally I was able to get it apart and cleaned up and even painted. These jacks are not very efficient, probably 20 percent at
best but will always work, unlike the hydraulic jack that at times needs attention before it can be used. In the casting is inscribed
"1 x 6" which I assume is one inch diameter threads and 6 inches of lift.



View attachment 264276
Here's a photo of the jack after several hours of toil and some oil. I added a handle to the find using a foot or so of hot roll material.



View attachment 264279
Of course, the Foreman had to claim my treasure as his roost.:)



After another scrap yard trip, I found a piece of rod with a bell shaped end that looked interesting. I ended up cutting out
a section of the belled part and making a little brother to the house jack that I refurbished earlier. The metal was really
tough stuff so not easy to machine. It must have been some sort of torsion rod or similar.

Maybe I need to add the handle part to look more authentic but quite useable as is.


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I have a matched pair of 10" or 12" house jacks we used. Mine the handles store upright through the Jack handle . Small planer jacks are great to have in the shop like the one you made go find another bell shaped to make a second , usually two are better . Nice job on your small Jack build.
 
OMG!!! It looks like the higher ups are having a board meeting today!P1020553.JPG
 
I see the board members are putting their heads together to try and seed a plan to oust the Chairman of the Board while he contemplates kicking one of them in the butt. Typical corporate bird-brained politics.

Tom
 
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