On Aug 12, 8:33 pm, Stephen wrote:
Is your crane something like this?http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...0-1-tonne-fold...

That's the kind of thing I had in mind but I don't have one ;(

Something like that. Older model Clarke I think, as my narrow wheels
are closer set.

They're good things. Talk your richest anvil-owning mate into buying
one, then borrow it. It's one of my most-borrowed tools.


I have one of those electric winches. Rarely use it as the engine
crane is generally far more useful.

When you do use it, what is it fastened to?I might use mine (not for
this but for other jobs) if only I could work out what to fix it to!

I mostly mount it on the floor. It's often used for winching,
sometimes for lifting from down in holes, occasionally by going up and
then down again over a pulley. Some extra pulley blocks makes it a
lot more use. Next planned use is to pull a steel girder portal frame
upright around a garage roller shutter.

For overhead mounts, usually fasten it to solid things by a couple of
big U bolts. Timber roof trusses or horizontal scaffold poles. I
noticed that Amazon also had people selling a £40 slewing jib to go
with it, that mounted on a vertical upright, post or solid wall.
Looked like a useful thing to have over the big lathe.

Like most of these things, it's useless on its own until you've been
to a cheap farm auction and picked up a bagful of assorted strops and
shackles.


I've a high-lift jack too, which
is one of the most dangerous bits of kit I own, on a par with
chainsaws.

Are we talking about something like this:http://www.screwfix.com/p/farm-jack-...questid=214863

Yes.

The base is small, so it needs an extension baseplate to spread the
load.

It's _very_ prone to toppling. Really, really prone to toppling.
Assume that _anything_ you lift with it is just planning to fall off
and either land on you, or break itself - from workshop anvils up to
Range Rovers.

It's a swine and a half to switch it from lift to lower. Mine is
packed with a wrap-around cover over the oily bit for storage and this
cover includes pockets for both the instruction manual (and disclaimer
forms) and also a 1lb copper hammer to clout the reversing pawls with.

These things are just evil. I won't lend these to people who I don't
trust with firearms and chainsaws.