Making a car lift for a garage with your own hands. DIY lift: designs, drawings, tips for making DIY scissor car lift

To earn decent money, a professional car mechanic needs a garage, a set of tools and a lift. Making such a device yourself is much cheaper than buying equipment industrial production.

Organizing your own business

Having a garage will help change your social status (agree to rent a room if you cannot organize a workshop on your own territory).

You must register as an entrepreneur. After receiving a patent or a certificate of entrepreneurial activity from a territorial government agency, you can seriously engage in business, purchase tools and metal products:

  • channel;
  • I-beams;
  • corners;
  • rods;
  • profile (square) pipes;
  • corrugated iron (for platform decking);
  • semi-automatic welding;
  • angle grinder;
  • electrodes, cutting wheels, bolts and nuts of different sizes.

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

Common lift design

There are several equipment options for lifting cars to a given height. It makes it easier for technicians 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 bracket with a winch. But owners of expensive limousines and jeeps will run away at the sight of such equipment and never return.

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

Putting an idea on paper

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

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

He will help you draw up an estimate that will indicate required amount rolled metal products (total length of channels, I-beams and corners) and others Supplies.

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

How to make a homemade lift

First of all, use a scriber to apply marking lines on the channels and corners 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 accurate to the millimeter in length.

Two- or four-post units lift vehicles using a worm gear or hydraulic cylinder. A mechanical drive is located inside each support. It consists of a shaft with a strip thread cut on its surface. Platforms for support bearings with a centering mechanism are electric welded to the lower ends of the racks. The “foot” for the platform is screwed onto the shaft. IN assembled form 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 needs to be done when assembling a hydraulic lift with your own hands.

Tipper for car

The simplest design for tipping a car on its side. It will come in handy in any garage assistive device for 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 axle of the wheel;

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

Connect the brackets to the platforms using hinges. Thus, two identical structures are made. For rotary mechanism use metal pins with bushings or bearings.

Supplies you will need:

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

    two pins and four bushings (these parts must be turned on a lathe);

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

All structural parts are welded together. The hinged brackets need to be connected to the platforms - and the tipper is ready for work.

If you are just starting your entrepreneurial activity, keep in mind that you do not need a lift to repair cars. An overpass or inspection hole is sufficient. 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. You cannot make such a screw at home with your own hands. Shafts are manufactured on industrial machines. It is quite possible that in your locality Such equipment simply does not exist.

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

Vehicle repairs and maintenance often require a lift. This design is designed to fix the car and lift it to a certain height, which provides access to the suspension, chassis and many other elements vehicle. A similar design is often found at stations Maintenance, less often in private garages due to the high cost. If you wish, you can make a homemade car lift. 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 factory-made lifts - they become the main basis when creating a home-made structure.

The most widespread are:

According to the method of lifting the car The following types of design are distinguished:

  1. Fork.
  2. Scissor.
  3. Platform.

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

A homemade car lift with your own hands should be created taking into account the fact that the structure must be safe and securely fix the vehicle. Do not forget that when performing almost any work, the master is under a vehicle that weighs more than a ton.

Difficulties in making a lift

An installed car may break down for the following reasons:

Difficulties in manufacturing arise due to the fact that some structural elements You can’t do it yourself. An example can be called lead screws of great length. Therefore, they rarely make a scissor lift with their own hands. Blueprints homemade structures often involve the creation of a tipper, which is much easier to manufacture. If necessary, do-it-yourself scissor lift drawings can be downloaded on the Internet, but it is worth considering that most of the parts will have to be purchased, due to which the cost finished design will not decrease. In addition, you will have to calculate the strength of all elements used.

Such work can only be performed efficiently by an engineer who has great experience. If errors are made at the time of calculations, there is a possibility that lifting mechanism will not withstand the applied load. Therefore, in the absence of confidence that the skills and knowledge are sufficient to implement 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 engines and other heavy units. It is less suitable for lifting a vehicle.

In conclusion, we note that creating a classic lifting device, which occurs at service stations, is almost impossible. To work with the chassis or underbody of a car, you can create a tipper.

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

Why is it needed?

In most cases there is no point in buying it. Both from a financial point of view and from the point of view of free space in the garage. Although, for car owners who have a large garage-workshop, its presence is already a huge plus.

Firstly, let’s not complicate life and dig an inspection ditch, which, in principle, provides nothing more than access to the bottom. However, in the case of any type of lift, we get certain benefits:


Market prices

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

In order not to spend such a sum, it is quite possible to make it yourself. It’s worth getting acquainted with the factory samples and weighing the pros and cons, which is what we’ll do now. We have posted some drawings and diagrams of scissor devices on the page and they may lead to the necessary design idea. It is clear that it makes no sense to copy dimensions from diagrams, since conditions vary, as do different requirements to 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 simply lift it, or you can raise it to full human height. Second and perhaps most important requirement This includes ensuring the complete safety of people and the integrity of the vehicle. We will not give sad examples, but, unfortunately, they exist.

In addition, you need to think about the drive and lifting mechanism system, think about control, adjustment and fastening to the garage floor. By the way, most factory-made products are tightly anchored to the floor and concreted. This is necessary to prevent tip-overs and reduce the risk of injury and property damage; however, there are also self-propelled hydraulic lifts.

Drive and lift

The drive of all lifts can be either hydromechanical or electromechanical. In the first case, an electric motor with a pump and a system of hydraulic cylinders are used to lift the platform or table. Its operating principle is quite simple and is clear from the diagrams and drawings provided. As a rule, a three-phase 380-volt electric motor is used to operate the lift hydraulic station, and the hydraulic fittings must be strictly adjusted according to the expected load.

Low-cost hydraulic power plants also operate from a 24-volt electric motor, but their load capacity is severely 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 differs from the manufacturer.

Video tutorial

Be that as it may, design and technological engineering calculations must be taken very seriously. So, it will be necessary to calculate minimum section beams, calculation of hydraulic cylinder axes, selection of hydraulic cylinders based on performance and rod length, choosing the right hydraulic pump and control system. When designing, special attention is paid to safety and emergency mechanisms for raising/lowering the vehicle.

The task is quite difficult, but solvable. If you have 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 designing!

Despite the stated strength and durability, 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 a car without outside help 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 car enthusiasts can afford it. Moreover, 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 yourself.

DIY garage lift

Since the product will be mounted on walls, this device is intended for use in a garage.

Required Components

To create a lift The following parts will be required:

Assembly instructions

Assembly and installation process The lift is quite simple:

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

Using this type of lift

Operating principle It's also not particularly complicated:

  1. Be sure to remove the bolts holding the engine and car frame together.
  2. Place hinges under the engine steel cable and throw the ends onto the hook.
  3. Start searching the chain. Gradually, the movement will move to the drive shaft, which will force the cargo to move and the cables will be tensioned. The engine should be lifted slowly and carefully.
  4. Having removed the engine using a lift, stop the operation of the homemade crane. The weight of the load will now be securely held by the gearbox.
  5. Move the car and put it in its place durable table, able to withstand heavy engine load.

Simple DIY lift

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

This product has several components, which fasten together, forming an integral structure.

Many car owners, having the appropriate knowledge and skills, are ready to move on to repair work the car engine yourself. To do this, the machine engine should be pulled out of the hood and installed back at the end of the work. It's hard to do this and without a special lifting device it’s impossible.

But you can find a way out of every situation. And if you have a garage, you can take advantage of the experience of many craftsmen and make a car lift for the garage with your own hands.

Materials for work

To produce a motor lift, prepare the following materials and tools:

  • a pair of metal corners 7.5 × 7.5 × 0.8 cm;
  • steel plate 1 cm wide;
  • a gearbox with a coefficient of 60 and a load capacity of 300 kilograms;
  • bolts;
  • chain, 2 pcs.;
  • “star” key (suitable for an ordinary moped), 2 pcs.;
  • hook.

Choosing a design

So, you have decided to rely on your own skillful hands and do homemade lift to the garage rather than purchasing it from mall special equipment. This is an understandable desire: the cost of such equipment may not be much less than the price of your car, and it will be used extremely rarely (only if you do not intend to open a service station in a car garage).

The idea and desire have appeared, now it’s time to select the system for the device being created. To do this, you need to focus on industrial lifts demonstrated on the special equipment market, “peek” at their structure and imagine can you do something like this.

Most likely, the first thing you will come across is a two-post lift, which can be found in almost any auto repair shop. This type of device can be equipped electromechanical or electrohydraulic drive.

In the first case, inside any rack there is a threaded shaft rotated by an electric motor with a gearbox. The threaded shaft contains a bearing nut that moves along it and, accordingly, raises and lowers the “legs” on which the car rests.

In a two-post electro-hydraulic lift, the axle is replaced by a drive, the pressure in which is generated by an electric motor. There are other types of similar systems, but with one, three or 4 racks.

Another type of lift is a scissor lift, where the platform has a system of levers (called “scissors”), rises and lowers with the support of hydraulic drives driven by electric motors.

When creating similar systems, you can encounter a large number of problems and difficulties that need to be solved. First of all, this is work safety - no one wants to get seriously injured or damaged due to a broken lift at one not very fortunate moment.

Therefore, it is necessary to select materials and the device system in such a way that it can withstand the weight of the machine with a significant reserve. It is also worth taking care of the production of locking elements that allow you to keep the car on the site in case of emergency situations with the lift. And in order to prevent the latter, you should constantly inspect them. For an electric drive, it is necessary to check the wear of the shaft thread and the bearing nut; for an electrohydraulic drive, it is necessary to monitor the integrity of the hoses and cylinders.

And the main problem faced by those who want to do a two-post or scissor lift with my own hands- complexity of production and high cost of elements. At home, it is almost impossible to form a threaded shaft; selecting cylinders and hydraulic hoses is not an easy task and is not cheap.

But there is a simpler one and adapted for production in garage conditions type of car lift, which turns the car on its side at an angle of 45°-60° and is called a tipper. Let's take a closer look at it and take a look at where and how it can be done.

Simple lift

For several decades now, the most common and durable method of lifting a car has been turning it on its side. In fact, it’s not only the engine that needs repair from time to time, but also other components that can only be reached with the help of test pit. But not everyone has such a pit, and folk craftsmen have constructed an elementary, if not primitive, system.

At least 3 people are required for this lift. This method can hardly be considered ideal, because not a single person wants to tempt fate by scratching a car on a concrete flooring.

However, if there is no other way out, then such a lift can help you out. His system is as simple as possible, and the production method is clear even from photographs.

An alternative to a lift can be an inspection hole (of course, if the garage system makes it possible to dig it). If you make a hole as tall as you are, you can easily examine the bottom of the car. If it is not possible to properly equip inspection hole, then you can limit yourself to an overpass (but it will require the presence of quite significant ceilings in the room).

Instructions:

  1. 1. For the base, embed metal corners into the side walls of the room so that the car hood is located just under them. Next, install a centimeter plate on the corner racks and secure it with eight “M8” bolts. It will not merge with the corners, so in the future you will be able to change its placement above the car engine.
  2. Fix the worm adjuster on the plate. Next, take the key, put it on the electric drive shaft, and secure it. Then make a 2 cm opening in the tile for the chain, then pass the chain through the finished hole and close it into a ring.
  3. Place another sprocket on the outgoing shaft, smaller this time, and combine them.
  4. Make 2 more holes of 3 cm in the slab, pass the chain over the key. The 2nd chain must end with a metal hook capable of supporting the weight of the motor.

Model with 2-leg shoe

To make a car lift with your own hands, you should first tackle the lower support. For this purpose, numerous experts advise preparing a clamp in advance. With its support it will be possible to hold the main pin. But first of all, it is important to secure the frame. To do this you will need to use welded inverter. Then, in order to assemble the lift with your own hands, it is important to choose a high-quality hydraulic device for raising the beam.

After its installation, the handle is installed. A channel regulator will do for these purposes. Post lift can be made from aluminum plate. The supports for the fixture are formed last. Before this, it is important to check the reliability of the clamp, for which it will be necessary to use a welding inverter.

Mechanism with 3-leg shoe

It’s easy to assemble a device with a shoe on three supports with your own hands. In this situation, a U-shaped base is prepared. After this, it will be possible to secure the pickup. For this purpose, numerous experts advise using a clamp. The hydraulic mechanism can be directly determined on the screws. However, it should not cover the supports.

Next, to make a car lift with your own hands, you need to fix the regulator. To do this, a small plate is cut from an iron sheet. It should be welded at the top beam. The distance from the edge should be at least 2.2 cm. After this, the shoe is strengthened. The first base is installed at the hydraulic device. At this time, 2 other supports should be placed at the front edge of the model.

Device with U-shaped rear beam

In this case it will be difficult to make the base. To do this you need to cut a large number of long plates of iron sheet. In such a situation, experts advise determining the shoe metal type. In this case, the hydraulic mechanism must be located at the lower beam. Then, to select a lift, you need assemble the regulator. To do this you need to use a clamp.

The first base is welded only after the nut is secured. The support must be marked on the machine. In this case, the distance between its corners should be at least 230 mm. Certain modifications to the approved lifting device require the use of pumps. In this case, they are necessary to lubricate the hydraulic device. To determine this part, it is important to attach an auxiliary support to the rear beam.

L-shaped rear support device

To assemble a model of this type, first of all, prepare the base. For this purpose, the plates are selected from steel. Their thickness must be at least 2.2 mm. Then, to assemble the lift, you need to secure the side supports. It is not necessary to use a clamp for this purpose.

The support is welded at the appropriate step. To make it without help, you will need 3 sheets of metal of the same size. Their length should be 120 millimeters. After welding them, the upper support is fixed. In this case, it is more expedient to use a compact hydraulic mechanism. In a similar way, the gearbox can be placed next to it.

If the car is big

Sometimes it is necessary to repair engines not only passenger cars. In this case, you will need at least 2 assistants - they will pull the motor hanging on cables to the table, which you must first move to the car’s bumper. At the same time, you will use the chain to rotate the gearbox, but only in the other direction.

Once faced with this kind of situation, you will probably start thinking about upgrading your own design. Alternatively, you can provide the metal plate with wheels, which will make it possible to pull it towards the side wall in order to further lower the dismantled motor onto the table. Moreover, you can go further and equip the lift electric motor with reduction gear.

Using a lift

The operation of the worm system must be carried out in the following way. Move the car about one size deeper into the room to make room for the table.

The operating principle is not particularly complicated:

  1. Be sure to remove the bolts holding the engine and frame of the machine.
  2. Place loops of steel rope under the motor and throw the ends onto the hook.
  3. Start searching the chain. Over time, the movement will transfer to the drive shaft, it will force the loading shaft to move and tension will occur in the cables. The engine must be lifted slowly and carefully.
  4. After pulling out the motor using a lift, stop operating the crane. The weight of the lifted load will now be securely held by the regulator.
  5. Move the car and install in its place a strong table that can withstand a significant load from the motor.

Note! Use a durable table that can withstand heavy loads. It is preferable that it be on wheels for more convenient movement in any direction.