Herc-U-Lift worth the hassle?

[bigfoot15]

Everybody drooling over this lift has me wondering if it would be worth the hassle for me to have someone purchase a couple or 4 of these down there for me and ship them up here.
Somebody in either Houston, Tulsa or OK City area would be best because I could get a trucking company I deal with to bring them up for me. Or if someone lives near the border and happens to go across the line once in awhile..

HMMMMM....Maybe I should buy a skid of them and sell them to local WW folks....Now I'm being greedy.

Anyways, any thoughts?

[hobkirk]

• It works very well - it really is better than good locking casters
• It's REALLY HARD to assemble - until you've done it at least once...
• I have a box-style BT3000 stand - it will work, but only after I've re-engineered the stand quite a bit - it really only works easily on 4-legged stands
• You can't have a storage shelf down low - the lift will take up about the bottom 12"

Hope this helps.

[tfischer]

I personally think the difficulty of assembly is overstated, but then I'm a parent and have to assemble toys and the like. I didn't find it difficult at all, you just have to follow directions carefully (and unfortunately you have to flip back and forth between 2 sections of the manual). I did it in about 2 hours, without hurrying...

We got a new gas grill this past summer (one of the fancy-schmancy ones with lots of parts) and I'd say this went about 1/3 as difficult as that was -- and both products had all the pieces labeled very well.

-Tim

[buff51p]

Doug could you post a picture of it mounted to your bt3000 I have this saw and was wondering about how it would work.
thanks
Buford

[Never2old2start]

BigFoot- I bought two bases. One for my BS and one for my TS. Yesterday, I installed one of them on the BS. Before doing so I took a little extra time and read/marked the instructional pages relating to this tool. Yes, you do have to flip back and forth during the assembly and start to wonder if the Ridgid tech writer was fired upon completing this task but as Tim mentioned above the parts are well marked and with a little determination and focus you'll have it together in no time. One more thing worth mentioning, it's human nature to 'tighten' bolts and nuts when assembling anything but when putting this together leave them snug, not tight, because there will be some 'tweaking' required once the assemblys are fitted into the brackets. Today, I'm going to install the other base on the BT. And to answer your question about these units, man, they are worth the time and money. Sure is nice to 'wheel around the floor' these days.
just my 2 cents.

~ Paul ~

[killin5]

I am in the middle of installing the base. I’m also in the process of moving so it is not the best time to be doing it. Flipping from section to section is annoying. Mine came with a foreign language booklet. I have been referring to that one for the diagram section. It is still annoying going form one book to another.

The stand looks like a good one. I may pick up another for future tool use. Which hopefully will be soon. I can't see how I'm going to get the new house ready without a band saw or quality drill press.

John

[preamble]

I just installed one the other night on my BT3100. I had one of the $54 stands from Woodcraft (HTC maybe) on it that I moved to my jointer as the Hurculift wont work with a closed base stand.

I must say it was rather difficult to install. I think it became easier once I chucked the step by step instructions and reffered to the drawing of the Ridgid saw further into the booklet.

Some recommendations:

Even though the BT stand appears to have similiar holes already drilled in it, they will not work as they do not line up with the holes in the brackets.

The two holes that you will drill on each leg are about 1/8" higher up the leg then the factory holes. This makes a good reference.

You should have two smaller tubes (8" maybe) left over, along with the bandsaw type leg brackets.

Leave all the bolt loose until you are done then tighten all except the bolt on each leg bracket. I have found that the unit operates better with play on the brackets. There are two other bolts that I loosened too but I can't describe which ones.

I used the sping / chain and drilled one whole near the bottom edge of the rear upper cross member of the stand. The other end attaches to the middle cross pience of the read assembly. Refer to the drawing of the work stand in the booklet.

Overall it was a pain to installl and took me about 3 hours over two nights to complete.
I have a BT15s saw that I plan on buying another Hurcules for so I guess this means that I do recomend the stand if you have a little patience.

Good luck

[Salty]

This is the way to put these together. Even if you have already assembled the BT3100. I am thinking of taking mine apart and reworking the lift. Think about it. You remive the SMT and the accessory table, take out 4 bolts and set the saw to the side. I still ache from crawling around on the concrete floor putting mine together.
And no, this is not me putting mine together, but he knows who he is and who suggested that he assemble his before putting the saw together!

[Lee4847]

And Thanks

Thanks for suggesting it. Even though it was a little confusing working out of the Lift and the saw assembly instructions at the same time. Always better to work from the ground up!

I'll call you about my fee for the copy wright on that photo!

Lee

[Salty]

You know the address to send the bill....see if it gets you anywhere!

[Larry David]

I bought 2 of them (Herc U Lift Plus). One for the BT3100 and one for my Ridgid Miter Saw table. After reading about all the "issues" and time involved with fitting it to the BT3100 I returned them both and bought a Woodcraft mobile base. More money but it works like a champ and NO hassles! I'm going to get another Woodcraft mobile base for the miter saw table as well.

[Bollox]

I have one under a BT3100 stand that has my planer on it. I love it. I also have Rockler Mobile bases under the bandsaw and jointer, they work OK and I'd probably be happy with them if I didnt like the Herculift so much!
In my opinion, the biggest plus is that with the Herculift you get all 4 wheels steering which makes it really easy to steer the machine around a shop cluttered up with too much crap.
I didnt think the assembly was any worse than putting the Rockler bases together.
Mike

[dlminehart]

It took me about 2-1/2 hours, what with drilling the legs of the BT3100, puzzling over attaching the chain to control the lifting, crawling around on the cement floor in a crowded garage, etc. The longer I have it, the less significant the effort seems, as it really is a snap to use.

That said, I plan to make a cabinet base for the BT3100, and move the Herc-u-Lift to my HF bandsaw. Hope that doesn't take so many hours! I plan to do it at the same time I put the bandsaw together . . .

[tfischer]

That said, I plan to make a cabinet base for the BT3100, and move the Herc-u-Lift to my HF bandsaw. Hope that doesn't take so many hours! I plan to do it at the same time I put the bandsaw together . . .

Do you have an open-stand HF bandsaw? The popular 4-speed HF BS that I have has a closed stand -- so I don't see how it would work with the H-U-L.

-Tim

[Ishmel]

Drilling holes

I'm assembling the herc for my Bt3100 and I have a question about drilling the holes in the legs. How did you determine where to drill them? I read in a post that they should be an eighth inch higher than the exsisting holes, so I'll drill them there I supposed, but I'm curious about how it was decided that was the place to put them?

Thanks

don