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It's fun to rent heavy equipment. Unless you normally work around the stuff, how else are you going to get to operate it?
The rental place is less than a mile away, and they let me drive it home on back roads instead of paying a truck-delivery fee. It's a "rough-terrain"-type, needed 'cause of my having to use it in dirt. I might not have mentioned my limited experience with forklifts (but I do have a little). On this one you had to get the transmission in the gear you wanted via a standard H-pattern lever, then as normal a stalk on the left of the steering was for forward/reverse and thoughtfully designed so that forward position meant forward movement, etc. No clutch per se, but a pedal on the left released/engaged power for "inching"/braking. The normal brakes are on the right which doesn't seem like a problem except the gas pedal was more on the right and back, reminiscent of the old gasser Anglias and such that had them on the trans tunnels...not the obvious position so that I'd tend to hit the brake when I wanted the gas, and then not be sure about what the brake pedal was for when I really needed it. The solution for all that was, just keep it in first and there was always time to figure it out before I rammed something. If you've never driven a forklift with their rr boat-type steering, it takes a little getting use to, still you steer right to go right.
Four levers for mast control look confusing at first, but it doesn't take long until you're running the thing around like you once did your Tonka Toys. Just be more careful.
(edit: I shouldn't mean to sound too casual...my "little" bit of experience includes, taking sensible safety and operations courses first)
These press brake machines came to me in trade for work , along with a single-station punch machine I think I posted a pic of last year. They've been sitting in my driveway smack in the way of everything for months. The smaller one needs a pump, the big Verson works fine and I posted it on CL for a few weeks at a price I would have loved to have it for myself, with little response. So I'm gonna keep it for now, stuck in the back yard I guess. It and I in-fact go 'way back, this came from a shop my Dad worked for near JPL in Pasadena during the space race, when I was perhaps age six he took me in there and I never forgot the image of that huge green machine (it seemed like ten feet tall). It was their pride-and-joy at the time, I used it plenty when I later worked at the same place for a few years. Long obsolete now for production use, but would be good for someone's shop. I may keep it just for sentiment...or as a spare for my main machine.
The forklift was wonderful fun, $209 for the day plus fuel (beats risking injury or accident dinking around trying to move stuff other ways) and I didn't mess anything up. I wanted $3500 for the brake but whatever. The small one I'll fix if I ever come across parts. Yeah I'm kinda becoming the old guy with a bunch of crap like this in his backyard, but I get to do what I want and it's pretty hidden anyway.
The rental place is less than a mile away, and they let me drive it home on back roads instead of paying a truck-delivery fee. It's a "rough-terrain"-type, needed 'cause of my having to use it in dirt. I might not have mentioned my limited experience with forklifts (but I do have a little). On this one you had to get the transmission in the gear you wanted via a standard H-pattern lever, then as normal a stalk on the left of the steering was for forward/reverse and thoughtfully designed so that forward position meant forward movement, etc. No clutch per se, but a pedal on the left released/engaged power for "inching"/braking. The normal brakes are on the right which doesn't seem like a problem except the gas pedal was more on the right and back, reminiscent of the old gasser Anglias and such that had them on the trans tunnels...not the obvious position so that I'd tend to hit the brake when I wanted the gas, and then not be sure about what the brake pedal was for when I really needed it. The solution for all that was, just keep it in first and there was always time to figure it out before I rammed something. If you've never driven a forklift with their rr boat-type steering, it takes a little getting use to, still you steer right to go right.
Four levers for mast control look confusing at first, but it doesn't take long until you're running the thing around like you once did your Tonka Toys. Just be more careful.
(edit: I shouldn't mean to sound too casual...my "little" bit of experience includes, taking sensible safety and operations courses first)
These press brake machines came to me in trade for work , along with a single-station punch machine I think I posted a pic of last year. They've been sitting in my driveway smack in the way of everything for months. The smaller one needs a pump, the big Verson works fine and I posted it on CL for a few weeks at a price I would have loved to have it for myself, with little response. So I'm gonna keep it for now, stuck in the back yard I guess. It and I in-fact go 'way back, this came from a shop my Dad worked for near JPL in Pasadena during the space race, when I was perhaps age six he took me in there and I never forgot the image of that huge green machine (it seemed like ten feet tall). It was their pride-and-joy at the time, I used it plenty when I later worked at the same place for a few years. Long obsolete now for production use, but would be good for someone's shop. I may keep it just for sentiment...or as a spare for my main machine.
The forklift was wonderful fun, $209 for the day plus fuel (beats risking injury or accident dinking around trying to move stuff other ways) and I didn't mess anything up. I wanted $3500 for the brake but whatever. The small one I'll fix if I ever come across parts. Yeah I'm kinda becoming the old guy with a bunch of crap like this in his backyard, but I get to do what I want and it's pretty hidden anyway.
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