Category Archives: Photographs

Elliot Erwitt revisited

Photographers, Photographs

The master comedian of the camera.

One of the best measures of a man is whether he likes dogs. If he does not, fughedaboutit. It hardly comes as a surprise that the cretinous psychopath just booted from the Oval Office was the first US President in over a century not to have a dog. Heck, even Nixon had a dog, though I very much doubt any sane, rational human being would want to meet that dog’s owner.

So it’s a pleasure to read that that master comedian of the camera and all around dog lover, Elliot Erwitt, is still at it aged 92.



Elliot Erwitt’s Cairn terrier. Click the image for the article.

And if you must be choosy, it’s Scottish dogs which must feature high on any list. As a former Scottish Terrier owner, I know of what I speak, so it’s hardly surprising that Erwitt’s favorite was his Cairn terrier, a breed which hails from north of Hadrian’s Wall, like so many good things in life. Blood pudding, kilts, Scotch whisky, Harris Tweed, the bagpipes – all Scottish. And don’t forget James Watt and James Clerk Maxwell.



My Border terrier, Bertie. Click the image for a slide show of my dog snaps.

Handy SAM 1200 motorcycle lift – Part V

Motorcycles

The scissor jack and related modifications were detailed in Part IV.

The primary use of the jack is to raise the motorcycle close to its fore and aft fulcrum, using the oil sump as the jacking point. This process is required when either wheel has to be removed with the bike on the lift. The front wheel cannot be removed without use of the jack as it is anchored in the vise on the lift’s table. The rear wheel cannot be removed without use of a jack as my BMW airhead favors the rear wheel at rest. And the center stand cannot be deployed safely on the table without considerable strength and a host of related issues. As the bike is pulled up and back onto the center stand it moves back several inches, which cannot be done if the front wheel is in the vise, though there is a way to do this. See below.



Using a socket drill adapter bit to get the jack into position.

A 3/8″ socket drill adapter is used in a hand drill to raise the jack’s platform close to the oil pan. The screw in the jack has a fine pitch to confer mechanical advantage (not much stress on the user) but the trade off is that a lot of cranking is required. The electric drill makes this a speedy process.



Using a ratchet to raise the bike using the oil sump..

The front part of the oil sump is just ahead of the bike’s center of gravity which resides an inch or two behind the center stand pivot. That’s a small distance so there is very little turning moment on the jack itself, and little risk that it will tip forward.

As the ratchet is cranked first the rear wheel will rise off the table, permitting removal of the drop-in rear panel, removal of the wheel’s axle (one pinch bolt and one axle nut). The wheel can then be dropped down through the open panel space.



Drop-in panel removed to allow removal of the rear wheel.
Note the pneumatic bellows which are the raising device.

As the ratchet is operated and the bike rises, the front wheel, still clamped in the vise, permits rotation of the machine about the front axle. I have tie down straps installed at the front and these tighten up slightly as the front shock compresses. I did not find any need to loosen the tie downs.



Center stand deployed. No stress, no risk, no scratches.

If you are really strong and a master mechanic like William Plam, you can slam the center stand forward with the front wheel locked in the vise using skill and strength, scratching up your table’s surface in the process. You can see William do this at 27:03 in this video. His large collection of professionally made videos is a joy to watch, full of his decades of expertise and containing lots of tips and techniques. Highly recommended.

I am neither strong, nor a master mechanic and do not like scratched up tools, so I keep cranking on that ratchet until the bike rises a couple more inches at which point the center stand can be deployed by hand, no strength involved. As you can see, I use a monogrammed towel to protect the surface of the table. You can use a plain one if that’s all you have.

At this point the jack can be dropped and removed. If you are pulling the rear wheel you must secure the cross rail of the center stand to the front wheel’s rim, or to the exhaust cross flow pipe, or to the vise on the table. This obviates the risk of the bike falling off the center stand which has no rear wheel to prevent it doing so in the event the front wheel is not locked tightly in the vise.



Wheel vise loosened, crossbar removed and front wheel ready for removal.
Tie downs have been moved to the rear.

I am working on replacing the taper roller bearings in the front wheel hub so have to remove the front wheel – two axle pinch bolts must be loosened and the axle nut must be removed, along with a washer and spacer, for the axle to be withdrawn and the wheel rolled forward and out onto the workbench. In the next image I have removed the cross brace on the vise and made it possible to remove the wheel forward.

So that inexpensive jack paid for itself very quickly.



Front wheel removed, ready for bearing replacement.


Rear wheel removed, ready for bearing replacement.

Storage of the lift is easy, with movement about the garage greatly facilitated by the furniture dolly:



The lift is rolled into its storage location.

While I find the smallish workbench adequate for my needs, if additional workspace is needed the lift can be raised to workbench height.



Placing the bike on the lift.

Handy SAM 1200 motorcycle lift – Part IV

Motorcycles

Modifying the scissor jack.

Part III is here.

BMW Airheads appear to be variously balanced when on the center stand. My 1975 R90/6 rests on the rear tire, if lightly so. By contrast, the two R100RTs (1989 and 1994) I have owned rested on the front tire, likely owing to the weight of the large touring fairing on the front axle. Thus, for my 1975, I have to get the weight off the rear wheel if I am to remove it from the bike for tire change or maintenance of the taper roller bearings in the hub. This is how I used to do that in the pre-Handy lift days:



Rear wheel removal before the motorcycle lift arrived.

There are many ‘motorcycle’ jacks on Amazon, purportedly designed for two wheeled use. They are mostly flawed as the scissored assembly does not rise centrally to the base, so the higher you go the tippier the whole thing becomes. Plus, at $80 and up they are seriously overpriced. Enter Harbor Freight tools, purveyor of all that is cheap steel and labor from China. Hey, try and find a jack which is not made there. You can bet the one in your fancy top of the line BMW automobile comes from there, too,

They offer a variety of scissor and floor jacks and I opted for the cheapest scissor design, which ran me just $26 with tax, picked up at the local Phoenix store. The greater lifting capacity of the costlier one makes no sense in this application.



Click the image to go to the Harbor Freight site.

However, several modifications are required to make the tool functional for use on the Handy motorcycle lift.



The Harbor Freight jack.

The jack ships with a thoroughly inept hook and rod torquing device to raise and lower the saddle. It comes apart all too easily and is an aesthetic horror show. So I expoxied (using JB Weld – be sure to use the linked product. Their other lines are weaker) a 12mm 3/8″ drive socket into the end jaw which permits attachment of a regular ratchet with an extension. JB Weld, a superb 2-part epoxy, is more than up to this, though a weld would have been nicer. Sadly, I have no welding gear or skills.



12mm, 3/8″ drive socket epoxied into the drive jaws.
An electric drill-socket adapter will speed elevation to
approximate height before hand cranking takes over.

Next, a broader, more stable saddle has to be made to supplement the stock steel one which is intended to locate under a car’s longitudinal rails. A small piece of hard oak does just the trick, and a few minutes with a Makita chop saw and overnight glueing with wood glue is the answer. Oak machines to a very sharp edge so I have knocked off those edges on a Makita flat belt sander. Note that I have also glued a small rubber pad to the metal foot of the jack, to avoid marring the surface of the Handy lift table and to confer anti-slip properties. The glue used was 3M Weatherstrip adhesive.



The oak saddle extension.

This fits perfectly atop the stock saddle, provides a broad area for the sump of the motorcycle to rest on, and will not mar the finish; I will epoxy it to the stock saddle for a permanent installation:



The oak saddle extension in place.

Finally, the screw in the jack needs lubrication and the instruction booklet advises the use of a light oil. This is exactly wrong. What is called for is a thick grease, and I use LiquiMoly LM47, an excellent all purpose grease where high temperatures are not involved:



Screw greased with LiquiMoly LM47.

The jack is now ready for use with the motorcycle on the Handy lift.



The extended saddle painted red, and epoxied in place.

The width is identical to that of the airhead’s oil pan, to provide maximum contact area. The lifting point will be aligned with the center of gravity of the motorcycle, providing maximum safety. The transverse dimension of the red top is small enough that it will permit full deployment of the center stand once the motorcycle has been lifted, with the front wheel secured in the lift’s vise.

In Part V I look at how the jack is used on the motorcycle lift to remove the front and rear wheels as well as aiding in painless deployment of the center stand on the lift.