Fabrication and First Test.

We worked until the late hours of the night for a couple of months welding, cutting and installing in the metal shop of the Visual Arts department at UCSD while listening to a radio horror show in Spanish called “La Mano Peluda” (the Hairy Hand). We scavenged the junkyards of San Ysidro and Chula Vista. We bought a cheap used lift from Otay Mesa Sales that came all rusty with stains of cement and bad batteries. We got our hydraulics set up from Pro Hopper, the steel from Material Sales Inc and hardware from K Surplus.

Finally we were able to test the machine. Even though we still need to make some adjustments, it was very exciting to see how this portable monument unfolded, spun and danced. We will certainly need to change the used batteries that came with the lift since they are very weak and reinforce or change the frame of the basket because it bends with the force of the spin and the dance. We should also add some legs on the side of the body to make the lift more stable when it is unfolded so that it doesn’t collapse when we turn the steel arm to the side.

But once that is all done, we will soon be ready for the next stage of the production that involves metal flake painting, some chroming and as much pimping as we can afford.