Making Your Own Cabinet Jack

Whether you buy one or go to the trouble of making your own, a nice cabinet jack will make you wonder how you used to get along without it. September 10, 2008

Question

Has anybody made their own cabinet jack similar to the Gillift? This looks pretty easy to build and I'd like to make one instead of dropping that much money.

Forum Responses

(Cabinetmaking Forum)

From contributor D:

I have a friend who owns his own metal fabrication business. I asked him how much to build one and his cost on material was about 400. He did have some improvements he would have put into it, and I would have gotten away with no (or very little) labor, but only because we've been friends for 20 years. He said he would have had to charge someone closer to a thousand bucks to build one. For 1500 he said he could do one with an electric remote.

The high cost of material was doing just one. Something about you have to buy this stuff in 20' lengths, and aluminum is expensive. Kind of like needing a 4/4 x 1" x 12" piece of rosewood, and having to buy an 8" x 10' board. If you have drop lying around, not a problem, but if you have to buy the whole board, that little piece just absorbed the entire cost.

