Garage elevator man lift build ideas needed
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Grumpy Old Man
Platinum Member
I have seen this done using a 2 stage forklift boom , I plan on using a four post lift to make a car elevator in the garage, drive car onto lift -lower lift down and have an extra parking space and secure parking for muscle car downstairs in the garage basement . I saw this being done already in Europe where parking is hard to come by .
BHD
Veteran Member
I have seen some built with small winches, and the old commercial short level elevators mostly used hydraulic cylinders, (most likely with restriction valves)
with out safeties one should consider it a big dumb waiter and the people take the stairs, and use the lift for non living things,
I had considered trying to build some thing my self, but my idea was to make a braking systems that the cable lifting hooked to, and a spring to pull it down so some weight would be needed to make it work on the lift platform,
the arms would pivot into the track and the out side would keep the track from spreading, and more weight the more braking power, if the cable goes loose,
with out safeties one should consider it a big dumb waiter and the people take the stairs, and use the lift for non living things,
I had considered trying to build some thing my self, but my idea was to make a braking systems that the cable lifting hooked to, and a spring to pull it down so some weight would be needed to make it work on the lift platform,
the arms would pivot into the track and the out side would keep the track from spreading, and more weight the more braking power, if the cable goes loose,
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ericher69
Veteran Member
I have no stairs to the attic therefore need a way to get up there.
I have a ladder secured to the wall now with an overhead chain fall to raise heavy items.
BHD
Veteran Member
would a pull down Attic stars work for you,
smiley
Gold Member
This would probably take more room than you want but it is almost a stand alone elevator that could be built to any capacity, so I'll describe it just for ideas.
A neighbor in Fla. was a contractor and built one on the outside of his house, to his second floor deck and living area.
It was very simple and rugged consisting of 2, 2" well casing pipes sunk into the limerock which is under only a few inches of dirt where we live, but it could be built on a concrete or steel base. The top of the pipes had a small I beam welded and bolted across and was secured to the rafters of the deck roof. An industrial cable hoist was attached to the I beam. The cable went down to a steel mesh cage about 3 1/2 x 3 1/2, that was centered between the posts. On top and bottom each side of the cage were pieces of larger diameter pipes about 3 " long, around the 2 standing pipes that acted as guides, (I think I would have bent U straps and bolted them). The control box was strictly manual with up and down buttons and the wires just rode up and down on the cage. It was that simple and was used for many years. I was going to take photo's for future reference but unfortunately the place was sold and elevator taken down, I would imagine for insurance liability reasons.
A neighbor in Fla. was a contractor and built one on the outside of his house, to his second floor deck and living area.
It was very simple and rugged consisting of 2, 2" well casing pipes sunk into the limerock which is under only a few inches of dirt where we live, but it could be built on a concrete or steel base. The top of the pipes had a small I beam welded and bolted across and was secured to the rafters of the deck roof. An industrial cable hoist was attached to the I beam. The cable went down to a steel mesh cage about 3 1/2 x 3 1/2, that was centered between the posts. On top and bottom each side of the cage were pieces of larger diameter pipes about 3 " long, around the 2 standing pipes that acted as guides, (I think I would have bent U straps and bolted them). The control box was strictly manual with up and down buttons and the wires just rode up and down on the cage. It was that simple and was used for many years. I was going to take photo's for future reference but unfortunately the place was sold and elevator taken down, I would imagine for insurance liability reasons.
CNC Dan
Veteran Member
timbatrader said:
most modern forklifts have a 'velocity fuse' at the base. If a hose bursts and the flow is too high the 'fuse' stops all flow. Under normal use and flows, the 'fuse' has no effect or restriction.
Depmandog
Veteran Member
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- 2005 Kubota L5030 GST; Farmall 706, 756, 806 & 1086
Back in high school, I worked for a old furniture store that had a manual elevator serving three floors. Huge heavy wooden platform. Power up and down was provided by pulling on a never ending rope - probably 2" in diameter. If you got tired, you pulled a smaller rope that activated a brake to take a breather.
You pulled down on the rope, and a foot to the left the same rope was moving up, as the rope was wrapped around a pulley on the bottom floor and some sort of pulley / gear reduction set up at the top of the third floor.
No clue what the gear reduction was, but you pulled 50-70 feet of rope to move up 10'. Going down didn't take much effort at all. It would not free spin down, you still had to pull some rope (you pull down on the rope to the right to raise, pull down on the rope on left to lower. )
Many times I had a full bedroom set and two or three people on that thing. Of course the more weight, the harder it pulled going up. And the easier it would come down.
I will look for some schematics of the upper pulley section for you.
You pulled down on the rope, and a foot to the left the same rope was moving up, as the rope was wrapped around a pulley on the bottom floor and some sort of pulley / gear reduction set up at the top of the third floor.
No clue what the gear reduction was, but you pulled 50-70 feet of rope to move up 10'. Going down didn't take much effort at all. It would not free spin down, you still had to pull some rope (you pull down on the rope to the right to raise, pull down on the rope on left to lower. )
Many times I had a full bedroom set and two or three people on that thing. Of course the more weight, the harder it pulled going up. And the easier it would come down.
I will look for some schematics of the upper pulley section for you.
Depmandog
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2010
- Messages
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- Buckner MO, LaPlata MO
- Tractor
- 2005 Kubota L5030 GST; Farmall 706, 756, 806 & 1086
This is like the lift I described above.
3v0
Platinum Member
As mentioned above it gets hard when you put people into the mix.
I made one for cargo using a small shopfox winch and homebrew plywood tracks with garage door rollers. It will carry a 250lb person but I do not normally use it that way. It is basically a 4 wheel sled that runs in the tracks.
This video is the first test of the sled on the tracks.
[video]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15492426/VID_20120201_151121.3gp[/video]
The workbench height platform is attached to the top of the sled with braces from the outside of the platfrom to bottom of the sled.
I have a 2nd frame that I can hook over the bottom axle that functions like a fork lift for lawn mowers etc. There is too much torque on it to put much weight on it but still handy.
I made one for cargo using a small shopfox winch and homebrew plywood tracks with garage door rollers. It will carry a 250lb person but I do not normally use it that way. It is basically a 4 wheel sled that runs in the tracks.
This video is the first test of the sled on the tracks.
[video]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15492426/VID_20120201_151121.3gp[/video]
The workbench height platform is attached to the top of the sled with braces from the outside of the platfrom to bottom of the sled.
I have a 2nd frame that I can hook over the bottom axle that functions like a fork lift for lawn mowers etc. There is too much torque on it to put much weight on it but still handy.
