Barn Elevator

MillWeld · May 5, 2019

I built a barn elevator to move air dried lumber to the 2nd floor of my barn where I have a de-humidification kiln to finish off the drying of lumber from my sawmill. It has been in use over 10 years and has performed very well. I designed it to lift the load 10 feet to the 2nd floor in 1 minute and I estimate I have lifted as much as 900 lbs in one load. It uses the parallelogram concept to keep the load parallel to the ground. I made my own winch from a 1/2 hp motor, 60:1 gear reducer and an electromagnetic clutch between the motor and reducer. Of all the things I have most people are most fascinated by this than anything else. As I get older I lift lighter and lighter things.

See pics.

MossRoad · May 5, 2019

Pretty slick! :thumbsup:

PILOON · May 5, 2019

Clever, I admire the design.
That's the sort of challenge I like to tackle myself.

LOL, that's why I have a load of mechanical devices collected at auctions and yard sales.

Last year we took a 4 post car lift and modified it to make a 12 foot freight elevator.
All caged in., push and up it goes and stops and wait 4 U to unload.
Push and down she goes! All safety interlocks everywhere.

SandburRanch · May 5, 2019

I like you ingenuity.

I've put a lot of alfalfa hay bales in a barn but it was a different kind of elevator.

MillWeld · May 6, 2019

PILOON said:
Clever, I admire the design.

Last year we took a 4 post car lift and modified it to make a 12 foot freight elevator.
All caged in., push and up it goes and stops and wait 4 U to unload.
Push and down she goes! All safety interlocks everywhere.

Wow. That probably would get OSHA certification. Have you ever ridden it? My cat is the only life form that has ridden my elevator. Sometimes kids as if they can ride it, but :thumbdown: no way I say.

PILOON · May 7, 2019

MillWeld said:
Wow. That probably would get OSHA certification. Have you ever ridden it? My cat is the only life form that has ridden my elevator. Sometimes kids as if they can ride it, but :thumbdown: no way I say.

We rode it many times until the system was , "OSHA'd", LOL.

This lift serves in a public storage facility to service the second floor level storage area and has been flawless for 2 years. Clients walk up and their loaded cart awaits them.