Lift for Barn/Shop

[TxFig]

I have a metal building that serves as my workshop / barn / man-cave that has on one end, a loft about 10' up. It's open with no rails around it. It is simply there for me to store stuff to keep it out of the way until I need it

(for example, the extracting equipment I use for honey bees).


As I get older, the joy of using a ladder to get up to the loft and hauling stuff up & down is diminished from my younger day. So I have started looking for a "lift system" (diy freight elevator). It does not need to be especially heavy duty - lifting AT MOST 500 lbs (half of which is *ME*). I found several dozen on youtube, but most seemed to be way overbuilt for what I need. I did find THIS video, which looks to be close to perfect:

Sadly, that video is from 8 years ago and has close to zero information about where he bought it (it looks to be a kit of some sort).

So I'm turning to this group (one of the most useful places on the 'net). Any ideas on how to build (or purchase) a system like this?

 

[ruffdog]

Here is another one:

 

[Diggin It]

Perhaps a stairway? Fill the center section in to add more floor/storage space.

 

[TxFig]

Perhaps a stairway? Fill the center section in to add more floor/storage space.

I'm pretty sure I said "I don't want to carry stuff up and down" in my original post.

 

[Big Barn]

Do you have enough room or use for a small propane forklift?

 

[duramaxsky]

Depending on what they cost a car lift may be more useful. Put your tractor on it and use the bucket or forks for the rest of the height. Mine goes 8 feet up. And it will make servicing your cars and tractor easier.

 

[Xfaxman]

This is what I used, but didn't need to ride on it: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=crank+up+material+lift&t=h_&iax=images&ia=images

I guess you could replace the hand winch with an electric winch and be able to ride on the lift.

 

[4570Man]

I’d be inclined to buy a small forklift and either fix it up to be useable or take the mast and use it.

 

[Diggin It]

I'm pretty sure I said "I don't want to carry stuff up and down" in my original post.

Not exactly. Carrying stuff up and down stairs is a whole lot different than doing it on a ladder.

And even at that, use the stairs for you and a simple hoist for the materials. HF has an 800 pound electric hoist for less than $200 that you could rig through a trap door kind of thing.

 

[PILOON]

Years back I was selling forklifts.

Very popular whenever we scrapped a truck was the lift mechanism as once firmly attached to floor and at the top all that a buyer had to do was add a hydraulic pump and presto an elevator.
As you probably know electric hydraulic pumps are readily available and reasonably priced and offered in 12/24 VDC as well as 110/220 AC.
To operate a fork lift 'lift' only a single action pump was required as forks lowered by gravity.

In the last couple of years I've been involved in modifying 2ea 4 post car lifts into freight elevators.
Fun and satisfying projects.
Since public will be involved we had to install lots of safety interlocks and limit measures.

Might add that a fork lift 'front' should probably fetch low scrap value due to the mix of materials/components that would want fair labor prior to being ready as 'clean scrap'.
I recall that smelters would only accept cut up chunks in the 2 square foot size due to furnace door limits.