Gram's Elevator 2022
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- We built an elevator for my grandma and here's some info about how we did it.
I'd try pasting info here, but there isn't enough room.
So I'll pin a comment and some blah blah, you'll see.
If anyone is REALLY interested and would like one built in their own house, it is something I would consider, but I am not an insured contractor, and you'd have to worry about building codes etc. in your area. The most I will do is be on-hand as a friend to help you, if you happen to pay me for time as a gift or something, that's swell. 😎 and obviously... I ain't liable for anything b.
Love it, I'm sure Grandma will benefit royally of it!
She has been enjoying it, at least twice a day every day 🙂 AND it came in super handy bringing the Christmas decoration boxes up and down this year 😁
Very nice. I would be interested in more details on your safety brake system.
Basically, it's two spring loaded arms with jagged ends that are under constant pressure from the lifting rope.
If anything breaks from the shackle on up the line, the spring force takes over and swings the arms into place against the wood framework. Gravity and the angle of the bars jams the car in place.
Pictures pictures
@@gallowaylights Sorry for the delay. I was debating whether or not I wanted to share it, and then forgot for a few days. Here ya go:
ruclips.net/video/PuYUvoEFBYs/видео.html
It's not a public video yet, you need the link. Believe it or not, you're one of the only people that have asked for details on the brakes.
Sorry for the delay. I was debating whether or not I wanted to share it, and then forgot for a few days. Here ya go:
ruclips.net/video/PuYUvoEFBYs/видео.html
It's not a public video yet, you need the link. Believe it or not, you're one of the only people that have asked for details on the brakes.
@@AlexR_44 That is awesome
Gram's elevator project 2022.
First off... don't try this at home expecting whatever you read or see here and elsewhere online, to be enough information to pull this off on your own. Between the 3-6 people that had input on and assisted with this project, we had an electrical engineer, two mechanical engineers, a lawyer who wood works and myself, a jackass of all trades. I wouldn't say it's a weekend project for the inexperienced, but it can definitely be done by some good DIY veterans with a little help from youthful muscles at times. 😂
Step 1. is think about it and plan for a year. No joke, well, half joke. Pop considered where in the house to place this for quite a while. A studded wall or frame of some sort is required (for the safety brakes and keeping it in line) so we knew it had to go on a wall (Their house is too nice and too small for a frame to be taking up space in a room). We needed a wall without too many wires going across the stud framing and zero plumbing in the wall. Their house is from first half of the 1900's so the rooms aren't huge, which is why the elevator doesn't go directly into a bedroom. We chose a spot near an exterior wall so the motor could be mounted in the attic crawl space and not be in the living space of the attic.
Step 2. Recon: We cut some holes in the wall and used a borescope camera adapter on a cell phone to confirm the spot we picked did not have too many wires and had no plumbing etc. (This was unnecessary for us since we were so familiar with the house, having re-wired it after a fire some years ago, but I wanted to test my camera - it was meh, a little brighter light would've been nice)
2a. Motor and brake recon --- We chose to put the motor in the attic and run power lines up to it. Originally, before we knew we could use that motor and gearbox, we were planning on using a 12 volt ATV winch and mounting it on top of the elevator cage. (This would have been much simpler and would've meant battery backup built in, for power outages, BUT, it wouldn't have the acceleration and deceleration at the top and bottom, also, winches are LOUD, like 60-80dB right above your head?.. naw, the AC motor worked out great for us! As for the safety brakes, ours engage against the wood frame work we mounted to the studs that the tracks then mount to. If you've got the money, you could simplify the whole thing quite a bit by using a fall arrestor style safety brake. We would probably have chosen our system anyway though, because it was a fun design challenge and works really well, stop s the car in under half an inch if the main cable faults.
We also debated using a latching safety system similar to a car lift, but it would require user interaction for the down trip, which we weren't too keen on.
Step 3. Demolish the shit outta the walls! Just kidding... get a saw, cut it out nicely exposing no more than you really need (don't want too much to patch later).
3a. cut the hole in the ceiling/attic floor - we located the lifting point just rear of center to the car and just about an inch off center favoring the wall/track side. Use a plumb bob or whatever fancy maths you prefer to find where you're going to cut that and of course, oversize the hole.
3b. Cut the hole in the floor. Too late now... you're committed to this project and can't go back without looking like a chump😁. We chose to make ours about 40" deep, and about 30" wide. Basically, we sat in a wheelchair and measured down to the smallest we felt it would still fit with a little toe room.
**A note on the wall demo... we chose not to take the other side of the wall off downstairs because it was lath and plaster, but if you've got drywall, clearing that out too, would make installing the car to the rails WAY easier and it opens up the possibility of moving the microswitches to a more concealed place.
**A note on floor demo... depending on where your joists are, you'll want to support under the remaining floor boards so they don't bend near the gap at the elevator on the second floor. AND - if you make the whole a little too small, it's easier to cut more out than it is to remake the elevator car to fit or to try and fill in a hole. So, you know... don't be the guy that cuts it three times and it's still too short. Whenever possible of course. we all know Murphy likes to shove his law around some days more than others.
Step 4. We got a couple 16 foot long 2x6 boards and ripped them length wise, because finding a straight 2x4 post 2009 seems to be a damn near impossible task. 🤦🏻♂As it is, we spent over an hour at the lumber yard picking through a whole pallet of wood until we found a straight dry one. These get mounted FLUSH AND PLUMB like nothing you've ever plumbed before, because if they're crooked at all, the tracks will be very hard to get square to each other, and they need to be. (Unless you wanna get real fancy with the car mounting, but that would add more depth sideways than we wanted). We used a laser level and old school level and plumb bob whenever and wherever possible, throughout the whole project. We mounted these 2x6 ripped down to 2x4 to the existing studs, and the base plate of the wall frame. Shimming where needed to get the two new studs perfectly flush and plumb and square to each other. We also mounted them in a way that they sit just proud of the existing studs, creating a little clearance room for the safety brakes to engage behind the steel tracks, into the wood itself. This also helped with clearance for the car keeping it away from the wall a little was useful as it passes through the floors and very near a doorframe upstairs.
Step 5. Mount the tracks to the uprights - thankfully we had some really nice stainless steel tracking from a food plant assembly line on hand that is lined with a very hard plastic to provide a smooth gliding surface. The rails we used also had mounting tabs pre welded onto it, so we were able to just use heavy lag bolts and anchor it to the newly installed stud uprights. The tracks were multiple pieces and interlocked together. We staggered the joints, such that the south track joints were not in the same spots as the north track joints. - This was in theory to reduce any binding at the seams. I wanted to use rollers, but we ended up using 1"x 1.5" x 12" square tubing as slides in the tracks, welded onto 2"x3" x 6' angle iron. which then bolts to the elevator car. The stainless tracking guide is 1" so the steel tubing fit nicely in there and with a little grease, it slides nice and smooth and the elevator car barely rocks or wiggles at all - even less so than a real elevator in an office building does, so that's a plus for not using wheels. BUT.. we have found that if the rider leans too far forward in the car, they can cause the slides to bind up a little in the guide tracks and the motor stalls out tripping the breaker. So, next time, wheels. and, we're going to add a guide roller to the main lift strap that will keep the load centered while lifting as it raises, instead of letting the strap pull the car forward as it spools up on the drum. So ours will be an easy enough fix with an added roller and/or just not leaning forward, but if I start doing these for people, they'll likely be rollers instead of slides.
Very Cleaver use of off the shelf materials. I do have a couple of questions if you dont mind sharing. I have seen many video's of lifts with the use of a winch. I agree the noise is too much for a indoor elevator. Can you tell me the gearbox ratio you used or specific model # of the Dodge Ti gear. any photos of the Strap Drum etc. or a short description of the drum setup? direct drive off the gear box etc. what you used? I have a similar need and would like to go with a VFD setup
Oh I don't remember the ratios, it's been a while, but the final speed worked out to be about 30ft/min.
OOh - you also want a motor and gearbox that is not too strong. You want it to stall before it can rip the house the apart if something goes wrong with a switch.
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😮
How much would that cost?
I don't know. That's actually a large part of why we built it, I was having a hard time finding pricing on any of the ones already available. Since then, I've found a Chinese company that ships something suitable for around $6,000+ shipping, but those numbers were picked from a few years old video.
Since I'm not licensed or insured for such things, I don't even know if I can give a fair guess since a completed one would have to be fairly more complex than what you see here, but it'd be easily twice if not more than a prepackaged unit.
Ours only cost a few hundred because we already had most of what we needed, but raw materials alone could be several thousand. The trick is finding a suitable used gearbox and motor, good quality new ones are big $$$.
Задумка интересна...свет потух и...как на 2 этаж?😢!Лесенка надежнее...😂
Power is very reliable here.
DO YOU HAVE email ?