Anyone ever build a lift?

[OldracerJones]

Just finished my ceiling or floor of my storage area above the offices I just built. I now have a several dozen boxes and many other things to move up there and my only option is to carry everything up a ladder. While resting today after 12 boxes of books, I was looking at the wall of the offices and wondered if I could make a vertical lift that would lift a platform straight up the 9 feet to the top where I could just pull the items off instead of carrying them up the ladder. I envisioned two tracks running up the wall with a platform that could be flipped up,when not in use. A electric motor would run it up and down.

Anyone ever build something similar? If so, please let me know how you went about it.

 

[chargerjoe66]

How about something like this?

http://www.digiplan.ca/metal/dgladderhoist.shtml

There are lots of different designs. I think there mostly used for lifting shingles.

 

[Cryptic1911]

I'd be interested in some kind of solution for this as well. I can borrow a genie lift from work whenever I need something large and heavy, but I'd really need to buy a used one to have around since a forklift is out of the question

 

[Inventive1]

How heavy of a load needs to be lifted?

It may be impractical and overkill, but attaching the mast of a fork lift to the wall and using it to lift stuff might work. Some kind of of hydraulic pump and electric motor would be needed to operate the mast.

 

[LutzTD]

I have been watching for a cheap walk behind hydraulic to do something similar to the previous post. I dont like the idea of just the fork truck lift portion because it would depend on the side load strength of the wall which is not great. The walk around would have the base which once stripped of the covers, weights and the mechs relocated shouldnt be to bad bolted to the floor

 

[DIC]

I've been scrounging parts to build one like this...

 

[davedriveschevys]

I've been scrounging parts to build one like this...

Great, now I have to build one.

 

[egnorant]

I wonder how much lift you can get from a garage door opener?

Bruce

 

[Steevo]

I've been scrounging parts to build one like this...

Nice lift he built there, but he has seriously overloaded his trusses with all the **** he's stored up there.

 

[Steevo]

I wonder how much lift you can get from a garage door opener?

Bruce

A HF 120v hoist is cheaper than a GDO.

http://www.harborfreight.com/880-lb-electric-hoist-44006.html

 

[OldracerJones]

Just what I was looking for. A load is less than 100 lbs, far too small to justify a forklift or vertical scissor lift. You could leave it up to keep the floor clear. Looks fairlymeasy to build also.,thanks for the tip.

 

[NHBandit]

Reminds me of the auto salvage yard I used to manage. It had a loft area for storage above the shop and above the lost was a small apartment. The previous owner had installed a home made elevator that went from the shop floor all the way to the apartment with a stop in between to store parts in the loft. Can't say exactly how he built it but it involed an electric winch, some push button controls and micro switches to tell it when to stop. Found an "interesting" glitch in the system accidently one day when going back down to the shop from the loft. I was already moving down and accidently hit the up button. It immediately went into freewheel mode and crashed to the floor..

 

[Big-Foot]

I've been scrounging parts to build one like this...

Very nice! I the only down-side that I can see is that the lift needs to be against the gable wall.. Not a deal breaker...

I'm not so worried about this guys's trusses.. He had a lot of stuff up there but most of it looked pretty lightweight to me.. Bicycles and fake Christmas trees don't weigh a lot.. Plus, he had flooring in there that was more than likely screwed into place and that will also help in the distribution of the load.

I'll be building one of these but I'll be putting a little pouch on it with a rolled up rope ladder inside. My ankles, knees and hips are too old to be jumping down 12'

 

[elevator joe]

It's cool but be careful not to let unwanted users use or play around on it. Your typical homeowners insurance won't cover it with out a rider attached to your policy. I also don't see any fail safe devices should something go wrong (ie). A broken cable or if the hoist decides to continue to run in the up direction when you're supposed to stop. Take that stuff in to consideration before you build and be careful!!

 

[camarotoolman]

one of those chairs for handicaped people that go up and down stairs might do it. Also one of those elevators used on farms to put hay or corn up in the barn.

 

[akdiesel]

That is a great design.
You could utilize the two block system the hoist has and have clamp on the cable cable to trigger it when in full up position. Then you could use a simple pressure switch from Lowes to stop it in the full down position.

 

[lilscorpion]

Are those just door tracks?

 

[petee_c]

Great, now I have to build one.

I've been scrounging parts to build one like this...

Sweet