Show us Your Trap Doors & Winches

[TipsyMcStagger]

For those of you who've installed a trap door along with a winch to lift large and heavy items to the second floor of your garage, I'm curious to see how you designed and engineered your solution.

Size of opening? Lessons learned? Things you'd do differently?

Tipsy

 

[ovilla]

I don't have any pics (right now) but mine has a 4'X4' opening and uses a 1,300 lb capacity HF hoist mounted to 12' of barn door track. The only thing I would like to change is to find curved barn door track, if they even make such a thing, so I can snake the track to other sections of my garage attic. Other than that, the set up meets my needs perfectly. Just today, I was able to bring down my mower, edger, my kids electric choppers and a ton of other stuff. I'll try to have the camera handy when I go to put the snowblower away tomorrow.

Just one note. I was going to make 2'X4' "floor/doors" but I'm glad I haven't yet as I'm having second thoughts about it. They would actually take up a lot of space (from my opening) so I'm not sure if I want to pursue anything beyond my 4'X4' fake floor. It's always only me that goes up there anyway, so I'm not worried about anyone falling through.

 

[wormwood]

I just got finished building a lift in my new garage. It is for getting stuff in the attic that I'm too lazy to tote up the steps.

Here are 2 YouTubes of my new lift. Sorry about holding the camera sideways!! LOL!

Lift is 4x6 feet.

My daughter was tentatively running it for my video session; her first time so a lot of stops and starts.

I used garage door rails for the tracks, cable and a bunch of pulleys hooked to a 1800lb winch in the attic.

the gangplank you see in the opening is movable of course.


.

 

[larry4406]

At first I thought the title was "show us your trap doors and wenches" and thought this would be a good one.

 

[BioHazard]

I just got finished building a lift in my new garage. It is for getting stuff in the attic that I'm too lazy to tote up the steps.

Here are 2 YouTubes of my new lift. Sorry about holding the camera sideways!! LOL!

Lift is 4x6 feet.

My daughter was tentatively running it for my video session; her first time so a lot of stops and starts.

I used garage door rails for the tracks, cable and a bunch of pulleys hooked to a 1800lb winch in the attic.

the gangplank you see in the opening is movable of course.


.

That is amazing!

 

[R6 Racer]

Wormwood... VERY SLICK

Steve

 

[wormwood]

That is amazing!

Wormwood... VERY SLICK

Steve

Thanks fellers!

 

[AndrewBigA]

thats pretty cool

 

[Jim Stabe]

Mine isn't quite as elegant as Wormwood's but serves the purpose. Track is a couple pieces of 1" x 1/4" angle welded to a piece of rectangular tubing. The rollers are some 1/2" id bearings that have been sitting around the shop gathering dust. The winch is a HF 440 lb unit that a friend gave me (I would have preferred the 880 lb unit but free is free). I was actually able to lift a 450 lb compressor with it with just a slight mount of help pulling with a rope. The hole is what fit between the floor joists (1 removed) and available space.

 

[oldcpecdr]

Here's what I did, rolling trolley on an I beam and the famous Harbor Freight lift, Rated for 880 with a double pull, I just limit it to 400 pounds or so and it works GREAT !!!!!

Added a counterweight and pulley for ease of opening, overbuilt with 2x 6 frame and it weights close to 70 pounds, BUT becomes almost an integral part of the floor when closed and is safe !!!!! Hatch is 4 x 6 and so far has handled anything I have wanted to lift to the second floor.

Using the I beam and trolley to roll the load over the main floor is the only way to go. The compressor, steel work table, and the 289 long block went upstairs fast and easy... the snowblower can now live on the second floor all summer...last shot is the upstairs shop finally coming together....Mike B

 

[p_mori7]

Ooooooooooooh !!!

I absolutely LOOOVE the idea of a lift ! Gonna be putting one in my new build this summer !

WORMWOOD: looks FANTASTIC ! do you have any pics or vids of the winch set up ?

Thanks !

 

[p_mori7]

 

[p_mori7]

 

[p_mori7]

Mine will be similar to this one.

 

[e-tek]

Mine will be similar to this one.

But make the platform with hinges so you can flip it up against the wall and have it out of the way.....

 

[p_mori7]

But make the platform with hinges so you can flip it up against the wall and have it out of the way.....

uhh...was thinking of just leaving it "up" when not in use...leaves only the rails along the wall...nice & slick.

 

[Torque1st]

Lifts with winches are great. Just remember they are not rated for lifting a person or for getting under when they are lifting. For lifting people a multiple safety factor is required and the device must be rated for the purpose. Of course what one does in their own garage is not closely regulated.

 

[wormwood]

Ooooooooooooh !!!

I absolutely LOOOVE the idea of a lift ! Gonna be putting one in my new build this summer !

WORMWOOD: looks FANTASTIC ! do you have any pics or vids of the winch set up ?

thanks. I have some pics but I need to resize them.

But make the platform with hinges so you can flip it up against the wall and have it out of the way.....

no need. I leave it in the up position. When it is up, i put a piece of rebar thru each set of 2 eyehooks so it rests on the attic floor and not on the hoist cable.

Lifts with winches are great. Just remember they are not rated for lifting a person or for getting under when they are lifting. For lifting people a multiple safety factor is required and the device must be rated for the purpose. Of course what one does in their own garage is not closely regulated.

Agreed, riding it would be baaaaaaaad...

My response to a question up in newbie intro about riding it:

Because I would prefer not to be a comical subject featured in the many entraweb forum threads entitled "Darwin Awards".

Our latest recipient of the coveted Darwin Awards goes to Mr. Handel D. Wormwood of Cowpens SC.

It seems Mr Wormwood cobbled together a freight lift for use in his garage.

Despite explicit warnings on every component of the system, including the hoist, pulleys, cable, shackles and eye bolts that stated "not for use lifting humans or animals", Mr. Wormwood decided to ride the lift.

It appears that 2 cables broke, allowing Mr. Wormwood to fall >12 feet and be impaled on a large plastic bowling trophy which he was, inexplicably, bringing DOWN from the attic.

Lawton Meeks, the county coroner, estimates the time from the accident to Mr. Wormwood's final demise at 1 hour 10 minutes judged by the time stamps on Mr. Wormwood's cell phone, upon which, due to his dyslexia, Mr. Wormwood repeatedly dialed 119...119...119...119...

Mrs. Themla Wormwood, wife for 37 years and recent widow said "That Handy was always making stuff. I knowed he was gonna kill hisself, I'm just surprised it took this long."

Memorials may be sent to:

The Wormwood Institute of DIY Studies and Advanced Jury-Rigging
P.O. Box 4
Cowpens, SC, 29336

 

[jhchoppers]

This is the one we did back 2007...

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8563

Hope this helps,
JH