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Event Type
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Storage Facilities
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Description
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Construction of a double sided, winch up hoist
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Participants
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60 Manhours - Tony Epton
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Date
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2002-Jun to 2002-Oct
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Click on this thumbnail to see a larger image
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Hoist installed in barn, with top platform | 
Top Platform allows access to barn ceiling | 
Platform detail |
Small hoist - basis for double sided hoist |
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See Also
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ACME001 Double sided hoist - Part 1
Small Winch up Trolley
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Comments
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This description written by Tony Epton
I had completed the construction of 4 bays of shelving down the left hand side of the central void in the barn.
The intention was to lift up seven DEC TU80's on to this shelving to release floor space.
On a day when Lex Cunningham, Brian Mayne and Simon Fryer and I were present - we attempted to lift the TU80's using the existing hoist and four sets of hands.
The existing hoist failed to reach the shelf by 10 cm and the cabinets must have weighed 80Kg each - making the task impossible.
I decided to build a double sided winch up hoist to do the job.
This was originally intended to be a single weekend job but ended up extending over four months.
The basic design settled on was similar to the existing hoist but to have the cables and shuttles on both sides of the mechanism (ie a double sided hoist)
In order to construct the U shape channel in which the shuttles could slide - I obtained 6 metres of 25mm angle iron and proceeded to weld it together in pairs.
Unfortunately I was too enthusiastic with my welding and the U shaped channels took on a banana shape.
This material was instead cut in to much shorter sections and used for constructing the shuttles (rectangular shapes sliding up and down in the U channel)- the curves were not evident over the short lengths.
For U shaped channel I ordered 9 metres of heavy duty steel with a 70 mm face.
Dividing this in to 4 columns gave a construction height of 2.2 metres.
I obtained two pieces of heavy duty slotted rectangular section tube for the sides of the base (ex shop shelving uprights).
Brian Mayne also gave me a very heavily constructed device used for airing photographic prints.
The base of this was just right to form the platform to be winched up and down.
To connect the bottom spar of each shuttle to the platform I cut some one inch water pipe in to small lengths and welded these alternately to the shuttle spar or to the platform. I then inserted a very substantial steel rod through the length of each assembly. This effectively created two very heavy duty hinges. The idea behind this is so the assembly can be pulled apart, and also so that it will not bind up if one shuttle is winched a little faster than the other.
The next problem was how to attach the upright U channels rigidly to the base pieces in such a way that they could still be dismantled.
Simon Fryer came up with the suggestion of welding stubs on to the bottom frame that effectively clamped around the upright U channels. This worked very well.
Next I had to find a set of six pulleys and a boat winch.
The pulleys were found at a scrap metal yard. They have ball bearing races, with heavy duty nylon bonded on.
I am not too sure how well they are going to last - so will have to keep an eye on them.
The boat winch was bought from Marlows and a special mounting bracket built to maximise the drum filling when cable feeds in from above and below.
Cross heads for the top of the U channels were created with flanges to prevent them jumping out of place (everything is constructed so that it can be dismantled).
Finally 300Kg breaking strain cable was installed, with one cable passing through the base of the platform to act on the side opposite to the boat winch.
Heavy duty cabinet casters were mounted on custom built hinges with locking rods and holes so that the wheels can be flipped up allowing the whole platform to sit right down on the ground for very heavy loads.
Most of the time, the wheels are kept in position allowing the platform to be quickly manouvered in to position.
Once installed in the shed the hoist very successfully lifted all the TU80s in to position and allowed a large floor area to be recovered.
Also - I built a wooden frame to place over the top of the shuttles and this allows lighter objects - such as large monitors - to be lifted right up on top of the 2.4m high shelves.
In addition - I added a thick wooden platform on to this frame. I can stand on top of this platform to work on the ceiling of the barn - this will be very useful when I start to insulate the barn ceiling with polystyrene sheets.
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