[Shop-talk] Building a service elevator/dumb waiter under a house?

[eric at megageek.com]

Mike writes...

>I was thinking of building some sort of lift, perhaps using some steel
>pipes for uprights, and a platform raised/lowered by a small electric
>hoist or winch.  It would only need to support 200-300 lbs.  Is this a
>feasible idea, and if so, how would I plan such a thing?  Would there be
> any possible building code violation in building such a thing, or using
>crawlspace for such a purpose?

Ok, why stop there?  What I would do, is find an electric forklift locally
that has a bad battery.  They can be bought for a song.  Then, just gut the
thing and use the mast head as an elevator.

Note, I have no idea about the code for this, but who cares? Its way COOL!

(This is coming from a guy who last project was a power lift for a drying
rack for my SCUBA gear.  The lift is geared a little low, but it will pick
up over 500 pounds!  (and it only needs to lift about 40)

Check it out here...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jpR3L0Z_vPo

(sorry about the quality.)

Moose

"We all know we're dying, And there's no sign of a parachute."
     Tori Amos