DIY Elevator

[Tom Bender]

Recent threads and videos have shown and discussed some examples. While I don't expect to build or use one I do have a few comments
There is a reason real elevators cost big bucks, there is a lot of engineering, expensive hardware, risk and insurance required. Given that and the nature of DIYers a few design suggestions may help keep body and soul together.

"Hurray, it works!" is not the right sentiment, "Of course it works" is better.

Fall prevention hardware can be used. There are ladder ascent devices and retractable lanyards that could be used with a harness when riding.

There are retractable lanyards that might be misused with some success to catch the whole elevator if it is light duty. If it doesn't have enough travel I can imagine it being mounted a couple feet below the top, allowing a scary preliminary drop. This is very much not recommended, but then,,,DIYer nature.

Safety Factor for this type of device should probably be 5. Test this. If you are using a hoist with 1000 sounds capacity, raise the elevator a couple of inches and pile on 5,000 pounds. If course it won't lift but it should not fail.

A fork truck is a good answer but not for passengers. A duct hoist is more affordable. There are small electric manlifts which can have many indoor uses.

[Roger Feeley]

When I was a kid, I remember seeing a continuous moving ladder in a parking garage. It was only used by employees. It was a thick belt about 12" wide with these handles sticking out about 6". The worker would walk over and grab a handle and step on a lower handle and it would take them up through open holes in the floors. There was another belt for going down. It looked scary to me. I was pretty young so I don't remember any details.

I just tried to google the thing and came up empty. The closest I could get was the Paternoster or "Elevator of death". What I remember wasn't anywhere near that safe. You stepped into a hole in the floor to catch a ladder rung. So no floor.

[Leigh Betsch]

Along with my DIY elevator I put in a pull down ladder in the shop ceiling. Just in case the power were to go out while I was in the attic and couldn't get the elevator to lower. I did have to use it once while I was wireing the lift and dropped the pendent to the shop floor. Maybe I should have put in a fire pole!
When I was a kid I always thought we should have a firepole from my bedroom into the kitchen.

[Steve Wurster]

I just tried to google the thing and came up empty. The closest I could get was the Paternoster or "Elevator of death". What I remember wasn't anywhere near that safe. You stepped into a hole in the floor to catch a ladder rung. So no floor.

What you're describing is probably best known as a "belt manlift".

[Michael Schuch]

I have to rebuild my back deck, it is way over due. I am seriously considering mounting some angle iron on the stringers to use as rails for winching stuff up the stairs on a platform. My thought is to terminate the stringers a couple feet underground so the platform can be on the rails at all times and flush with the surrounding ground. When I need to bring something up the stairs I just roll it onto the platform then attach a winch to the platform and winch it to the top of the stairs where it will roll off onto the deck.

Just another thought to consider.

[Michael Schuch]

When I was a kid I always thought we should have a firepole from my bedroom into the kitchen. Right next to the pipe from your bedroom going to the toilet bowl in the bathroom?

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The rope tow near Grandma in-laws house comes to mind. It has been wrecked over the years. It was still intact 40 years ago.

Snow Pond Ski Area (https://www.nelsap.org/nh/snowpond.html)

[Frank Pratt]

A duct hoist is more affordable.

There is a feed mill where We do maintenance work that wa built in the '60s that has one of those old lifts. This thing goes right from the bowels of the basement, right up through complete darkness to the top of the bin floor, 80' above the ground. It has counter weights that can be added or removed to best suit the load being carried. When it gets bad is if you have something heavy with you that won't be going both ways. You need strong arms because they are doing all the work. It's still way better than climbing the ladder.

[Alan Lightstone]

I would always stare at the winches on the front of houses in Amsterdam, used in those narrow houses to winch furniture upstairs.

I'm sure the moving men who had to carry heavy furniture up 4 flights of stairs in my house would have loved that. I thought about having one installed when we did renovations, but never did.

[Lawrence Duckworth]

"Fall prevention hardware can be used. There are ladder ascent devices and retractable lanyards that could be used with a harness when riding."

Tom, your respect for safety is appreciated. If'n we're gonna ride these homemade contraptions, fall protection should be part of the deal..


My daughter's engineering degree led her down a path of safety and human resources, she's a big shot now for a multinational company....my son, he owns a steel const. biz, he just finished the fab and steel work on the addition to the Georgia World Congress Center.
:)..guess what these two talk about at family dinners.


I made this Tower Crane for my son. There are 15 metal headed characters/figurines scattered about and at least that many safety violations......find 'em....enjoy :)

477908 477909 477910 477911 477912

[Frank Pratt]

I like that crane a lot. Spiders too.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I still ride the bales on the Hay-O-Vator up into the hay mow. The duck under the hay loft doors is getting tight.

[Alan Rutherford]

The rope tow near Grandma in-laws house comes to mind. It has been wrecked over the years. It was still intact 40 years ago.

Snow Pond Ski Area (https://www.nelsap.org/nh/snowpond.html)

There was no more brutal way for a novice to be introduced to skiing than a rope tow. I remember it well and it was a lot more than 40 years ago.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I just got off the phone with my Father in Law. His memory is slipping but he remembers the rope tow at Snow Pond very well!

[John K Jordan]

A friend of mine built (had built) an elevator to get him and his heavy electric wheelchair between two floors. I built an deck with a big hole next to the house. He bought two old non-functioning fork lifts. Someone made one working forklift mechanism from the two. Someone else welded up a frame to guide a platform. Someone else built walls around the whole thing to make an elevator shaft. Definitely not OSHA approved. He used it for 30 years.

[Lawrence Duckworth]

There was no more brutal way for a novice to be introduced to skiing than a rope tow. I remember it well and it was a lot more than 40 years ago.

when skiing, the trick to riding a rope tow is to first cross the tip of your skis, lean forward and grab the rope with vigor and never let go!!

[Rick Fisher]

I have a home made elevator that is technically rated for 5000 LBS. I limit it to 1200 lbs and never ride it. I build a circular staircase next to it. The Elevator will hold 6' x 4' and is used for putting machinery and heavy goods in the basement. I put the controls in such a place that I can't stand near it and use it. Its extremely handy, and can do all sorts of things. I can use it as a hoist as well. Its all about common sense, if I ever sold the place I would disable the lift so it could never be used again.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

An office building I worked on this winter has a simple little wheelchair elevator. The lift is a gear motor and an Acme screw. I think a clever tinkerer could come up with something fairly safe using a screw. I will get an image next time I am there.

[Frank Pratt]

I have a home made elevator that is technically rated for 5000 LBS. I limit it to 1200 lbs and never ride it. I build a circular staircase next to it. The Elevator will hold 6' x 4' and is used for putting machinery and heavy goods in the basement. I put the controls in such a place that I can't stand near it and use it. Its extremely handy, and can do all sorts of things. I can use it as a hoist as well. Its all about common sense, if I ever sold the place I would disable the lift so it could never be used again.

Your approach is right on. If I ever build a lift, it will have these features.

[Roderick Gentry]

5-1 sounds a lot like the testing for an aircraft wing which is a pretty dynamic environment. Noramally elevators are not imprudently made to do acrobatics, or encounter hurricanes... Of course they don't have to be terribly light either, so why not build them stout. Just wondering if 5-1 is the actual load spec, or just a prudent call.

[Malcolm McLeod]

An office building I worked on this winter has a simple little wheelchair elevator. The lift is a gear motor and an Acme screw. I think a clever tinkerer could come up with something fairly safe using a screw. I will get an image next time I am there.

'Most' screw threads with typical TPI's are self locking, so give you considerable safety margin against auto-rotation (induced by load), and the gear motor adds even more friction to the system. A ball screw can be an exception, it will often auto-rotate, and probably needs a brake.

A (elevator) lead screw long enough to span 2 or more floors will have 2 big disadvantages: it will be expensive and slow. :eek: Generally speaking of course.

The shaft coupling between such a screw and gear motor would need to be bullet proof and immortal for me to ride. Then we'll talk about the running nut....

A ladder is looking better and better.:D

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The screw elevator is indeed slow, noisy too. It is in a two story in a building with 8 foot walls. The door mechanism may be the most complicated part. It looks like a "buzz to let me in" lockset, without the intercom. It took me a while to figure out that the door knob (lever) does not turn, Just pull hard to open when the elevator is in position.