Originally Posted by
John C Cox
I guess you have to consider how much mechanical advantage you have vs how hard are you willing to pull....
A 10:1 advantage gives you an 18lb pull to raise the board.... That neglects friction/sticking. But that also gives you the ability to use 30lbs + of pull initially to get it going (or about double to unstick it)... Say you change it to 5:1.. That means the raising force is 36lbs but unsticking may take 50-70lbs on the rope...
You could always try it out and see how it feels. It would be easy enough to clamp a split pulley onto the shaft if you want to increase it's diameter.....