Chandelier-Winch?

[puntloos]

So.. @pocster mentioned he has a winch. I'm tickled by the idea. 

 

I have 4 challenges:

1/ In general, getting heavy stuff up/down stairs

2/ Chandelier in hallway, ideally central to the stairwell

3/ Getting stuff into the basement (as @Ferdinand noted, perhaps a removable slab in the hallway floor?)

4/ Getting stuff into the loft

 

My full height hallway (ground floor all the way up to skylight) has 2 options I can imagine:

 

1/ one spot where I could theoretically attach a winch directly to my ceiling ("opt1") that can go straight down without hitting walls or stairs. 

- It's not central to the hall though, so that is probably useless for the chandelier

 

2/ Cut across the skylight (in black, obv). A bit uglier, but perhaps not the end of the world.

- Can be central to the hallway

- Motor could even be hidden in 'Bed 4' 

 

 

 

My questions:

 

1/ What would you do in general. Is this a good idea? Which one (opt1, or opt2?)

2/ How far can stuff be pulled off-center from the winch? If something is dangling from the winch, can I pull it 1m to the side? 2? 4? When does this become unbalanced?

3/ The loft walls are indicated (open1, open2). Both about 1.8m away from the winch point. would it be doable to pull stuff into the loft 'hole' from there?

[Temp]

When you pull a hanging weight to one side the tension in the suspension rope goes up by a factor of 1/Cos(angle), where angle is between suspension rope and vertical.

 

Example.. if you pulled it sideway until the suspension rope is 45 degrees to the vertical the tension would increase by a factor of..

 

= 1/cos(45)

= 1.4

 

If the object weighs say 100kg then at 45 degrees it's equivalent to lifting 140kg.

 

The force required to pull the object sideways can also be calculated. The same sideways force would be applied to the rafter or whatever the winch is fixed to.

Edited July 28, 2021 by Temp

[puntloos]

2 hours ago, Temp said:

When you pull a hanging weight to one side the tension in the suspension rope goes up by a factor of 1/Cos(angle), where angle is between suspension rope and vertical.

 

Example.. if you pulled it sideway until the suspension rope is 45 degrees to the vertical the tension would increase by a factor of..

 

= 1/cos(45)

= 1.4

 

If the object weighs say 100kg then at 45 degrees it's equivalent to lifting 140kg.

 

The force required to pull the object sideways can also be calculated. The same sideways force would be applied to the rafter or whatever the winch is fixed to.

 

Ha, that all brings back my highschool weight physics math. Ouch, all forgotten, but I mildly recall the gist, thanks.

 

I think if I do this I would probably do well to do a beam-trolley, possibly house the motor somewhere as in my graph, and a snatch block on that trolley... would that make sense?

 

[Onoff]

3 hours ago, puntloos said:

I think if I do this I would probably do well to do a beam-trolley, possibly house the motor somewhere as in my graph, and a snatch block on that trolley... would that make sense?

 

 

Consider how you stop the beam trolley moving under load if the winch is offset. There are spring brake type things or it can be as simple as someone holding / tying off a rope to one side. The greater the fleet angle etc and you really don't want a load suddenly sliding/swinging sideways!

 

Rather than an I beam you might consider a Met-Track ("Helm") type track from say Metreel up in Nottingham, aka "slotted channel" system. (Great company btw). Generic picture but it's really adaptable. I'd always fit bolted end stops...not even sure if they still do the old sandwich/clamp types...

 

 

These can be hidden with pb or other ceiling panels butting up to the slot either side. You could even make a feature of the slot and illuminate it. You need to consider access for future maintenance on the trolley and rail fixings.

 

 

[markc]

Any beam/trolley system is going to look a bit ugly - the trolley and winch need to be stowed somewhere. If pulling something up into loft, is there enough head height to cope with the winch, hook and anything hanging on it? the head height required soon adds up.

Chandelier pulley is much easier, hand operated simple pulley mounted above the ceiling/in loft. If the pulley and rope remains in the loft then wire can be fed out and retrieved manually while lifting or lowering the lamp otherwise a recoil cable re-tractor would be needed. 

[Ferdinand]

One another option is to install a suitable lift from the start.

 

If you have (or could) included provision, then just put one in now.

[Onoff]

My mate put a cheap 230V engine hoist in his loft, above the hatch.