Building the platform was pretty simple. It is based on 2x3 lumber and an upper / lower assembly of glued & screwed plywood sheets. Similar principle to a honeycomb structure w stressed skins, like in airplane wings.
Extremely rigid, no sign of flex even with a 350lbs
motorcycle and a 190lbs pig jumping up and down 😅 (links to Garage Lift - Part 1 video here and description here )
Key material used:
- 2x3 lumber for all the internal ribs, and handrail structure
- 3x 5/8" plywood sheets
- 3x 1.5" sign post / grid beam bars (can be found at most hardware stores)
- 10x 12"x12" galvanized steel L straps (can be found at most hardware stores)
- Bunch of 3" framing screws
- Bunch of 7/16" nuts & nylon stopper bolts
(Sketchup Make 2017 was free to download and use, but has now been removed by Trimble. Copies can still be found out there though. Or use a trial version)
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| Finished platform
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| XRay view
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| Exploded view |
Lift force spreading & guiding bars: a grid beam on each side of the platform spread the lift force, transfering it to the skin & ribs construction. Each is secured with five 6" long 7/16" bolts.
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| Right side grid beam & chains
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| Underside view - 7/16" bolts with large load spreading washers |
Cable connections to platform: each of the 4 cable ends ties into a heavy chain, in turn connected to the grid beams. The chains' purpose is to keep each cable under tension once the platform rests on the floor. This prevents the cable coils on the spooling bar from becoming loose and shifting, which would mess up each cable's position on the next lift. The chains were not enough, though, to keep the cable coils taut. So more dead weight was added.
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| Weighted cable ends |
Note that the position where each cable / chain ties into the grid beam is different between the 2 sides (compare picture below with the one 3 pics above):
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| Left side grid beam & chains) |
That is to vertically align as best as possible each cable end with their spooling position, and with the pulleys, and avoid both:
- excessive rubbing of each cable on itself when lifting, if too close
- gaps between cable coils on the spool bar, if too far
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| Extended spool state (platform down)
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| Full lift spool state (platform up) |
Almost there, I swear. It just reads longer than it is to build. Just...
Guiding wheels and rails: a transversal grid beam provides both lateral and longitudinal guidance for the platform, along 2 vertical rails, preventing it from swinging around (see Garage Lift - Part 1).
The rails are made of 1.25" square tubes, with a flat 1/8"x1" bar welded alongside to create a lip. The wheel and wooden "finger" at each end of the grid beam ride along the lip.
The wheels are mounted on a 1-7/16" Long Connector for Aluminum Bolt-Together Framing accessory that has a threaded hole at the end.
Handrail posts: each is secured on a transversal floor rib with a 12"x12" galvanized steel L strap, sandwiched between the horizontal 2x3 rib and the vertical post. As can be seen in the CAD pictures above. This makes the handrail assembly surprisingly strong, as demonstrated in the Garage Lift - Part 1 video @ 1'15"
Finally a warning sign was added. The whole setup can easily lift close to a metric ton (2200lbs) but design margins are critical for safe and continued operation, so 800lbs is the maximum advertised.
And voila. Project done. Time to procure more junk and fill up the newly freed up floor space !
Ooops, never mind, it already looks like a 2nd lift will be needed 😂
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