Thread: Anyone built a car hoist

You'd best check out o.h & s + the Australian standards first, cheers John.

Given the hieght, have you considered a overhead hoist lifting a cradle? My gut feeling says it's got to be cheapest and safest approach.

Thats not a bad idea, overhead cradle, might do some research into that. Was hoping for the car hoist becuase then I can work on gearboxes and stuff like that as well, but If I used 4 posts with an overhead gantry and safety pins in the posts, that could quite possibly work out nicely

how about one of these?

LOL

Dave

Sounds like you'd be better off building some sort of freight elevator, just with a big hole in the floor of it to allow it to be used to work under the car as well? Just a thought....

Maybe simso should talk to The old Bill.

whichever way u go I recon its gonna get exxy. with gallegos idea you could just poke it thru a window ) Will have to follow your progress on this one.

I was wondering exactly how a four post hoist works, as I couldn't figure out exactly how the cables were driven. Anyway found a manual for a molnar hoist that shows it... theres a hydraulic cylinder under one of the ramps.

http://www.molnarhoists.com/UserFile...t%20Manual.pdf

The problem I see with extending the height of a hoist is you will need to replace the hydraulic cylinder with one with a longer stroke and replace all the cables assuming there is enough room to do this. It would seem it is probably easier to start from scratch building something to suit your specific application.

The tricky bit is a cheap and easy lifting mechanism that lifts all the corners evenly. One Idea that I did have for this is to use four chain blocks (one at each corner). These could all be driven together from a single point using shafts between the blocks on the ends and and a chain drive between the ends. The blocks would be mounted upside down and fixed to the car platform to keep it all compact. You could mount the blocks on the tops of the posts but then the drive linking these would be exposed and get in the way.

I reckon this would work, albeit very slowly, and be quite safe. You would still want to have pins on the posts to lock it at a specific height if you are working on or under it but that's no biggie.

That is a very good idea, I like it a lot, Im probbaly going to get a generic 4 post anyway as a starting point, that way I get ramps runways and posts etc, ""working"" then simply extend the poles try the bigger actuator / cables, and if that does not work then definetly the 4 block and tackles keyed together as that will work

Thanks for the good ideas

You could probably use one single acting ram and cable to lift the base up and down...

The newer "clear floor" two post hoists (and some of the 4 posters I think) use a screw in each post. Encoders to make sure they go up and come down level. The first few times one screw stops so the other can catch up will certainly wake you up

You could make them as tall as you like. Though I think you will run into all sorts of OHS. How will you stop someone walking off the second floor?

Stuart

Hi guys
I would be just as worried about stability at 3.5m above ground. As you move the car onto or off the ramp at full height you will get all sorts of stress in the pillars.
You might like to look at some method of clamping the ramps to the "building".
I have seen cars fall off hoists and it is not pretty.

Roger

Originally Posted by Stustoys

How will you stop someone walking off the second floor?

Stuart

If you made a sort of box cradle, lifted from above by a gantry, the top could act as a floor for the mezzanine. The main concern would be aligning it, so the assembly slides squarely and not foul on the way up!

Cheers