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Dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 7:33 PM

I want to use a electric garage door opener to make a dumbwaiter. My question is will 1/2 horse garage door opener lift 60 pounds. witout over working the motor.

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#1

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 7:57 PM

Well, it depends on how you arrange the your gear or pulley system.

If you gear it "low" enough you could lift tons of weight, but not very fast. So, you need to determine how fast you want the dumb waiter to move and the total mass and then calculate the force required in horse power.

Here is one LINK.

One horsepower needs to be converted into something useful:

1 hp = 550 lb * 1 ft / 1 sec

To convert that to motor torque I think you must use this:

1 hp = (550 lb-ft * 1 rad / 1 sec) * (1 rev / 2pi rad) * (60 sec / 1 min)

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#2
In reply to #1

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 8:04 PM

I want to use it right out of the box. Not changing anything. I've seen how to vidioes, but they don't say what horsepower or wieght it can lift.

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#5
In reply to #2

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 8:27 PM

Genie claims a max lift of 350 Lbs door with this 1/2 hp model:

Genie

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#3

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 8:05 PM

Depends on the gearing - ½hp could lift a ton (slowly).

What height do you want to lift to, and in what time?

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#4

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 8:15 PM

I'd go with a screw drive.

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#6

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 8:48 PM

To answer that we'd need the motor specs and gearbox information and the 'plan' to adapt details.

Maybe it's simpler for you to measure the chain pull force to lift the door. If that is around 60 lbs, then that's the speed you'd get and the motor would be working as designed.

If the chain pull force is say 30 lbs, you need to double the gearing / halve the speed of lift. If its way over 60, then you could lift faster.

Or you can find out if it's in the ballpark for the price of a 100 lb spring balance from the local hardware.

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#7

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 9:00 PM

It would be simple enough to provide a steel cable attached to the platform you want to raise, a couple pulleys, and a counterweight having approximately the weight of the platform plus the average weight of the additional load. (Make 2 cables, etc., if you need to keep the load balanced left-right.) Then you could easily lift a hundred pounds with no strain at all.

You can buy the steel cable, pulleys and any connectors you need at a big box home improvement store. You can buy individual barbell weights for the counterweight from second-hand sporting goods stores or places like Goodwill. All of this would probably cost less than $50.

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#8

Re: dumdwaiters

10/23/2010 10:57 PM

My question is will 1/2 horse garage door opener lift 60 pounds. witout over working the motor.

Yes, it will.

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#9

Re: Dumdwaiters

10/24/2010 2:04 PM

Not only that, but a garage door opener is quite likely to be the least expensive and most easily adaptable mass-produced device for this app.

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#10

Re: Dumdwaiters

10/24/2010 3:40 PM

Given that 1 human being, normally with an output rating of around 0.1kW continuous, can lift a 15T weight with a suitable mechanical appliance such as a hydraulic jack, the answer to the question has to be "yes, if the appliance is correctly geared to do it". The motor that rotated the restaurant at the top of the Telecom Tower in London was not much bigger than that particular rating; although the weight was high, the friction was low and the gearing was of sufficiently high ratio for less than 0.5Hp to do the job with capacity in hand.

Therefore the particular design of the equipment has to be based upon the speed that the 60 pounds weight has to travel perpendicular to the force of gravity. The speed required depends upon the distance between the upper and lower delivery points, the capacity of the equipment, and the required delivery rate of the contents between levels. None of that can be seen from here.

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#12
In reply to #10

Re: Dumdwaiters

10/24/2010 9:47 PM

Therefore the particular design of the equipment has to be based upon the speed that the 60 pounds weight has to travel perpendicular to the force of gravity.

Hmmm. Wouldn't that direction then be horizontal, if we accept that the force of gravity acts vertically?

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#13
In reply to #10

Re: Dumdwaiters

12/04/2014 10:56 PM

Do know where one can get plans to build one into an opening ? I have too see drawings or pictures on paper how this is done with pulleys and weights. I have seen videos where it carries bags of groceries. I hope it can carry a 50 # suitcase, I better get a really powerful egdo, right? Any help is greatly appreciated

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#11

Re: Dumdwaiters

10/24/2010 3:48 PM

60lb may be a bit under rated for an American dumbwaiter, you could only get one meal at a time on it.

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