The Woodshop Shed

Chain hoist operated Hilbilly freight elevator.

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


My shop is 1300 sq feet with a finished out office and bathroom taking up about 350 sq feet of that space. I've got a ceiling that is 17' at the peak and so i have a loft area over the finished office/bathroom that i use for storage. To make better use of the space i needed a way to get things up there safely. I framed in a couple of sections of the wall right in front of my bathroom as it is indented/shallower then the office there is a little cove area that is essentially wasted space (wasted space meaning i cant put tools there of course) The walls have 4×4 supports that carry the load all the way to the concrete floor. I had a 5/8” thick T beam in my junk pile that i created a saddle for out of some 2×12's that span the wall and are lag bolted in place. Then i installed some 2×6's on the wall where i was planning on putting a track system/ ladder for the elevator. Initially my plan was to fabricate the ladder/track but when i got to the scrap yard i found a 3/8” thick angle iron utility ladder that actually suited my purpose really well and i only paid 30 bucks for it. I cut it down and welded some 5/8” thick L iron brackets to the ladder then drilled holes in them and bolted them to my previously installed 2×6 stock using 6” structural rated GRK bolts. after that it was time to make the trolly/elevator platform that would ride up/down the ladder/track. I got some casters and welded up a T brace for the left/right the casters were then welded to the brace i created an I shaped piece with hole patterns at the top/bottom of the I then drilled/tapped holes into the platform frame. I was just barely able to flex the elevator platform onto the ladder/track then i bolted the I in place. I installed a connection point of the hoist right on that I section and installed the hoist above. Eventually ill be changing the 2 ton chain hoist out for an electric one but its just what i had laying around and it actually works great + you can't beat the reliability/ safety factor of something designed to hold %4000 of the load i actually intend. In all i have lifted about 400lbs of freight on this elevator with zero flex the platform is probably 120 lbs and the chain hoist is about 120 as well. I have the hoist chained to the top of the ladder as a safety precaution. I was thinking of adding a ratcheting catch made of plywood that will grab the ladder rungs in the event of a failure but haven't quite gotten around to designing that part of the project.

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