"steamer" wrote in message news:RHa7f.627$ snipped-for-privacy@typhoon.sonic.net... | --Looking for plans for something simple but weather-resistant | that I can use for... are you ready? Safely lifting doggies to the second | floor landing. I've got a devoted following and one of them's had knee | surgery and can't climb stairs for two months. If I keep lifting him up | the stairs *I'm* the one that's getting the *next* round of knee surgery! | ;-) I've got an old electric chain hoist that I can rig for lifting, but | it's getting the "cage" running smoothly up some sort of guide that's got | me stumped. | | -- | "Steamboat Ed" Haas : When does Inuyasha get | Hacking the Trailing Edge! : to bone Kagome?? |
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| ---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---
I developed a prototype of a vacuum dumbwaiter for moving parts where I work. Basically its a tube (the size is up to what you want, what you can afford, and what you need) made of green PVC pipe that's smooth on the inside. You can go do a search on "vacuum elevator" and you'll find the people moving kind, which I sort of used for inspiration in developing a smaller one. The principle I find really cool because of the inherent safety of the whole thing. My design was made from 27" green PVC sewer pipe, which is small quantities (or large) is expensive, but you can roll up some plastic sheet with a frame and possibly do the same thing. Due to OSHA and our unique operating requirements, the electrical controls wound up being more complicated than expected, but it is nonetheless way cheaper than anything I could have bought off the shelf, new or used. Get creative and you can teach your dogs to operate it themselves!