Forklift Mast Make Great In-Home Elevator

Forklift Mast Make Great In-Home Elevator BUILDINGS Miscellaneous Eric Beck of Shelbyville Ill wanted to give his handicapped son Dylan easier access to the basement So he built a home elevator out of a salvaged forklift mast “It’s always ready to go and does a great job of transporting Dylan and his wheelchair between the main floor and lower level of our home ” says Beck He bought the forklift from a dealer for $400 and kept only the mast and cylinder anchoring the mast to the concrete floor of his basement He cut a 5 by 8-ft opening in the house floor to make room for the 4-ft sq elevator deck which he made by welding a 3/8-in thick steel plate onto the forklift’s forks To energize the mast Eric made use of an electric motor and hydraulic pump salvaged from a car hoist He mounted both the motor and the pump on one side of the mast and connected them with pulleys and a belt An old metal container serves as a hydraulic oil reservoir The car hoist’s hydraulic release lever and mechanism is unchanged “To go up I push a button to activate the electric motor which operates the hydraulic pump to raise the elevator To go down I pull on a hydraulic valve to release the hydraulic pressure which allows the oil to gravity flow back down to the reservoir The entire process to go down and back up takes only about 40 seconds ” says Beck who notes that his total cost was less than $1 000 He says he still has some work to do to provide safety rails around the deck Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Eric Beck RR 3 Box 147 Shelbyville Ill 62565 ph 217 827-3937

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.