Hoist control wiring help please!!

[DPG]

@P3dro

A picture (or pictures) of the hatch in an open state may help. If the cable on one winch is long enough, and the winch is powerful enough, you may be able to achieve what you want using a mechanical arrangement of pulleys rather than a complex electrical solution.

For example, if you could arrange for the winch cable to run over a pulley in each corner of the hatch all you have to do is to arrange pulleys in the opening to guide the cable and a safe transit path for the cable (i.e. so no one falls over it) in the roof space. It would obviously take longer to close as there is more cable to move, but that sort of arrangement is doable and doesn't require matched motors or electrical modifications. You just have to ensure that the number of cables in each corner is equal otherwise you would get a different speed where the number isn't the same.

Sorry about the carp diagram, not quite up to @Richard Burns standards, but it illustrates the point.

View attachment 35641

I love this - definitely different!
Daz

 

[Wilko]

Awesome @SparkyChick !!!
In the nicest way, Heath Robinson (like me) would be proud
Here's one of his cartoons for those not familiar.
View attachment 35642

 

[DPG]

Love it!

 

[PEG]

@P3dro

A picture (or pictures) of the hatch in an open state may help. If the cable on one winch is long enough, and the winch is powerful enough, you may be able to achieve what you want using a mechanical arrangement of pulleys rather than a complex electrical solution.

For example, if you could arrange for the winch cable to run over a pulley in each corner of the hatch all you have to do is to arrange pulleys in the opening to guide the cable and a safe transit path for the cable (i.e. so no one falls over it) in the roof space. It would obviously take longer to close as there is more cable to move, but that sort of arrangement is doable and doesn't require matched motors or electrical modifications. You just have to ensure that the number of cables in each corner is equal otherwise you would get a different speed where the number isn't the same.

Sorry about the carp diagram, not quite up to @Richard Burns standards, but it illustrates the point.

View attachment 35641

I like it! It looks like Family Guy,Joe Swanson's toilet facilities

In this arrangement,even with a perfectly balanced suspended load,sheave/rope friction,would cause uneven lifting,and, failure of any one part,is CF,with a person below.

Also,provision for stopping winching,on reaching desired position,or an obstruction,is obligatory,as operations are out of sight from below.

Provision for detecting loss of tension,is required,or a simple sticking lid,could result in a sudden release,and disaster.

There are pages of this...but until we know precisely what the OP has in mind,i can only shut my eyes,and picture Caracatus Potts house,in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang...which actually,i have envied,since childhood

 

[FatAlan]

if my dad were still alive, he'd have done something like that, using hydraulic bits from shot down lancasters and halifaxes. ( that was his job in the RAF, making 1 good bomber out of 3 scrappers ).

I love that make do and mend attitude. It's a skill that is rapidly dying out. I remember a storm in the late 70s that destroyed my dads aluminium greenhouse. My dad got a new one on insurance And my grandad picked up the bits of the mangled one, straightened them out and rebuilt the old one in his garden. I really admire the ex forces engineers who could fix anything. Unfortunately these days I can't see people lashing up a dodgy micro chip ..... unless you know different.

 

[StephenRowley]

Problem is that you may get some speed difference between the motors so if you just connect them together, your going to end up with one end wound up before the other.

 

[SparkyChick]

I never claimed it wasn't without it's faults (of which there are many as has been highlighted)

I would just like to see some pictures of this behemoth in it's open state because I'm struggling to understand why it's so heavy and requires lifting at both ends (unless the OP actually means both sides - quote from the OP "The hoist lifts my loft hatch and I want another at the other end").

When I think about folding staircase, I immediately think of the ones that are mounted on the loft hatch and the whole assembly is using spring loading to make it easy to open and close, so I'm just struggling to understand the whole arrangement. But in all honesty, I'd say if it's that heavy you need mechanical assist, it's flawed from the beginning, even my 85 year old Grandma used to be able to open her loft hatch and get the loft ladder down without assistance.

But trying to solve this with equipment which isn't designed for this purpose, it's fraught with issues (many of which have been highlighted it seems as a result of my excellent piece of artwork ) and I'd be looking for different less mechanical/electrical solutions, like maybe a few sessions of weight training or modification of the staircase

I just wanna see it so I can understand what needs to be achieved.

 

[DPG]

Wot she said ^^^^

 

[GMES]

Wot he said ^^^^ about what she said ^^^^

 

[PEG]

Well...in the absence of a possibly startled OP (apologies),i could see an issue with a recently re-located vampire,who,finding his new residence had an attic,and no cellar,was at odds regarding facilitating the moving of a large box,containing earth from his native land...

I remain open,to any other scenarios.

To the OP,joshing aside,i feel hydraulics are the way forward