Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My first instinct is to
hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a commercial lift installed
or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the bumper.
(Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)

Tom Gardner wrote:
Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My first instinct is to
hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a commercial lift installed
or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the bumper.
(Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)


Well the skateboarders would love you if you did the last one.
Ken

Tom Gardner nospam wrote:
Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My first instinct is to
hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a commercial lift installed
or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the bumper.
(Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)

Tom: Depends on the model van. I know that there are a couple of models
of minivans that there are no commercial lifts available for. It's not
that the vans are not popular enough, it has to do with the basic frame
structure and all the motion that is required to get a chair in and
out.

Been there and done the research and wasn't happy with the results...

Craig C.

wrote in message
oups.com...


Tom Gardner nospam wrote:
Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My first instinct is to
hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a commercial lift
installed
or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the bumper.
(Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)

Tom: Depends on the model van. I know that there are a couple of models
of minivans that there are no commercial lifts available for. It's not
that the vans are not popular enough, it has to do with the basic frame
structure and all the motion that is required to get a chair in and
out.

Been there and done the research and wasn't happy with the results...

Craig C.


I have a '98 Ford 350 1-ton Super-Duty extended showing up at my door
Friday. I couldn't find a bigger one.

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 00:00:20 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My first instinct is to
hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a commercial lift installed
or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the bumper.
(Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)

Normally I'd say build your own, go for it, make the Tim Taylor
Binford Wheelchair Lift for the ages - that's the whole idea of the
group. BUT (and that's a huge but)...

This is a medical device, meant to be used with ill or elderly
people who might not be able to stop themselves from falling if they
get off balance or it starts breaking and tilts.

If you are going to put people other than yourself on it and wave
them around in mid-air, I would at least start with a commercial
wheelchair lift - because if someone ends up hurt or dead, you won't
hear the end of it for years.

If you need to modify the lift or the mounting bracketry a bit to
make it fit the car, or work with an unusual wheelchair, that's OK.
But I'd want someone with a big product liability insurance policy to
take responsibility for doing proper engineering and ensuring
structural integrity.

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

Tom Gardner nospam wrote:
Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. ...

The people who manufacture those things commercially have already
made, and corrected one would hope, all the mistakes you'd make
building your own.

Better to learn from THEIR mistakes, no?

--

FF

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
m...


I have a '98 Ford 350 1-ton Super-Duty extended showing up at my door
Friday. I couldn't find a bigger one.



I think you'll need a van with a raised roof. All the vans I've ever seen
with a lift installed had the raised roof.

Shawn

In article ,
"Tom Gardner" wrote:

Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My first instinct is to
hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a commercial lift installed
or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the bumper.
(Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)

Check out Ricon, Bruno, Braun, Harmar Auto-Lift, Freedom Lift and
whatever others you can find on the www for example designs.

There are a few "Gotchas" in wheelchair lift construction. The platform
has to swing far enough out to clear the step most full-size vans have
at the side doors. The platform has to stay level throughout its full
travel, excepting folding up for stowage. There should be some kind of
self-operating stop to prevent a wheelchair rolling off the platform.
Most lifts' designs assume operation on level ground. It can get hairy
trying to get a wheelchair on/off a lift platform if there's a slope
where you're parked.

If you're hauling more than one wheelchair user, you're pretty much
stuck to standard platform lifts. Other types use up too much floor
space in the vehicle.

Next issue: How do you plan to tie down wheelchair(s) once you get them
into the van? I don't tie down my chair, but that's on me. The thought
of having 300 pounds of powerchair landing on my back during a head-on
has given me pause though.

Make sure whatever lift you buy or make will reach the ground. That's
not a joke: Many/most have a limited lifting height, van floor to ground.

I got lucky: Another wheelie had a used Crow River (I think Braun bought
them out.) that he gave me. Big lift with 600 pound rated capacity. I
had to widen the platform to take my 26.5 inch monster powerchair, but
the price was right and I can weld. I've lifted close to 1000# with it
at odd times; not recommended, but possible.

I work as a part-time tech at a non-profit DME dealer. We install quite
a few of certain types, but we generally refer platform lift buyers to
specialists until we get ourselves certified as installers for them.

It's a very good bet that 1/2 the price of a wheelchair lift device of
whatever kind is insurance premiums!

They're simple mechanisms, usually overbuilt all to hell. (That
liability thing again) With your demonstrated ability to design and
build machines, it shouldn't be too hard for you to roll your own, but
you may find parts expensive, especially medical-use rated parts. Some
makers of actuators, etc, may not even deal with you at all unless you
can show insurance coverage that can hold them harmless.

"Tom Gardner" wrote in
news
Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a
wheelchair lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing
about them. I did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My
first instinct is to hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a
commercial lift installed or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the
bumper. (Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)



If you build your own Tom, just remember that you are dealing with human
life, and as such, anything that can fail has to result in a 'failsafe'
condition. Whatever fails must result in the thing just stopping its
motion.
Things like spring actuated mechanical clamping brakes on the vertical
lift portion, redundant everything, etc.




--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Remove sp to reply via email

http://www.machines-cnc.net:81/

"Anthony" wrote in message
...
"Tom Gardner" wrote in
news
Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a
wheelchair lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing
about them. I did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My
first instinct is to hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a
commercial lift installed or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the
bumper. (Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)



If you build your own Tom, just remember that you are dealing with human
life, and as such, anything that can fail has to result in a 'failsafe'
condition. Whatever fails must result in the thing just stopping its
motion.
Things like spring actuated mechanical clamping brakes on the vertical
lift portion, redundant everything, etc.




--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.


Concidering my mother's personality, I'm thinking of a lift that converts to
a catapult...so safety isn't a big issue. (just kidding, Mom)
Remove sp to reply via email

http://www.machines-cnc.net:81/

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 16:51:58 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:
"Anthony" wrote in message
8...

If you build your own Tom, just remember that you are dealing with human
life, and as such, anything that can fail has to result in a 'failsafe'
condition. Whatever fails must result in the thing just stopping its
motion.
Things like spring actuated mechanical clamping brakes on the vertical
lift portion, redundant everything, etc.

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Concidering my mother's personality, I'm thinking of a lift that converts to
a catapult...so safety isn't a big issue. (just kidding, Mom)

Notepad from the Desk Of Tom's Mother
Note to lawyers: Write that no good son of mine OUT of the will.
He gets $1 and an ironclad No-Contest clause. ;-)

(Rule Number 1: NEVER **** Off Momma. It's VERY dangerous.)

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

I have seen one, that worked with an Astro van. It wasn't a lift, but
a hoist. It dropped the wheel chair out of a pod like a car top
carrier on top of the van, right next to the drivers door, and then of
course back up into the pod when done.

At the time I wasn't in a wheel chair, so didn't pay a whole lot of
attention to it.





"Shawn" shawn_75ATcomcastDOTnet wrote:


"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
om...


I have a '98 Ford 350 1-ton Super-Duty extended showing up at my door
Friday. I couldn't find a bigger one.



I think you'll need a van with a raised roof. All the vans I've ever seen
with a lift installed had the raised roof.

Shawn


jk

I think you'll need a van with a raised roof. All the vans I've ever seen
with a lift installed had the raised roof.

Shawn

Or dropped the floor as in the conversion of the
Dodge -Plymouth -Cry ---minivans ...nice conversions but at the same price
as the van itself as I can remember from a number of years ago .....my
advice is to get a used unit as there are too many variables for a home
project ....

Take care ....Tom nr Pittsburgh

There is a pretty healthy secondary market for these things. Check
with a nearby rehab hospital. If they do any MS or spinal cord injury
work they will have a line on this type of used equipment as well as
people selling it.

As a matter of fact, I'll soon be replacing my 1993 E150 which is
complete with lift, automatic door openers and hand controls in the
near future. Perhaps you'd be interested if you're anywhere near the
greater Philadelphia area.

Steve



On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 00:00:20 GMT, "Tom Gardner"
wrote:

Buy or build? I'm just starting to think of how convenient a wheelchair
lift would be for the old folks and know less than nothing about them. I
did make a hinged plywood ramp but it is a pain. My first instinct is to
hob together some steel and hydraulics or have a commercial lift installed
or...a couple of ski-ropes tied to the bumper.
(Try to get THAT visual out of your head!)