More Xperiences with Stair/ChairLifts...UPDATED

[TopCatGr58]

Last new thread, promise, at least for today!!

Our house is a modest 2 story, master bedroom upstairs! SWMBO's knees are going bad, Arthritis, also in hips, and so we are going to be installing a Stair/Chairlift onto the 16' of straight stairs to assist her and her sister(who also lives with us and just had massive foot fusion surgery) in going up and down the stairs.

I've done a bit-o-research, have found a few companies that make them, a few different designs.

One incorporates a motor and traction system that grabs the track rails to move the chair up and down.

Another uses a cable system...similar to the SF trolleys to move the chair up and down the stairs. IIRC, SUMMIT is the brand.
They also state that they don't use "circuit boards", just controlling switches at the ends of the tracks for stopping and calling the chair to you if it's at the other end. They say it's more reliable than computer/circuit board type controllers?

So...anyone with knowledge or experience with these things that can offer any advice as to which type to get, reliability, etc.??
ThanXS again!
T.C.

[BOYZSBLUE]

TC INSTALLING CHAIR LIFT

HEY TC, MY GRAND MOTHER HAD THE CABLE AND RELAY TYPE ON HER STAIRS. IT WAS RECONMENDED BECAUSE OF WHERE SHE LIVED. ALOT OF LIGHTENING DURING STORMS. NOT GOOD FOR COMPUTER TYPE BOARDS ,THEY HAVE GOOD CHANCE OF FRYING. I WOULD GO THAT WAY DUE TO WHERE YOU LIVE.... ALOT OF STORMS WITH LIGHTENING DOWN THERE!!??? SHE HAS HERS AND NEVER HAD BUT ONE PROBLEM WITH IT . KEEPING MY BUTT FROM RIDING UP AND DOWN ONE IT! FIREPLACE POKER ACROSS THE BUTT STOPPED THAT IF I CAN REMEMBER RIGHT. EASY TO SERVICE ALSO, YOU CAN DO IT YOURSELF. GOOD LUCK, AND ALSO MAKE THAT SHED TWICE AS BIG AS YOU NEED IT. WILL FILL UP FAST..TAKE IT FROM EXPERIENCE...REDID MY SPACE TWICE AND NOW STILL NOT ENOUGH SPACE FOR TOYS ,TOOLS AND WORK AREA.MAYBE I SHOULD GET RID OF SOME TOYS,NOT!!!! HOW BAD DID IT STORM DOWN YOUR NECK OF THE WOODS? THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO BUILD AN ARK, BUT FINALLY STOPPED SAT, LUNCH .

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Leon,

Thanks for the input!! Yeah, we do get some decent T-storms, have to run around unplugging the entertainment toys...big screen tv, computer, stereo, etc.!! ;P

We got a fair amount of rain down here, a few places in Norfolk and Newport News had some flooding, but was shortlived. Fortunately I don't live in a flood zone, the local street corner got flooded just due to volume of drain water vs. capacity of drains, but it could flow over the end and down into the river if it had to. Neighbor had a few panels of siding blown off...cheaply built homes here, they didn't use the proper technique of nailing it down on EVERY STUD! Fortunately, we just had ours completely redone with Alcoa siding and trim, professionally installed, guaranteed for life, and 150mph hurricanes!
T.C.

[Do Lee]

Hey T.C.,

My Great-Aunt & Great-Uncle also had the cable, switches and relay chairlift. My Great-Uncle was wheelchair bound shortly after he was diagnosed polio and the family had these types of chairlifts because at that time that was the only option besides an elevator. The last chairlift she had before she died was almost 35 years old and still worked fine. Kinda like our XS11's.
The unit did have its share of problems but they were all miner.

I hope SWMBO's arthritis is not to sever, I CAN relate with her the knees. Any assistance with stairs is always helpful.

[Geezer]

Block and tackle? ) Running and ducking...

Geezer

[Fredjohny]

Hello,

you can also purshase load transformers and surge protectors to eliminate the storms output effect, on the computer components.

[fredintoon]

You could move?

Hi TC,
you can fall off those stair riders you know, break a hip perhaps. Perhaps what you need is to sell up and move to a slab-on-grade bungalow*. With a garage that's big enough that you don't need a shed.
Lack of mobility is a problem for everyone if they live long enough. My own 4-level split has 3 internal (admittedly short) stairways plus the front steps.
For me, once the onset of frailty sets in to the extent I can't make it up six steps in a timely enough fashion to get to the washroom as needed, moving would be cheaper than 4 sets of stairclimbers.
Fred Hill, S'toon.
*My neighbor plans doing exactly that, even with her newly installed stainless hip joint she finds that stairs are a burden.
F.

[TopCatGr58]

Resurrecting an old thread for a new RANT!

Well hey there folks,

First you'll notice the original date of this thread was in 2006, we got the ChairLift/StairLift....cable and relays type. Installed it myself, and it worked okay for a while! Then it started to DRAG against the rails and we had aluminum shavings all up and down the stairs!

I took it apart a few years ago to inspect it, and found that their design/ engineering was a bit below par for the stresses that the unit sustains both from the weight of the chair itself, as well as the passenger....200+ lbs...it's supposedly rated for 300 capacity!

It has a pair of wheels on each corner, but the front ones receive the lion's share of stress. It originally came with....are you ready for this...slotted Vinyl Plastic wheels!!! They are mounted on solid 0.50" axle shafts....no bearings.....and are open to dust, debris, and required frequent spritzes of lubrication! Since I had small machining capabilities, I made some replacement wheels out of solld 6061 aluminum thinking that they would hold up better than the vinyl ones! But alas...they too succumbed to the extreme load stresses and wallowed out the axle holes and such!

So...I decided to put something a bit more substantial in there for wheels... SEALED Steel ROLLER BEARINGS!! The problem I ran into was that for the OD size of the bearing/wheel...1.625" I could only find standard roller bearings with an ID of 0.75"! SO...I had to fashion some sleeves out of more aluminum, but I made them with a interference fit into the bearings, and also for the steel axle shafts...so that the turning action and LOAD would be applied to the sealed greased bearings and not the SLEEVE (so the sleeve would not try to spin on the axle).

It's taken me most of yesterday and several hours of today for both the disassembly, the sourcing of the bearings locally, then the machining of the sleeves, fitting them to the bearings, then pulling part of the rails/track to be able to access the lower pair of wheels, then reinstall the track section...roll the chairlift down past that section, remove it again then roll the chair back up to the opening to access the upper set of wheels, then put the track back together, etc.!!! The wheels roll INSIDE an lipped/enclosed section of the rails/track...it's not like a TRAIN that just sits on top of the rails.

It's working nicer now, hopefully these will last a while, and I won't have to be relubing them since they are sealed bearings!! Here's a few photos of the old plastic wheels, the worn aluminum wheels, and the new bearings, along with the view of the bottom of the chair/axles, and my lathe with the piece of aluminum being shaped into a nice 0.752" sleeve!!!













I had thought and ViperRon had suggested the use of Urethane wheels like on inline skates or such, but time was of the essence...couldn't search/ order online and wait for them...needed to perform the repair ASAP due to SWMBOS's recent lower back surgery!

Hope you all had a less stressful New Year's Weekend!

T.C.

[DGXSER]

Since SWMBO has Rheumatoid Arthritis, I have given thought to one of those setups. I see the folly of the design and will keep it in mind for future use.

I do not feel so bad about painting side covers, and putting the trim on the kitchen cabinets I installed a few years ago.

[Cuda 69]

well done,should last for years now,with no greasing.

[xs11jack]

Once again the XS11 spirit of inovation triumphs!!!!! Great Job Cat man.
Ole Jack

[fredintoon]

...I decided to put something a bit more substantial in there for wheels... SEALED Steel ROLLER BEARINGS!! The problem I ran into was that for the OD size of the bearing/wheel...1.625" I could only find standard roller bearings with an ID of 0.75"! SO...I had to fashion some sleeves out of more aluminum, but I made them with a interference fit into the bearings, and also for the steel axle shafts...so that the turning action and LOAD would be applied to the sealed greased bearings and not the SLEEVE (so the sleeve would not try to spin on the axle). - - -

Hi TC,
if you'd have switched to metric sizes you coulda used XS11 front wheel bearings, eh?
Next time, use Torrington drawn cup needle races pressed into aluminum wheels.
Torrington also marked hardened inner races for the needle races that can be stuck onto the carriage stub-shafts with Loctite.