Thursday, May 05, 2016

The Pulley Consternation...


IF that title sounds like an episode of The Big Bang Theory hold on. In my last post I told you that my craft space is in the unfinished part of our basement. My stencils hang from a rod suspended on chains. This mostly worked; but to save my shoulders and neck I have to stand on a step stool to sort through them. I wanted them up and out the way when not in use and thus the short chain. I got a smart idea that maybe I could use something to raise and lower the rod and thus begins the saga of the pulley consternation.

This involves physics.

This involves engineering.

Someone should have warned me, I skipped physics took all the biology type science classes instead in high school. I wanted to be a doctor. I felt like I needed the help of Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper, Lenard Hoffstadter and Howard Walowitz. I’m like a dog with a bone on this one. I went to Lowes so often that the staff knew my name. I availed myself, at least twice, of the Same-day-shipping from Amazon. But after much frustration and 4 attempts and throwing too much money at it, I have something that works!

Eureka!

I started with a bike lifter (epic fail) 20160502_110848
and while it worked I soon found out that I was not strong enough for this simple set up and that my stencils were so heavy they bent the bar and everything slid to one side or the other. And if I ever did use this thing it would not be often enough.
Enter a block and tackle pulley setup. 20160505_132002
This has a 7:1 weight ratio (the physics part) so weak little me is now able to use this with little effort. 7:1 means I pull with one 7th of the force required to lift the actual weight.  I conquered 
the bending of the steel rod with a spruce pine furring 2x2x8 strip and some lag screw eye hooks.20160505_131930

What I used that worked
2 block and tackle pulley setups
6 foot ¼ inch diameter steel rod
2 ¼ inch axel caps
4 or more lag screw eye hooks
2 wire cable clamps (secures rod so that it will not slid out of the lag eyes)
2 block and tackle pulley setups
1 spruce pine furring 2x2x8 strip (cut to 6 feet and sanded smooth)
6 larger screw eye hooks (large enough for the block and tackle hook to pass through)
A wall cleat to tie the ropes off with.
Drill
Screw Driver (makes quick work of the screw eyes)
A husband with the patience of Job (NBA playoffs every night)
20160505_132022
Oh did I say I made 2 of these yikes! One (shown above) for small stencils and the other for 12 inch stencils.

As always I leave you
In HIs Hands,

9 comments:

Claret Belle said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

Whoa!!!! My sister, kudos on your effort, engineering skills and desire to do what you have to do to use what you want and when you want to do it. lol I love you! Yes, you have quite a few stencils. Has Karen Johnson seen this yet?????????????

Unknown said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

Queen Pam reppen the 502 !

Pamela Levingston said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

@Claret Belle I don't know if she has or not. Send her a link. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Pamela Levingston said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

@crowlimite
WORD!

Sandy said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

I am so proud of you for working it until it worked! Necessity may be the mother of invention but you are the queen!

Pamela Levingston said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

@Sandy
thank you Sandy!

Pat P said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

Well, I'm impressed! I know it's a little late, now that you have done all that, but I've long been impressed with an old post showing Donna Downey's stencil storage:
http://donnadowney.typepad.com/simply_me/2015/01/stencil-storage.html
Keep churning out those ideas, Pam!

Pamela Levingston said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

@Pat P
Hi Pat. I remember that post. I have been storing my dies on those rods from Ikea for many years. My studio space has no free wall or floor space, so the ceiling was my only option. Thanks for reading my blog. I'm honored.

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips[Reply to comment]Best Blogger Templates

I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up!
I'll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back down the road.
Many thanks

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