My hoist away garage layout beginnings

[John P]

and you'll also double the amount of rope/cable you use.

That seems intuitively obvious, but I doubt if it's true. The simplest rig anyone's likely to have is a rope from the hand up to a pulley in the ceiling, then down to a corner of the layout. If you add a 2:1 tackle, the rope will go up from the hand, then down from the ceiling, around a pulley on the layout and back up to the ceiling. So the rope is likely to make 3 passes instead of 2, and it's only a 50% increase in length. And, if the rope also travels across the ceiling so as to lift all 4 corners of the layout by pulling a single rope, or a group of ropes all fastened together, the percentage increase is even less.

What I'm most dubious about with these hang-em-high railroads is that when they're down, the whole rig is a big pendulum. In fact when the train starts up northbound, the layout will travel south (Newton's laws at work) and then if the train goes around a curve, there's going to be some twisting action--maybe the layout should land on some reasonably solid legs when it's in use.

 

[kenw]

That seems intuitively obvious, but I doubt if it's true. The simplest rig anyone's likely to have is a rope from the hand up to a pulley in the ceiling, then down to a corner of the layout. If you add a 2:1 tackle, the rope will go up from the hand, then down from the ceiling, around a pulley on the layout and back up to the ceiling. So the rope is likely to make 3 passes instead of 2, and it's only a 50% increase in length. And, if the rope also travels across the ceiling so as to lift all 4 corners of the layout by pulling a single rope, or a group of ropes all fastened together, the percentage increase is even less.

What I'm most dubious about with these hang-em-high railroads is that when they're down, the whole rig is a big pendulum. In fact when the train starts up northbound, the layout will travel south (Newton's laws at work) and then if the train goes around a curve, there's going to be some twisting action--maybe the layout should land on some reasonably solid legs when it's in use.

point is that in a 2x system, you must reel in 2' of rope for every 1' of lift; a 4x system requires you to wench 4' of rope for every 1' of lift. You need to consider the spool size of the wench to hold that much rope.

a 4x system with 6 lift points that raises 10' will need to hold 4x6x10=240 feet of rope. That does not include the amount of rope remaining unspooled.

more importantly, a 4x system means that it takes 1 lb of "hoist" effort to raise 4 lb of layout. Very, very important. I used a moderate sized hand-powered boat wench to lift my layout; while 3 adults had a hard time tipping it up on edge. What you mount the wench upon and how matters, too....

and yes, if you will re-read most of the posts, they mention legs.

 

[Victor Ferguson]

After some time and trails, I have completely change the way this is lifted.

It now is lifted at four points. Lifting level now to prevent the problems mention in this thread.

I feel better about this lifting now.

It would be nice to have a basement for a permanent layout
Thanks for all the replies.
Victor

 

[UP2CSX]

Victor, glad you got it worked out. The four point system is what has been the most successful for modelers who use this method. It's always nice to room for a permanent layout but what you have will do compared to no layout at all.

 

[Kelpie]

another resurectes thread!

i thoguht about going with hoist up layout but went with fold-to-wall instead since my attached garage has finished ceiling and even lower suspended cieleing where the garage opener sits.
to fold the table up, locks removed and side attached to wall slides down on uni-strut "rails". then i can raise the table up. with foam installed i have 6" of vertical clearance for scenery. for now 2 people are required to lift and lower the table so it stays level with the rails but i'll figure out some sort of winch mechanism later.

Hey there tankist,

I am looking to do something similar. Do you have any photos of how you set your up? I'm not an engineer, and I really don't want to mess it up.

 

[tankist]

all the pictures from day one are here. but i never folded the table since, i don't plan on parking in the garage anymore