lastlight's 225

[lastlight]

I've already built and tested a very rough prototype. I used it to lift a length of pvc pipe to the joists in my basement. I wanted to ensure that my bearing layout would lift the object evenly on both ends and work out any kinks. That first demo had one major problem and that was the pivoting end of the actuator shaft. The shaft itself rotates and the rotating bracket on its end can simply slide and counter the shaft's rotation. The issue was that the bracket was turning a lot too...especially when retracting the actuator. If this happened with my light on wires it could be disastrous!

My final build has a 3-sided channel for the bracket to slide within. This has corrected the issue entirely.

Parts:

- 3/4" maple, screws and glue
- actuator
- 3 grooved bearings
- various brackets, nuts and bolts.

Here is the unit. All that need to be done to it is drill a hole to feed my 12VDC power into it from the ceiling. When I'm done testing it on the ceiling I'll mount my floating cover. It will be a 60 x 18 maple panel...large enough that the ends can be open but from the floor you cannot see the guts above it.



This shows where the two wires will connect. The blue wire runs on 2 bearings and the red on one. Two were needed for the blue wire to turn a pushing movement into a pull. So basically when the actuator extends 24" the light goes up 24". When it retracts the light will rest where it currently does...a few inches from the water's surface.



View of the actuator shaft and bracket.



Close-up of one bearing/bracket.



Just a neat shot down it's length.



You can see the 3-position toggle switch on the back of the stand. It's all wired and ready to go. Thanks for lookin'!