Wheelchair service lift for an apartment dweller?

[SweetBearCub]

My apartment is about 344 sq. ft/32 sq. mt. (maybe more, this is to be safe)

I'm looking for a way to lift a power wheelchair from the floor to a working height of between 27 and 36 inches, depending on where I'm sitting.

Something maybe like this, but with a power system, and a lip where chairs can be rolled on. So much the better if it can be stowed underneath my bed (adjustable, so there are electrics under there) when not in use.

https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/sout ... gIqQ_D_BwE

Ideally, it should be suitable to get a chair to a height where I can clean it (and somehow move it around to get at all of the chair), get a jack under a chair to change a tire, to raise a chair up so that I can work on its internals, etc.

[daveonwheels]

the item you are describing does not exist. however,a wheelchair jack can be purchased for $380. BM uses a block and tackle to hoist his chairs. others have used a low profile hydraulic car jack

[Burgerman]

Did you consider a simple chain hoist?

This is a 190kg chair, lift it easily with one hand. You just need a good solid eye bolt in the ceiling. 1/2 ton max weight.

[Burgerman]

Its very easy to lower it to a low table or whatever if you need that. But being able to swivel is actually useful.

Eye bolt. M14 thread.

[Burgerman]

When done, unhook the block and tackle, throw under bed... Its small enough to go in the bottom of some wardrobe or cupboard somewhere out of sight.

[SweetBearCub]

Did you consider a simple chain hoist?

This is a 190kg chair, lift it easily with one hand. You just need a good solid eye bolt in the ceiling. 1/2 ton max weight.

It's a very interesting idea, but I have no idea how I would find where to mount that eye bolt.

There's also the consideration that because this is subsidized housing, I have to deal with a mandatory yearly extremely thorough housing inspection, and if I recall, my lease does have something to say about holes in walls or similar. So to avoid losing my housing over something so trivial, I will not follow the typical pattern of asking forgiveness instead of permission.

If I could spin it as an ADA accommodation, I might be able to get it approved, though I'm not sure exactly how I might justify it. I'm not sure that "hole in ceiling support for a wheelchair service lift" would pass muster, but then again, I haven't asked.

[thamesmud]

I use a high lift pallet truck to get my chairs up to a working height.

High lift pallet truck

Probably not a good option in an apartment. Motorcycle lift might be a good place to start, though it will need modifying. Following on from BM's comment I use my "molift" as a general purpose workshop crane, as well as for when I faceplant when transferring.

[Burgerman]

If I could spin it as an ADA accommodation, I might be able to get it approved, though I'm not sure exactly how I might justify it. I'm not sure that "hole in ceiling support for a wheelchair service lift" would pass muster, but then again, I haven't asked.

Just tell them its for a patient electric lift.
As the hole only need be 14mm or whatever, its trivial to fill, dab some paint over it and then its gone.

But there has to be something solid behind it. Like a heavy beam, lintel or something. Here all our houses are brick built, and in most older houses that includes inside walls. So in my case this has a heavy steel lintel like a railway track going across the width of the room sat on brick walls. So that lintel is drilled and tapped to M14, and has a nut and bolt through it. So that eye bolt is just screwed on to a protruding thread. Tested it to double the weight of the heaviest powerchair (400kg) and no problem, nothing moves a mm.

[SweetBearCub]

If I could spin it as an ADA accommodation, I might be able to get it approved, though I'm not sure exactly how I might justify it. I'm not sure that "hole in ceiling support for a wheelchair service lift" would pass muster, but then again, I haven't asked.

Just tell them its for a patient electric lift.
As the hole only need be 14mm or whatever, its trivial to fill, dab some paint over it and then its gone.

But there has to be something solid behind it. Like a heavy beam, lintel or something. Here all our houses are brick built, and in most older houses that includes inside walls. So in my case this has a heavy steel lintel like a railway track going across the width of the room sat on brick walls. So that lintel is drilled and tapped to M14, and has a nut and bolt through it. So that eye bolt is just screwed on to a protruding thread. Tested it to double the weight of the heaviest powerchair (400kg) and no problem, nothing moves a mm.

As far as I know, our houses here aren't built the same way for various reasons, some good, some bad. I have a feeling that apartment buildings in a city aren't all that much different.

Your idea of a justification reason of a patient electric lift is very good, but when I searched for some examples, the typical ones I saw (or have experienced in a hospital setting) are portable devices on wheels, like these: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=patien ... ome&ia=web

Would one of those types of lifts still be capable of lifting up a chair with straps under it, to the heights that I would need?

None that I looked at talk about how high they can lift in that way. From that I could figure the height of chair, plus the support webbing, and how far above the floor it would be.

[Burgerman]

My patient ift, floor standing lifts a max of 180kg.
My two heavy chairs are 190...
My own non reahab seating BM1 / BM2 chairs are half of that. So it depends...

But those things take up lots of space.

[Burgerman]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BOZONLI-Liftin ... Z6PMN?th=1
M12 gives safe working load 344KG and M14 gives safe load over 450KG.

The one I have is M12 and not M14 as stated earlier. I just looked. Seat lift is useful!

[ex-Gooserider]

Harbor Fright sells a variety of 'engine hoists' which look amazingly like patient lifts with industrial paint finishes instead of medical chrome / powder coat, and with 1/2 ton+ ratings. Many can fold into fairly small packages.

If you look back through the old forum posts you can find a thread on how I modified an HF "high-lift motorcycle lift" to work w/ wheelchairs - took a lot of welding and the result is far from compact, although I can push most of it under a bench so only the main lifting part takes up much room....

That platform lift you pointed at in the OP is possibly on the low capacity side but might work if you made a couple of ramps to get the chair up on it, and possibly some extensions to increase it's area. It is probably about as good as you would get for being able to stuff it under the bed...

ex-Gooserider

[slomobile]

https://www.mcmaster.com/lift-carts/

We used a 1000lb capacity hydraulic lift cart for our large robots. Collapses to roughly one foot tall, lifts to counter height. Lock its casters and use a threshold ramp to load. We welded on stops and guides to help align it and prevent dropping off the edge. Cut a rectangle in the center of table and welded a manual car scissor jack under table so that we could jack the robot wheels off the table top for drivetrain testing. Operated the manual scissor jack with a cordless drill.

Before my Quantum Q6 edge was a mobile bed, it had a 6' foldable aluminum ramp mounted in place of the seat. The idea was that I would drive the ramp to wherever I needed it and use the tilt actuator to set the angle. That particular chair required 2x4s between the ramp and seat base to clear the tilt mechanism when tilted. It made it easy to remove the ramp, drive the chair through doorways, then add the ramp again. I never did try loading a 2nd chair with it, but when I threw some foam on the ramp it made a fine bed. Presumably, once a chair is loaded onto the tilted ramp, you could tilt it level and have a work surface. If you have a backup powerchair and dont mind a small bed, one device could serve as work table, bed, ramp storage, and backup chair.

[Jay_x]

I use a high lift pallet truck to get my chairs up to a working height.

IMG_20190302_160053491-small.jpg

Probably not a good option in an apartment. Motorcycle lift might be a good place to start, though it will need modifying. Following on from BM's comment I use my "molift" as a general purpose workshop crane, as well as for when I faceplant when transferring.

what model chair is that?

[Burgerman]

Its no chair. Its a scooter. Look bit like a tramper with stuff removed? Except its only got 3 wheels...