Re: Need speed switch for DIY funicular/hillside elevator

[astutesolutions@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

> I like Doug's idea of the automatic brake.  I also think you should put
> solid sides on it to keep people from "dangling their legs" through the
> railing like I observed in one of the movies.  I also think you should
> employ some sort of gate, permanently mount the controller and
> incorporate a safety switch that would prevent the device from moving
> with the gate open.

Yes, all good points.

Solid sides, yes.  The vid was from the weekend we first got it done.
I plan on finishing it with side pickets such as a deck.  I also need
to put the rail back up on the deck with a gate so we can keep small
kiddies or dogs from falling off.  I can put a limit switch to prevent
it from running when open on the main deck, but don't really have a
good solution for that on the cart since it is wireless.  I think it
will eventually be more of an education thing.  The legs dangling
although not prefered was actually not too worrisome at that point
since the front of the cart is 4 feet off the ground.  But eventually
the sides would prevent that.

As to the slack, I was originally thinking of something like that, but
with the cable being so heavy, there is actually much slack midway down
in the cable when it is descending, and there will be even more once I
increase the speed of it (variable speed controller).  That would work
well in the event of the cable snapped, but that is pretty unlikely
having 2 wires snap at the same time.

In the event of a free spool, there are 2 places I could slow it down.
Either up top at the spool with some kind of cable grapple, or on the
cart assuming a I had a fixed cable running from top to bottom that the
cart straddled and ran through some eyebolt/pulley scenario.

The trick is, how to determine when it is going fast.  I almost need
some kind of centrigal device on the cart or at the spool  that cuts a
cord or triggers something when it gets going too fast.  I don't have
to worry about a a false alarm start surge because the motor controller
ramps up the speed when starting.

Thanks!