Re: Need speed switch for DIY funicular/hillside elevator

[astutesolutions@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

>
> What you need to do is rent yourself a "cable load meter".  Attach to
> one of the cables right at the cart.  Go "up" and "down" a couple of
> times and then move it to the second cable.  Repeat the process.  You
> should be able to confirm that there is tension in the cables regardless
> of whether you perceive they're going "slack".  If this is the case,
> using Doug's idea would be the simplest solution for you.

A little background first:  Each cable attaches to a cable eyelet that
attaches to a large U-bolt on the respective side near the low side of
the cart.  On that there is an individual 6 foot stretch of cable that
connects near the uphill side of each cable and is joined by 2 pulleys
that are connected to the lowside U-bolts mentioned.  They "eyelet"
portion of the cable is slack (by about 6") in between the where the
pulley cable connects.  This allows the tension to be spread evenly,
and by keeping the eyelets there, they act as a buffer if one of the
cables break.  Before, I didn't have the pulley section and the cable
tension varied, and it was difficult to adjust.  Adding the 6 foot
section distributed the load.

So, for both cables there is a common tension point which is anywhere
along that pulley'd section.  I suppose I could add a spring oriented
solution that applied pressure to a brake caliper (go karts have these)
to a fixed cable.  Initially there wouldn't be much friction to slow
the cart down, but as the cart did start to slow and removed tension
from the main cables, the spring would be more dominant and would apply
full force to it.  Even if it doesn't stop it but slows that might be
sufficient.  And I could always add more calipers like this:

http://www.mfgsupply.com/m/c/218070A.html?id=m6EMrXok

I would just need to play with how much tension actually would be
needed to trigger it.  Hmm.... something to think about.