The whole story
So I built my first poker table at the end of the summer of '05. You know, this one
It's been working great, and as soon as I built it, I was already making plans for the next one.
Only problem, the wife didn't like the idea of even the one being stored inside, let alone two (or more!).
So I recalled one of the threads on Scott's Poker Forums, where the question was asked about storing your table by hanging from the ceiling, and it was pointed out that Quads had, in fact, done it.
While I really liked the idea of storing the tables hanging from the ceiling, as I have 12ft ceilings in the garage, but I needed to be able to store more than one at a time. And while the initial poster's suggested product looked like a good idea, it wasn't going to big enough to hold my 4'x8' table, let alone more than one of them. Plus, I figured I could emulate Quads and build it myself for less.
Well, we'll see.
First purchase, 4x8 particle board. Why particle board instead of MDF or hardwood? I explained what I was building to the experts at Home Depot, and they suggested it over the other choices because it was "just as strong as MDF, but lighter". I'm no expert, but for me $$ talks, as long as it gets the job done.
I also got 10 pulleys, 100' of 1/4" poly rope, four 5/16" hooks, and two 8' 2x4's to brace the board along the bottom.
The original plan:
As much as I liked this idea:
I didn't think I could weld/build everything that would be required.
So my first plan was two of these, which I already used for my bikes, one on each short end of the platform.
They work great, and I knew I couldn't actually use these products, I would build my own, stronger version, one on each end of the table. I wanted to wind up the rope on a reel secured to the wall, similar to an air hose reel
Except I envsioned it being powered by a motor, not a hand crank. (Hey if you're going to go through the trouble to build something, go all out, right?)
In short, this did not work. My friend Jeff, who helped me do most of this, debated why for hours.
He thought it was because the rope was stretching, I thought it was due to imperfect pulleys and a much heavier load than a bike.
It didn't matter much, the design had to change. The first change: four seperate ropes, all secured to the reels individually, thus, the four corners of the platform would stay level to the floor.
But as much as I wanted that design to work, and as convinced as I still am that it would work, I could not easily and/or cost effectively build 'wind the rope up on a reel' system. Jeff's idea, which was the same as BJ's
which was a simple winch connected to a large D-ring to the four ropes design. I didn't like this for many reasons, such as:
-not nearly as cool as my wind up on a reel design
-requires me buying an expensive winch
-requires >10ft of distance between the winch anchor site and the pulley to the corners of the platform, which I didn't have.
So Jeff came up with the idea to 'turn the corner' which meant putting all ropes through a far wall.
Jeff came over and we installed it all as we planned.
And much to my surprise, it worked!
Well, for awhile. Then something went wrong. I'm not sure what exactly, but while testing it, a rope broke.
So, ropes were out. Now, I needed to go with cables.
The following weekend, I did just that, and it looked a lot stronger.
I also put two more 8 footers along the bottom edge-wise because the flat way was not preventing the platform from bowing much at all. This prevented it from bowing the long way, but I could still see it bow on the short side.
I also rigged up a string to pull the safety latch while standing at the switch.
The switch was the only surviving part of the original design, the only part I felt like I actually knew something about!
Note the excellent jerry-rigging of the battery charger by clamping it to the switch's supply wires to power the thing. I'm sure that's up to code!
But the 3 position switch is great, up is up, middle is off, and down is down. When I fully loaded the table up, the 2 amps from the charger were barely able to drive the winch hard enough to pull it up, but I got it done, and it has a 10 amp mode as well.
Last weekend, my son and I beefed up the 2x4 underneath the platform according to friend's suggestions to prevent bowing and keep the hooks from pulling out. It now works great!
But for the moment, it appears to be a success. I'm currently planning on adding some additional hooks in the ceiling for added security. I don't want it falling on my van!
So how much did I save?
Sadly I estimate I spent $150-$200 on this thing. Most of it was the $60 winch, but no small part was due to parts that I bought and didn't end up being able to use in the final design.
But at least I didn't just buy a solution, and did myself, with considerable help from friends.