A diary - building a new handling aid for heavy dolls

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:46 pm

It needed a long time to realize a handling aid with the possibilities of a do-it-yourselfer for transportation and setting of a heavy doll.
The definition of the project was:
- Accumulator supply with a nominal voltage of 12 or 24 volts
- The speed of lifting and sinking should be 0,1 meters per second
- The base model of the handling aid doesn't necessarily need to correspond to the previous model

: Over 10 years old and absolutely reliable; Vorgänger.jpg (124.21 KiB) Viewed 3695 times

In the run of the time the required parts (wood-parts, winch, control unit, brackets and standard parts) were obtained and preprocessed.

: All wooden parts and the pulleys; Holzteile_1.jpg (107.65 KiB) Viewed 3695 times

: Holzteile_3.jpg (193.45 KiB) Viewed 3695 times

: First parts assembled; Montage_Kufen.jpg (118.39 KiB) Viewed 3694 times

: Complete without pulleys; Gestell_1.jpg (104.91 KiB) Viewed 3694 times

: The base of the handling aid; Gestell_2.jpg (139.4 KiB) Viewed 3695 times

: Eye bolts for mounting the rope pulleys; Ringschrauben.jpg (98.79 KiB) Viewed 3694 times

Today the rack of the handling aid was built.

: Rack complete with pulleys; Gestell_komplett.jpg (111.6 KiB) Viewed 3695 times

The next step: Rebuilding the winch for rolling a rope instead of a tape.

philpw99 · Post by **philpw99** » Fri Jul 13, 2018 6:37 pm

Very interesting project! Maybe you are considering using some kind of lifting nets like this to handle the doll?

http://a.co/0Rup3ON

Also please be ware that there is something like this already:
http://a.co/5pfHAdv

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 1:36 pm

@philpw99,
this thing is a lot easier. Heavy dolls have usually a neck bolt (precisely: an eye bolt). This bolt will be furthermore used.

: The neck bolt of a heavy doll; Bild23.jpg (445.97 KiB) Viewed 3644 times

Creating a documentation about this handling aid checked all available files, changed some of them etc.

Schema.pdf: The intended rope-system; (22.97 KiB) Downloaded 95 times

According to the technical data of the winch (Lifting speed 3,2 meters per minute) - this system will realize the requested lifting speed of 0,1 meters per second. During the next days I'll install this rope system.

matt gloss · Post by **matt gloss** » Sat Jul 14, 2018 3:57 pm

Hi,lovely piece of kit,thanks for posting

Matt.

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:31 pm

"Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment." It's Finagle's law and is valid as one of the Murphy's laws. This happened. After mounting the pull spring and the rope pulleys I handled a clamp for building in the winch.

: Mounted pullexs and spring; Rollen_Feder_montiert.jpg (108.88 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

Suddenly my Dremel stopped working. The cause of the failure was a break in the stator windings. May be the wire was twisted and the break was accurate on this place. The repair was successful but took a lot of time.

A part of the repair time I was looking for How-to for repairs of a Dremel 3000 and found a lot of articles with the theme "just stopped", "most repairs" etc. It seems there are massive quality problems . . .

Tailor · Post by **Tailor** » Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:27 pm

Hehe fun thing is I built almost the same construction last week.
Yours look a lot more professional than mine doh.
I used a rope pulley, which are really cheap to buy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulley

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:32 pm

The winch is now mounted.

: Original winch; Originalwinde1.jpg (157.53 KiB) Viewed 3544 times

: The parts for the winch and the rope system; Bauteile_Seilzug.jpg (202.15 KiB) Viewed 3544 times

The original winch type is a Goldwinch GW 300 (another type name: NWB 3000) for a nominal voltage of 12 volts dc.
At first there is a conversion the winch for winding ropes instead of tapes.

: The rebuilt winch drum; Seiltrommel.jpg (146.07 KiB) Viewed 3544 times

Then the winch is fixed with three hexagon head screws (Dimension M8×90).

: The winch - now complete mounted; Winde_eingebaut.jpg (165.29 KiB) Viewed 3545 times

During the first running tests I connected the motor directly with the battery. The winch is well running. With the mounted rope the winch catches a lifting range of nearly 2 meters (nearly 6½ ft) instead of 0,75 meters (nearly 2½ ft) with the delivered tape.
But the winch is not a pussyfoot, she isn't quiet . . .

pup001 · Post by **pup001** » Thu Jul 19, 2018 11:23 am

It'd be cool if all doll makers would offer the option of a back bolt for lifting/hanging.

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Sat Jul 21, 2018 2:32 pm

Today I completed the whole rope system of the handling aid. The scheme was designed some months ago and enabled the purchase of the necessary parts, particularly the winch and the power supply.

Schema.pdf: The scheme of the ropes; (22.97 KiB) Downloaded 132 times

The used PES ropes have a breaking strength of 4,600 N (Diameter 5 milimeters) and 10,000 N (Diameter 8 milimeters). This is enough. They were completed with clamps and thimbles.

: Open clamp; Seilklemme_offen.jpg (186.73 KiB) Viewed 3500 times

: Closed clamp with hair protection; Seilklemme_Haarschutz.jpg (193.38 KiB) Viewed 3500 times

The following view shows an important part of the rope sstem.

: A part of the rope system; Seilzug_Seite.jpg (169.33 KiB) Viewed 3500 times

To complete the mechanical part of the handling aid is realizing the holder of the case of the control and supply unit.

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Wed Jul 25, 2018 3:39 pm

Now the mechanical part of the to build handlung aid for a heavy doll is completed.

: Fixing parts of the case of the control and supply unit; Gehäuse_Befestigung_1.jpg (102.02 KiB) Viewed 3468 times

At first the were drive-in nuts to fix with epoxy adhesive - it needed some time for hardening.
The next were the plastic shields (PA 6 material) to process in according with a drawing.

: Holder for the control and supply unit; Steuereinheit_Halter.jpg (129.63 KiB) Viewed 3468 times

While the epoxy adhesive was hardening the was the occasion to build in some greater parts of the electric system. The accumulator and the power relays are now built in.

: First check of the holder for the power and control unit; Am_Gestell_1.jpg (176.67 KiB) Viewed 3468 times

I hope the PCB for the electronics will arrive tomorrow . . .

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Thu Jul 26, 2018 4:32 pm

Today the PCB was delivered by UPS. Now all necessary parts for the electric part of the handling aid are available.

: The PCB for the control and supply unit; Platine.jpg (110.06 KiB) Viewed 3432 times

While waiting for the delivery I finished the wiring diagram and the processing drawing for the front panel. Some parts lists are updated.

Dollsampler · Post by **Dollsampler** » Tue Jul 31, 2018 2:19 pm

I bought a PATIENT LIFTER second hand 3 months ago for 300 USD with an eletric lifting system on batteries.What is the final cost of your do it yourself system?

Ekkehard · Post by **Ekkehard** » Wed Aug 01, 2018 3:22 pm

@ Dollsampler,
your patient lift is really well priced. The prices of new patient lifts I found during a short investigation began at 500 € and above. New electric patient lifts are more expensive. And I believe you're using the delivered seats or you have to rebuild the lift for using the neck bolts of the dolls.

The main components are:
- the winch: approximately 130 €
- the accumulator (a LiFePO4 type): approximately 130 €
- the case for the supply and control unit: nearly 60 €
- all the wooden parts, screws, electronic components etc.: nearly 180 €
Altogether there are material costs of approximately 500 €.