From the front! The crank shaft is 3/4 inch plywood, and the handle is maple dowel turned to shape on the lathe. The gear is 1/2 inch Baltic Burch plywood made in 2019.
Between the crank and the gear is another of the plywood rings like the one below. All three of these will be glued together then locked on the shaft with cotter type key so they can't slip. The top is the escapement lock (and the next obstacle to over come). It will be spring loaded in the current position but movable to engage it's other end. If you turned the crank counter clockwise this lock in it's current position will click pasted the gear cogs, but lock if the pressure is reversed.
(26:04:2020)
From the back!
Clamped upside down on the bench!
The shaft is 3/4 inch sched-80 irrigation pipe (for now). The blocks are cut from 2 inch pressure treated 2x4. The ring is 3/4 plywood and will be locked to the shaft to stop the shaft from moving out of place. There are two of them and turned out to be trickier than one would expect to make.
(26:04:2020)
T'uther side. The intent is to turn the blocks over and screw them to the bottom of the floor joist above where the light fixture sets. Para cord will run from the shaft to the fixture via the ring hooks that currently anchor the chain that hold the fixture.
(26:04:2020)
This is the "test" bed. The addition at the top is to spring load the catch mech to stop rotation in the gear. Looks like (with a little refining) it will work well. The springs hold the catch mech in the gear based on the direction the top is pressed. The springs let the gear rotate in one direction and lock in the other. By pressing the other side of the new piece down the action is reversed.
This setup doesn't work well but since I set it up I think I figured out what is not right (it's set to close and puts too much pressure on the springs) and how to fix it.
(26:04:2020)
A couple of days later, here is the whole mec. Ready to be put into use. Currently on glue dry time, and waiting for pulley.
(28:12:2020)
The pulley and safety chain attachment
(29:04:2020)
The crank mounted and ready! The cling wrap is to stop gorilla glue from seeping out and gumming up the works
(29:04:2020)
This is the other end, and the rope doesn't "pile" up. End result is this end of the lights doesn't raise as fast, or as high as the other end. I figured this was a done deal when the parts came together this afternoon!
(29:12:2020)
Guides to force the rope to pile up evenly added to both ends of the shaft. They are going to take a little adjusting, but so far they seem to work. The reason for them needing to pile up evenly is that if one of the 4 ropes takes up less or more than the others the lights become uneven and the top of the fixture is used as a shelf for storage..
(31:12:2020)
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