# brainstorming a motorized tv lift



## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

I recently have seen a few cabinets that had a TV Lift in them, so as to be able to hide the TV when not in use. When searching for them online, I saw price tags STARTING at around $500, and was thinking if I could make one for cheaper. I'm thinking of getting some acme threaded rod, a couple nuts, a motor, and putting one together. I'm not sure how the drive mechanics would interface with the rod/nuts. I feel pretty confident that I could do the woodworking involved, but am curious about the mechanic end to it. Maybe someone knows of a link that might be to something similiar.... As far as the controls aspect to it, I would have that covered. Anyone else have some thoughts on the process?


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

If you find a used screw drive garage door opener, these are DC motors with direct drive so the motor is in line with screw. If the motor can lift a heavy garage door, it can lift a TV. Also the motors are reversible. So you have the up and down option.

Ideally you want a unit before the safety lights became required.

Another possibility is a small hydraulic system. Pump to raise the TV, need a long cylinder, and gravity to lower.


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## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

A properly installed garage door shouldn't require much force to lift it. All the weight should be handled by the springs. How much is the tv that your trying to lift?


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

I recently purchased a 55" led tv, and it weighs less than 50 pounds. I Love the idead of the garage door mechanics. The light sensor wouldn't be a problem, there are ways around that. As far as the weight it can take, I know my garage door opener is screw drive, and that when my door is disengaged from the opener that it is probably 50-75 pounds to lift up. If I'm not careful, it will slam down too.... maybe I need to get that tuned up.. I'm going to have to look into that whole idea.

Thanks for the great idea!


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## JohnnyTooBad (Dec 9, 2012)

I would think that a garage door lift would be a bit big and loud. How about a scissor lift that gets moved by an electric actuator. Think electric car window. You can offset the weight with one of those spring loaded trunk/tailgate lift things that holds the tailgate of a minivan open. That way there is almost no load on the scissor lift. This would take up a lot less room and be very quiet.

I would even bet that you can simply buy a mechanism on line that is meant to do this. 

*edit* Yeah, I just did a google search on "tv lift mechanism", and there are a lot of them out there.


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

JohnnyTooBad said:


> I would think that a garage door lift would be a bit big and loud. How about a scissor lift that gets moved by an electric actuator. Think electric car window. You can offset the weight with one of those spring loaded trunk/tailgate lift things that holds the tailgate of a minivan open. That way there is almost no load on the scissor lift. This would take up a lot less room and be very quiet.
> 
> I would even bet that you can simply buy a mechanism on line that is meant to do this.
> 
> *edit* Yeah, I just did a google search on "tv lift mechanism", and there are a lot of them out there.


I searched tv lift mechanism too, but I really didn't like the prices they were asking, and I like to engineer stuff all the time. If I can save half the money, and I have fun doing it, that is what I really want.

I like the screw type scissor lift idea. I could actually make the scissor action out of wood, and just use acme threads and nuts for the screwing action. have 2, one on each side and have a main axle drive both at the same time.The question is.... Can I get it to lift high enough... maybe make the scissor action like for a man lift... a couple levels... I really like where this is going...

Thanks for the great idea!


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## mics_54 (Oct 28, 2008)

btw..a garage door has a spring or two that assists the opener lift a heavy garage door.


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## afx (Feb 5, 2010)

My idea would be to go to harbor freight and buy one of those cheap wenches then route the wire through a few pulleys then the rest is all designing a carriage and mount, then wire that sucker up!

They're quiet, strong and will EASILY lift a TV.....With you standing on it...


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

JohnnyTooBad said:


> I would think that a garage door lift would be a bit big and loud.


The DC motor in my garage door opener is only a few inches in diameter.

If I disconnect the door and run the motor/screw they are almost silent. The only noticeable noise is the rattle of the rollers on the steel track.

There is a lot of space in the box for the opener.


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## mics_54 (Oct 28, 2008)

...and it comes with a remote...it's out on the visor of your car. Hopefully the neighbors isn't the same frequency :blink:


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## JohnnyTooBad (Dec 9, 2012)

afx said:


> My idea would be to go to harbor freight and buy one of those *cheap wenches* then route the wire through a few pulleys then the rest is all designing a carriage and mount, then wire that sucker up!
> 
> They're quiet, strong and will EASILY lift a TV.....With you standing on it...


I was unaware that HF sold wenches. Got a catalog number for those?? :blink::laughing:


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

JohnnyTooBad said:


> I was unaware that HF sold wenches. Got a catalog number for those?? :blink::laughing:


Why, back in the day you could get a nice solid made in the USA wench...


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

Huh, and here I always associated wenches with Medieval France. That certainly is back in the day, though lol


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

How about a scissor jack from the auto wrecker's for $5? Garage door motorization. On the downside, the really big modern TV's need a long travel.
I bought it for a grape press/ apple juice press, instead of the big, central threaded rod/nut assembly.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Good luck!!!

George


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

thegrgyle said:


> I recently purchased a 55" led tv, and it weighs less than 50 pounds. I Love the idead of the garage door mechanics. The light sensor wouldn't be a problem, there are ways around that. As far as the weight it can take, I know my garage door opener is screw drive, and that when my door is disengaged from the opener that it is probably 50-75 pounds to lift up. If I'm not careful, it will slam down too.... maybe I need to get that tuned up.. I'm going to have to look into that whole idea.
> 
> Thanks for the great idea!


I knew a guy that made one from a garage door opener. Too fast, too harsh and too much noise. The units that work with a screw have a very wide thread like a vise. Anything in the all thread department will take for ever to move up and down.

I had a smaller tv I lifted by swinging it up on an arch with springs to offset the weight. I used whisker switches to switch it off and reverse direction. It was less than perfect and we really didn't need to hide the tv so we stopped using it.

Good luck with your 55". I do like the idea and think the lift manufactures could do better on their price. 

Al

Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


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## Midwest Millworks (Nov 20, 2012)

thegrgyle said:


> I recently purchased a 55" led tv, and it weighs less than 50 pounds. I Love the idead of the garage door mechanics. The light sensor wouldn't be a problem, there are ways around that. As far as the weight it can take, I know my garage door opener is screw drive, and that when my door is disengaged from the opener that it is probably 50-75 pounds to lift up. If I'm not careful, it will slam down too.... maybe I need to get that tuned up.. I'm going to have to look into that whole idea.
> 
> Thanks for the great idea!


If your garage door slams down when it's disengaged from the opener, your spring(s) need to be adjusted for sure. Also keep in mind that your opener is being over worked, which will shorted it's life. It may work now, but it won't work as long as it would if the springs were doing their job. The door should stay wherever you leave it when a opener is not hooked up. The whole idea of the springs is to lessen the work load of the opener. If you took the springs off, then you would really have a hard time opening a large door manually by hand.

If you have the dual overhead springs they are very easily adjusted using two 3/8" solid steel rods about 18" long. You do need to use caution and understand how much force that spring is generating. There are some people that have been seriously hurt adjusting garage door springs that didn't know, or pay attention to what they were doing.

You can find some videos of how to adjust the door springs on you tube. There isn't any need to pay somebody to come out and do it. Just make sure you understand what is going on before you do it. It would suck to get hit by one of those rods when you are up on a ladder.

Mike Darr


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Looking at the devices sold for a lift. There are two styles you see. A screw and a scissor. My next attempt will probably be a scissor with a small reversing motor. The speed can be controlled by the size of the spool and DC motors are easy to reverse and millions are sold on Ebay.

Al

Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


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## Midwest Millworks (Nov 20, 2012)

Check out this link

http://www.tpa-us.com/ball-screws.html

They have some pretty cool stuff on that site. If you attached a motor to one of their ball links, you might be in business. Come up with some kind of counterweight design to offset the weight and you'll be good to go.

Mike Darr


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## Midwest Millworks (Nov 20, 2012)

Better yet, take a look at these.

http://www.tvlift.com/buy-tv-lift.html

Mike Darr


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

I have a friend with 3 fingers on one hand that says NEVER NEVER adjust a garage door spring. His hand was mangled in a fraction of a second and didn't feel it before he saw his fingers flying against the wall.

Al

Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


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## mengtian (Nov 8, 2012)

Instead of re inventing the wheel why don't you just go buy a motor designed for what you want:
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/motor-for-tv-lift.html

That is what I am doing.:icon_smile:


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

mengtian said:


> Instead of re inventing the wheel why don't you just go buy a motor designed for what you want:
> http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/motor-for-tv-lift.html
> 
> That is what I am doing.:icon_smile:


Have you ever bought anything from this site?

Al

Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


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## Midwest Millworks (Nov 20, 2012)

Al B Thayer said:


> I have a friend with 3 fingers on one hand that says NEVER NEVER adjust a garage door spring. His hand was mangled in a fraction of a second and didn't feel it before he saw his fingers flying against the wall.
> 
> Al
> 
> Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


Just think of how many millions of garage door openers are installed out there right now. I would bet the % of injuries caused by those installs is pretty small. They are no more dangerous than a table saw. The important part is knowing what you are doing, and knowing what not to do. I have installed my own garage doors and adjusted the springs multiple times and I have never been injured. 

Mike Darr


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## mengtian (Nov 8, 2012)

Al B Thayer said:


> Have you ever bought anything from this site?
> 
> Al
> 
> Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


No, but just using it as an example.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Midwest Millworks said:


> Just think of how many millions of garage door openers are installed out there right now. I would bet the % of injuries caused by those installs is pretty small. They are no more dangerous than a table saw. The important part is knowing what you are doing, and knowing what not to do. I have installed my own garage doors and adjusted the springs multiple times and I have never been injured.
> 
> Mike Darr



His post was about a garage door SPRING. NOT a garage door opener.

Garage door springs are nothing for the inexperienced to work with. I have a lot of experience with many things mechanical. I will NOT touch a garage door spring.

George

George


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## JohnnyTooBad (Dec 9, 2012)

I have also installed a few garage doors (this includes installing and tensioning the springs). It's not that big of a deal. Just have a healthy respect for the power of the springs. One of them, you really couldn't injure yourself because the spring was encased in a housing above the front wall. You just used a cordless drill to crank up the tension. I've also done ones with the big springs that run along near the upper horizontal track. They look big, slow and floppy, but they have a whole lot of power behind them. Open the door, prop it open and it takes all the tension off and makes them easy to adjust.

Some serious thread drift going on here.


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## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

JohnnyTooBad said:


> Some serious thread drift going on here.


Yeah....the Grgyle's left the room.
He's out in the garage working on the garage door.....:laughing:


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

How did you know I was in the garage looking at the springs? Is there a camera in my shop that I'm not aware of?:huh: That made me laugh, though... almost spilled my coffee!

As far as the garage spring deal goes... I was thinking about it, and have watched many installers do it, and even asked them many questions regarding it. I have never attempted it though, mostly because my dad, who is the ultimate handyman, said that he would NEVER attempt that himself. Eh, We'll see.....

Wow, Some more great ideas, insight, and links on the lift. I was talking with the wife last night about the situation, and she thought that the cabinet for our main viewing room would be too big and then what do I do with all the other stuff (components, storage for dvds, gameing accesories and consoles, etc.). I think if I was to attempt to build this for our main viewing room, it would involve a complete make over of that wall. I am up for the challenge, and plan to start the planning stages in the very near future.

I love this site. You guys are awesome with all your willingness to help me solve a problem.

Thanks again!


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## thegrgyle (Jan 11, 2011)

mengtian said:


> Instead of re inventing the wheel why don't you just go buy a motor designed for what you want:
> http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/motor-for-tv-lift.html
> 
> That is what I am doing.:icon_smile:


So are you building one? Care to show some pics of the progress? I(we) would love to see it....


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

thegrgyle said:


> As far as the garage spring deal goes... I was thinking about it, and have watched many installers do it, and even asked them many questions regarding it. I have never attempted it though, mostly because my dad, who is the ultimate handyman, said that he would NEVER attempt that himself. Eh, We'll see.....


 
+1... my dad told me about how my grandpa was seriously injured by one once and how it was best left to pros, while he and grandpa both would work on other potentially dangerous things like lawnmowers, electrical wiring etc without qualms.


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## Midwest Millworks (Nov 20, 2012)

GeorgeC said:


> His post was about a garage door SPRING. NOT a garage door opener.
> 
> Garage door springs are nothing for the inexperienced to work with. I have a lot of experience with many things mechanical. I will NOT touch a garage door spring.
> 
> ...


Can you install a garage door without adjusting the spring? I know exactly what his post was about. Thanks for the clearification though.

Do you use a table saw? That can be dangerous too, but a little common sense can go along way along with a little research.

Mike Darr


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

thegrgyle said:


> How did you know I was in the garage looking at the springs? Is there a camera in my shop that I'm not aware of?:huh: That made me laugh, though... almost spilled my coffee!
> 
> As far as the garage spring deal goes... I was thinking about it, and have watched many installers do it, and even asked them many questions regarding it. I have never attempted it though, mostly because my dad, who is the ultimate handyman, said that he would NEVER attempt that himself. Eh, We'll see.....
> 
> ...


There is a very inexpensive item called a Hot Link Pro. It allows you to put your components in a closet and still operate them with the remote. We have a very nice setup and all you see is the LCD TV.

Al

Friends don't let friends use stamped metal tools sold at clothing stores.


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