Building A Manual Dumb Waiter Pulley System
Harold Pinter wrote a play in 1960 called The Dumb Waiter, in which a dumbwaiter forms a key element. In the Season 3 (1987 - 1988) episode of MacGyver, called Fire & Ice, Mac sneaks into a consulate pretending to be a kitchen hand carrying a box of vegetables, then climbs into the kitchen's dumb waiter to reach the upper level. How to Make a Dumbwaiter. The pulley arm should be high enough above the deck so that you can pull the tray toward you and over the railing. In many cases it doesn't need to be built with.
Designed by Mark Clement, deck contractor and host of the radio program MyFixitUpLife on WCHE 1520 AM in Philadelphia and BlogTalkRadio.
At the midpoint of your deck railing, affix a post and pulley arm made out of an I-beam assembled from three 2 x 4s. Where you join the post to the arm, miter it at a 45-degree angle for a nicer-looking, sturdier joint. Use weather-resistant structural screws for everything, and add an angle brace for strength.
Attach a 4-inch pulley to the arm using a large hot-dipped galvanized eyebolt. For the rope, pick something that will fit in the pulley with room to spare. A thinner rope will also be easier to tie off on the cleat you attach to the post.
In terms of the dumbwaiter's general design, you want the tray to be far enough from the deck to leave you room to build the shaft and a track for the tray, but not so far that you can't reach the tray comfortably. A good rule of thumb is to use half the width of the tray plus a couple of inches for clearance. The pulley arm should be high enough above the deck so that you can pull the tray toward you and over the railing.
Attach the tray to the rope with a shackle or a carabiner, and tie the rope to each corner using a bowline knot. The carabiner permits easy removal of the tray. (This is an important child-safety feature. Always remove the tray when the dumbwaiter is not in use to make sure that no one takes it for a joyride.)
Finally, build a frame out of pressure-treated 2 x 4s for the base of the dumbwaiter tracks and shaft.
Note that the dumbwaiter shaft's height and width are dimensioned to suit the size of the tray and the height of your deck. The shaft itself is not structural; it just houses the dumbwaiter. In many cases it doesn't need to be built with 16-inch on-center framing or the same sort of rigidity you would use for building a house. (The exception to this is a tall shaft—say, 20 feet.) Extra framing is necessary to support tall shafts or those built in windy areas. In all cases the shaft framing needs to be rigidly attached to the deck framing using structural screws—
and definitely painted or stained.
Building A Manual Dumbwaiter Pulley System Instructions
Designed by Mark Clement, deck contractor and host of the radio program MyFixitUpLife on WCHE 1520 AM in Philadelphia and BlogTalkRadio.
At the midpoint of your deck railing, affix a post and pulley arm made out of an I-beam assembled from three 2 x 4s. Where you join the post to the arm, miter it at a 45-degree angle for a nicer-looking, sturdier joint. Use weather-resistant structural screws for everything, and add an angle brace for strength.
Attach a 4-inch pulley to the arm using a large hot-dipped galvanized eyebolt. For the rope, pick something that will fit in the pulley with room to spare. A thinner rope will also be easier to tie off on the cleat you attach to the post.
Manual Dumbwaiter Pulley System
In terms of the dumbwaiter's general design, you want the tray to be far enough from the deck to leave you room to build the shaft and a track for the tray, but not so far that you can't reach the tray comfortably. A good rule of thumb is to use half the width of the tray plus a couple of inches for clearance. The pulley arm should be high enough above the deck so that you can pull the tray toward you and over the railing.
Attach the tray to the rope with a shackle or a carabiner, and tie the rope to each corner using a bowline knot. The carabiner permits easy removal of the tray. (This is an important child-safety feature. Always remove the tray when the dumbwaiter is not in use to make sure that no one takes it for a joyride.)
Finally, build a frame out of pressure-treated 2 x 4s for the base of the dumbwaiter tracks and shaft.
Note that the dumbwaiter shaft's height and width are dimensioned to suit the size of the tray and the height of your deck. The shaft itself is not structural; it just houses the dumbwaiter. In many cases it doesn't need to be built with 16-inch on-center framing or the same sort of rigidity you would use for building a house. (The exception to this is a tall shaft—say, 20 feet.) Extra framing is necessary to support tall shafts or those built in windy areas. In all cases the shaft framing needs to be rigidly attached to the deck framing using structural screws—
and definitely painted or stained.