Aldi hoist

[Stephen]

Hello,

I just wondered how did you get on with the Aldi hoist? I see my store has a couple left and I am still wondering about getting one to lower and lift my Christmas tree into the loft!

Thanks. Stephen.

[Andy Dingley]

2/3rd the price of the same kit from Machine Mart et al.

It's a fine little hoist for what it does, which is pretty limited. If you need a Christmas tree lifter, then go for it. Otherwise you're likely to buy it and leave it sat on the "Come In Handy" shelf.

I've used mine a couple of times, and for winching it worked pretty well (it allowed me to stay at the opposite end of the garage, where I could see better). For lifting though, I still prefer my assorted chain hoists (esp. the worm-drives) as they have better control for lifting and lowering at sub-inch increments.

[Stephen]

Oh dear, that doesn't sound too good. OTOH I am not looking to lift engines out of cars, just to lift a few boxes into/out of the loft occasionally. What, if anything, does it come with for mounting?

Thanks, Stephen.

[Andy Dingley]

It's a good little thing for what it does, but it's just not that common that you need one.

If you need a regular convenient lifts in one place, it's great. So for in & out of a loft hatch / windmill, it could be just the ticket.

If you need precise control, you might be as well with a hand-worked hoist.

If you need transport, then you'd need to fasten it to an elephant block or similar (and also deal with the power cable).

A horizontal flat plate, with some tapped holes in it - four M8s as I remember. I think there were some U-brackets included too. With what's in the box it would fasten round a horizontal scaff pole or similar. Mine had a couple of steel straps made up to suit, then bolts through that into the plate. Given the usual workshop "bag of bolts, pillar drill and a scrapbin of barstock" it's easy enough to fit to anything.

It does have quite nice microswitch arrangements for stopping it if the cable jumps the reel.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Stephen wrote on 01/06/2009 :

For boxes in and out of the loft, I found that fixing a single wheel pulley over the centre of the opening works fine with a bit of rope. Just needs someone up there to land them.

[meow2222]

Basic electric hoists are ideal for loft goods lifting. Typically come with 4x M8 holes for mounting, so get yourself some M8 threaded rod and M8 locknuts. Also check the controller wire's long enough, it isn't always, and its likely to be 4 core.

NT

[Stephen]

Thanks. Any suggestions what to fit it to or what not to fit it to? I don't want it falling on someone's head nor do I want it to pull the roof down!

Thanks, Stephen.

[meow2222]

I dont know details of your roof structure, but one general thing to say is to fix it to a lump of wood that spans several timbers. There will be no difficulty keeping loading well below max snow loading then.

NT