Indeed, though you dont even need most of those skills. Theres no need for any metalwork at all, other than cutting the threaded rod that holds the hoist to the wall or joists. Wood is very strong durable and reliable if its adequately sized, uses more than one supporting member in each case of support, and uses suitable load spreading fixings. There are many ways to make lifts. Even London Underground was still using wooden public escalators and wood train carriages in the 90s. 2 storey wood framed buildings are still popular. Wood is much more diyable.
The basic thing with DIY lifts is you have to understand the safety aspects: what the failure modes are, how to use parallelling to drastically reduce them, what materials and methods are long term reliable, and how to protect the user in all cases of minor and major failure. Such as cable breaking, cable drum/screw collapse, cable riding over the drum edge /screw end, brake failure, fixing failure, power failure, fire, door jam, switch failure, and so on.
If you want to diy something simple, think of the old French through the floor lifts. An open wood frame car that comes up through the upstairs floor, such that when the lift is upstairs you walk through it as part of the upper corridor. You can also much simplify construction if you opt for a cable drum rather than a screw: it is a compromise but once you understand whats going on its fine. Lots of old lifts used them.
For example An off the shelf commercial hoist (£140 from screwfix) attached to sufficient number of joists/wall/anything with sufficient load rating and reliability. A wood frame cage, with metal mesh for 2 cage sides, which can be tinsnipped and screwed to the wood frame. Up and down buttons in lift, of the let go and it stops type. 2 Travel limit switches. No doors, no counterbalance, no liftshaft, no automation.
Fall protection can be implemented many ways, as can most of the setup. Ditto crush protection for an open caged lift.
For a simple 1 person diy one, I would think £1000 would more than cover the materials and tools. I designed a stairlift for £200 all in, using off the shelf parts.
I guess it would be easier to avoid welds in that case.
I'm sure there is a wish for domestic lifts... until you look at the prices. The legal complications is where its going to bite. You only need one accident for all hell to break loose, so insurance is going to cost, and the checks and balances are going to be thorough. I expect for example that only degree qualified lift engineers would be allowed to work on the lifts, each lift design would probably need to go through a thorough approval process, etc etc...
I dont know. How many folk can you think of who'd spend 13 big ones to install a lift, and have a suitable space to do it? I cant think of one. Its a nice idea, till you see that price tag.
I reckon if youre going to go into lifts you'd sell far more in the stairlift sector. I designed one that cost 200 in materials, is intrinsically safe, and can be built and installed by 2 people in 1 day. The brandname competition is selling stairlifts new for 1600 up. But I'm not a qualified lift engineer, so I'm not in business.
It also runs at a sensible rate, unlike those dreadful things I see on TV. I would hate using something that takes 3 4 or 5 minutes just to get up one storey. A bigger motor and supply would add little to the price. The idea of these things is to aid mobility, not to reduce life to crawling pace by taking 5 minutes just to go upstairs.
Finally, dont do any of these suggestions, I dont recommend doing anything, for obvious reasons, this is just for interest.
Regards, NT