Canopy lift solutions

Do any of you have any experience with using a winch of chandelier lift to raise and lower your canopy? Any tips for me would be welcomed. My canopy weighs close to 100 pounds and is over 7' above the floor.

 

I believe they make them specifically for aquarium hoods. Ive seen them before but i forgot the site!

 

National Garden Wholesale : Lighting

I use the Yo-Yo. 4 of them to be exact. Love them.

 

That's a great link, jonjonwells! I put it in my favorites for future use. At 22 lbs. per pair, it looks like GoToSleep would have to use 10 of them to support 100 pounds, though. With no experience with the product, I can only guess they're made to "stay" and to retract much like the mechanism in a window shade-roller. I'm not sure if they're designed to work together in such numbers.

I'm thinking GoToSleep might have to have something custom fabricated. :-/

 

Hmm. Good point. 100 Lbs is alot. Not sure on an adjustable height way to hang that much. Will put some thought into it.

 

Yeah. The problem isn't so much with the weight--but the mechanisms working together.

 

I always thought this was one nice setup maybe this will help.
samsreef.com - Canopy Lift Project

 

WOW!! That is sweet. That might be your ticket, GoToSleep. I don't know if it was the music, the timing, or the perfection of the machine, but I think I might have shed a tear at the end of that video! ;D

 

better option to the linear actuator shown in the post above mine (have one BTW) is to get a track actuator. It pulls a buggy you can mount cables to. I'll post up a sketch of mine. I'd post the real deal but it's getting welded as we speak

Track Actuators - Linear Actuators, Linear Motors, Micro motors, Electric Motors

 

Great link and I really like the look of those but as ReefSparky said, I'd need about 10 of them. They do look like a great solution for folks with small / lighter canopies though.

I agree that this is really cool and was trying to think of a way to adapt this to my system but my tank is flush against the wall and I haven't come up with a good way to deal with an actuator that is set vertically inside the wall.

Gresham, thanks for helping me look at this in a new light. I do have a foot of space in the ceiling above the tank and I could attach a cable to 1 end and run it over a pulley to the canopy. These are reasonably priced. I did see a setup at my LFS that uses a winch that they pickedup at Northern Tool and Equipment but it is a lot heavier and bulkier than these track actuators. Please do post a scetch of what ou are doing.


I'm wowed by all the great ideas. It would be great to hear any more ideas out there.