[Noisebridge-discuss] Elevator repair

[Rachel McConnell]

In the meantime, I hacked together a doorbell/speaker combo that Jake
found and attached it to the wall above the door.  Tonight I will run
cable down by the first floor elevator door and attach the button there
with a nice note about how pressing that button will bring the elevator
down if it's stuck, via an actual person getting in it and bringing it down.

Please play with this and remember the sound, which means "Bring
Elevator Down Please!"  And pass it on!  I'll put up plenty of labelling
but it'll be good if everyone can spread the word too.

Rachel

Jake wrote:
> Okay so Monday night, Rachel and I climbed through the hatch in the 
> cieling of the elevator, just like in the movies, and stood on top of the 
> thing to figure out why it doesn't let itself be called when it's there.
> 
> I was right that there is a switch activated when the elevator is at the 
> top of its travel, but that's like a foot higher than our floor and is not 
> being triggered.  The button that is being triggered is the same kind 
> however, and is in a metal junction box and its arm has a roller bearing 
> on it and is very serious like you would expect.
> 
> http://spaz.org/~jake/pix/elevator.jpg
> 
> My theory now is that inside that junction box is either one Dual-Pole 
> microswitch (two sets of contacts) or two separate microswitches, and one 
> of them is failing intermittently.
> 
> One of them makes the elevator stop at our floor, and is working.  The 
> other tells the system the elevator has arrived and is ready to go and is 
> not making contact all the time.  Apparently this also happens on the 
> second floor.
> 
> I say the solution is to open either the safety switchbox above and 
> examine the microswitches inside, and order two or three of them, or do 
> the same to the actual switchbox that stops our elevator which presumably 
> has the same switches in it anyway.
> 
> When we open the switchbox below it, whether to examine it or to put in 
> the new switches (buttons technically) we will do so by moving the 
> elevator down from our floor, hit STOP after a couple of feet, and then 
> climb out the ceiling hole to access the switchbox of our floor by 
> standing on top of the elevator again.  Because we can't access the 
> switchbox while the elevator is properly stopped on our floor.
> 
> There is a mechanism to prevent opening the internal gate of the elevator 
> when not on a proper floor but it doesn't work, and if it did we could 
> easily bypass it by tugging a cable on top of the elevator while opening 
> the gate, so that elevator repairpersons could take a break and get a 
> kombucha while not finished fixing the elevator, while it's 2 feet low.
> 
> Note that when i say switches, i am talking about momentary switches also 
> known as buttons, most likely "micro switches" made of Bakelite with a 
> lever arm and a clicky noise, but we won't know until we open one of the 
> boxes.  I should have done that Monday night (the topmost box) and taken 
> pictures so that someone could go to the elevator parts store.  Whatever.
> 
> Someone should make an elevator repair wiki and put these posts on it.
> 
> -jake
> 
>> Wait you debugged the elevator?  Let's fix it then!  Having it actually
>> work properly would be the best solution.  I'll be happy to be the one
>> to Do it if you can show me this microswitch of which you speak.
> 
> i am just mentally picturing the problem.  The elevator comes to our
> floor, which is the top floor, and there's a button "A" on the rail to
> keep it from going too far.  There is another button "B" which tells the
> system that it's on the third floor, and is ready to be called to another
> floor because it's done moving around.  The button "A" is being triggered
> before button "B" and the elevator stops moving before it really "arrives"
> at the third floor.
> 
> When one goes in there and presses the 3 button again, the button bypasses
> the stop switch for long enough to run the motor enough to bump it up a
> quarter-inch until it presses button "B" telling the system it's arrived
> at the third floor and everything is okay.
> 
> It might not be as simple as adjustment however, because it could be that
> the capacitor or diode protecting the buttons' contacts from the inductive
> kick of the relay it triggers has failed to protect the button contacts,
> and the button needs to be replaced.  Only an elevator-repairfolk will
> have the exact correct replacement button, and really know how to adjust
> it.
> 
> As much as I would be okay with getting covered in grease and mouse-shit
> trying to find both buttons and adjusting them, and hoping that the
> problem is only adjustment (which is slightly unlikely) i think it's
> probably better to have the repair made by the professional.  However if
> the landlord/property owner flat-out says that they'd rather us try to fix
> it first, we should go for it.
> 
> But at this point, with the elevators' behavior properly sussed out (the
> note on the door is excellent) it should be easy for a repairperson to do
> the job without wasting too much time.
> 
> -jake
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss