"House of tomorrow" cabinets

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Cybrvanr

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Jan 23, 2005
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Chances are you've seen pictures of the "House of tomorrow" and noticed the neat upper cabinets that have shelves thatlower down at the touch of a button out the bottom of the cabinet towards the countertop below. They place the articles in the cabinet within easy reach for shorter people. They would especially work well for shorter people like my mother and my girlfriend.

I want to build something like this in my kitchen. The thing I need to figure out however is the lift motors. I was first thinking some type of screwjack, but they may take too long to lower and raise. One idea was to use old power window motors out of cars. Getting these wouldn't be a problem at the local junkyard, but the issue would be providing them with the 15 or more amperes they need at 12 volts to operate. The other issue would having a 12 volt power supply consuming power in "standby" all the time waiting for someone to push a button. Converting them to 120 volts would be the perfect alternative, but easier said than done.

Any of you guys have any ideas for lifts in this idea? I'd also put normal opening cabinet doors on the front of the cabinets so that material in the cabinets could be reached if the electricity goes out, or if the motors malfunction.
 
Fisher & Paykel uses little motors to raise and lower the lids on their DishDrawers. I don't know what is the power rating. A pair runs about $64 last time I checked at Sears Parts online. They may be noisier than you'd like for frequent opening/closing and I don't know how they might hold up under an increased duty cycle.
 
The GE and 33" WP combos, among others, used a little wind up motor to pull up on the shift lever of the variable sheeve pulley to put the thing into "spin" , but you need something to lower with power, raise with power and then hold. Maybe a reversing motor with a brake. A friend in Atlanta rigged up something motorized like that for lowering the (it goes without saying, "very large") chandelier in the two story entry hall for cleaning and bulb replacement and then hauling it back into position. Or maybe you could find something hydraulic. Citroen should have a lot of information on hydraulic mechanisms.
 
instead of motors-how bout the crank screw jack mecahanism used to adjust Drafting tables-At work we have one like that-would think such a device would work for cabinets.And for bathroom counters too-they are TOO LOW!!
 
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