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.
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.