Homemade capstan

I needed to bring flat rocks from a creek bed and logs from a gorge at a friends house. We can not get a vehicle in so we decided to string a 250 foot steel cable and pull up the rocks and logs using a trolley and pull rope. It's a 40 degree incline so we need a capstan to pull the 200+ feet of rope. I could not afford the $600 and up for a commercial capstan, so I made one for about $150. The biggest expense was the 2.5 HP motor for $80 and the reduction gear which was $40. The pulleys were purchased for $20. The rest was made from bedframes, exercise machine, toilet flange, and misc. steel I had laying around. This was my first real test of the system and it seems to work fine. Had fun making it!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• capstan
• winch
• rope
• puller
• outdoors
• howto
• diy

[HTTAPBIH]

Thanks! Gear does take the load. End project allowed me to bring 500 lb logs up a gorge via a cable system I made. Added the 6.5 to increase the speed to 40 feet /min but reduced the loads to about 200 lb. Ground draging was too hard unless we could clear a good path. Decided to go over the mess with the cable system. Engine from Harbor Freight. Reduction gear ebay (no part#). The remaining parts were PVC pipe, toilet flange, bed frame, and misc parts. The whole thing worked well for the money.

[NewMexicoWoodHauler]

Good job! Can you tell me more about the parts? Where did you get them and the part numbers? The bearing on the reduction gear that connects to the capstan is under the full load of what you are pulling, no? I like the ending, how's you son? Did he like the project?