A dumbwaiter, that’s what. :D As I mentioned previously, Gustav will have only a ladder leading to the upper room, so it would be cumbersome for him to bring up late night milk and cookies while maintaining safe practices on the ladder. I rigged up a bucket on a rope for the purpose of mockups, but the final setup needed to be more elegant, like a functional dumbwaiter.
I’ve had dumbwaiters in my idea file for some time now. There’s a great example of the mechanism here at Old House Online. The basic premise is relatively straightforward with just a lot of wood construction. I was planning to put the ladder to the upper room near the open back, so I’ll construct the dumbwaiter beside the ladder toward the open back so I can operate it without having to reach in through the house. Parlor tricks are so much better when there’s no fuss.
The problem is, a fully enclosed dumbwaiter would block a significant part of the modest back opening, especially on the upper floor. So, I shall make a compromise between the bucket on a rope and an enclosed dumbwaiter. I’ll have an open dumbwaiter car running on a track along the wall with a pulley system. This way, the car will move smoothly up and down to carry milk (or Scotch) upstairs and yet take up less visual space overall.
I started with the car measurements. To carry milk and cookies, the tray needed to be roughly 1 1/8″ deep x 1 1/2″ wide.
The car should rest at counter height when on the lower floor, so I bashed a 1 1/2″ Houseworks base cabinet by cutting down the depth. This also gives Gustav some storage in his small home.
I built a fancy car from tiny turnings and basswood.
I added a slider bar to the back of the car.
The track was formed from strip wood to make two channels facing one another. When I install the tracks after decorating, I plan to leave space enough at the top so I can slide the car off the track for cleaning, repairs or replacement.
The plate doesn’t quite fit anymore, so I’ll just use a slightly smaller one.
I love the way it looks so far, though. In fact, it’s such a nice element, I will try one more time to move the ladder so the dumbwaiter can be more easily photographed away from the open back edge.
Pulley rigging and final stain finishes to come later, but it’s already better than just a bucket on a rope. :D
