As a disabled stroke survivor I have a couple of projects I want to try. I have a cappuccino machine with frother. The problem is that being only able to use one hand, I cannot lift the cup and use the frother at the same time! So I thought if I built a platform, I could use a stepper motor, to lift the cup into position.I know this sounds weird, but any suggestions regarding what equipment I should use, would be appreciated. Finally I want to assemble this,on my own, to see if I can do this one-handed, although I can get help if required. Also, I really don’t want spend too much money, just to lift a coffee cup! Cheers, Richard
Need parameters defined a little better: What is the distance from the countertop (or other base elevation) to the bottom of the raised cup? Any obstacles preventing a direct lift? (A photo of the system would be nice.) What tools do you have you can still work with? I.e. vise, saws, 3D printer, etc.
Thanks for your reply: The cup is 3.25 tall and it is 6.5" to the bottom of the frother. I could solder quite well, but never tried one-handed. I now use a 2ft x 4ft table as my workbench and have a small suction vise and various saws, rotary tools etc. that I use. I spent 6 months in hospitals and nursing homes, before being allowed home, but my cognitive ability keeps improving, hence the desire to start tinkering. Apologies for the cluttered picture and thanks so much, for your help. Richard
Richard, Glad you are recovering. Amazon has some of these little scissor lifts that might work: https://www.amazon.com/HFS-100mm-Stainless-Scissor-Platform/dp/B00OVC9T7S/ It might be possible to find a collar to attach it to a small stepper motor to lift and lower it. If not, it could still be operated with one hand.
Thanks Scotty, for your help, checked it on Amazon and one review says: This works great for my somewhat unique purpose. It's used as a can lift for a stroke patient with one functional arm to allow the use of normal electric can opener with one hand. Sounds rather like me and with Amazon's great return policy, will give it a try. Will be very tempted to add the stepper motor and build my skill sets a little. Cheers, all the best, Richard
Scotty, that's way too easy. How about something a little more substantial.... The Official OpenBuilds Coffee Cup Lifter Actually found the same thing Scotty found at Banggood for a few dollars less but with a much more substantial delivery time. I would suggest removing the knob, fixing the nut behind it in place, and using a small electric screwdriver with a nut driver bit to go up and down. The video on Banggood shows it takes a fair amount of cranking and wouldn't want the cappuccino to get cold.
Rick, I like yours much better (little pricey though)! And I realized it would be difficult to get a stepper to work on the other one anyway - difficult to fix "in mid air". The electric screw driver is a good idea.
Rick, this looks great, but i couldn't find The Official OpenBuilds Coffee Cup Lifter online. Will probably try the one Scotty found and if I ever figure out how to attach a motor, will post some pics here. By the way, any suggestions as to what motor would be up to the task? Thanks everyone, for the help!
A small Nema 17 would probably work, but it would be difficult to attach to that design (screw in the middle). A better design would have the drive screw on the bottom, like this one: Jack screw and scissor lift driven by stepper motor by dan241297
