[Lou] is at it again, and this time he wrote in to let us know about his automated ping pong table topper. With no good spot to stash an entire extra table [Lou] decided to take a two in one game table approach and fit the top of the ping pong table to his pool table. A ping pong table top is no small thing though and it turns out the best (or maybe coolest) place to store it is above the ceiling! At the flip of a switch a garage door opener pulls away a section of ceiling tiles and a winch motor lowers the table top into place with two cables.
The system works very smoothly using some pretty easy to find parts. [Lou’s] instructional video (embedded after the break) shows the system in action and explains the concepts behind the automation. We aren’t sure how the winch stops lowering the table, but the ceiling section uses a light switch and spring combo as its limit switch. The only thing really missing is the flashing red light, industrial klaxon, and fog machine needed to compliment the screeching nightmare-howl of that winch motor.
where’s the video?
There: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Suxq8fmj0
This guy’s man cave is… AWESOME!
And with the push of a button, it returns whence from winch it came.
I hope you can remove the cable when you do play ping pong. I’d hate to have the ball hit the line all the time :-)
I wondered this too. Would be easy enough to retract them after disconnecting them from the table. Overall this is a very neatly done project.
why would you hate it? ball hitting the wire means you failed and post point anyway, you are supposed to bounce the ball on the other side of the table
The problem is not the ball; The problem is the paddles.
You clearly need to play the game more…
In the video he says this was at his old house, and although he still has the parts it’s not hooked up anywhere anymore. Still a neat project, just kinda ironic that it’s in pieces now.
Not sure how this is ironic…
I hated leaving my old house, but I didn’t want to leave the liability of a 700 pound winch with the new owner. I plan to install it at the new house someday when my wife is away for a week. :) She does not want me to tear up our totally finished game room.
I left the cables attached. There were only two, right at the net, and they did not get hit very often. We just had a redo rule.
Love it! Lowering a table from cables running through holes in the ceiling would have been cool enough. Or even just spring tensioners attached to the ceiling, which I’ve done with my largest aquarium hood. But retracting the whole darn ceiling? Pure awesome.
Though speaking practically, I wonder if building such a thing penetrating from the ceiling to the attic, might cause some hard to solve airflow/insulation issues.
To me the finish ceiling appeared to be a suspended ceiling, and only a portion of it retracted In a basement, ground, or upper floors Sounded like the hardware would be hung from ceiling or floor joists,their should be any air flow issues.
This would be a hell of a way to serve Thanksgiving dinner!
I really love this build. The lighting makes it I think. A few things for Lou incase he does it again:
Insulate the wire used, firstly to make it not tear up the pipe it winds onto, secondly make it black for viability. Usually beers and mancaves go hand in hand and I could see running into the wires. Covering them will reduce the chances of them not being seen and lessen the injury when they are run into.
Second, stick the winch motor in a sound proofing box. I kinda cringed a bit when it kicked on.
Awesome build though, I love stuff like this.
Thank you for taking the time to post this. It makes sense to do this and seeing your parts is really helpful. I hope to do this in my garage. The balancing act seems tricky, it seems like once it goes off balance it will landslide one direction. Do you have any suggestions on that? Your wife also seems tricky balancing act as well, Have you asked her to trust you to get it done in a week? After all You have proof you can do it.