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  The finished product!

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  The partly-assembled lifter

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  The controller for the lifter

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  The window jack with the top piece removed before further modification

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  Diagrams from initial measurements at Lora's house

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  More diagrams from initial measurements at Lora's house

Window Lifter

Our co-designer Lora's apartment has sticky windows that are difficult to open. We worked together to design and build a window lifter so she can more easily open her windows and get fresh air during good weather!

The window lifter opens windows at the push of a button without any physical effort. It is designed for windows with a small protruding lip on the bottom.

The window lifter rests on the window sill. When activated, it pushes the window up and opens it.

How we built it

We purchased a small electric car jack and modified the top to attach a hook that catches the lip on the bottom of the window.

We constructed the hook out of aluminum stock from Beaverworks, which we cut into four individual pieces and machined on a mill. We bolted the pieces of the hook together and bolted the entire hook assembly onto the jack, making sure our construction was sturdy.

Limitations

Unfortunately our window lifter is only a lifter! We wanted to be able to close Lora's windows as well, but the force required to close the windows is so high that when we retract the lift, it picks itself up instead of pulling the window down.

Looking forward

We're proud that we were able to come up with a simple design based around an off-the-shelf product. We were able to create a unique solution to a fairly common problem.

Looking forward, we'd like to make it easy to close the window as well. We have a couple of ideas, including fixing the lifter to the base of the window sill or attaching weights to the window to allow it to close more easily.

Built With

• aluminum
• carjack
• jack
• machining
• metal
• mill