Lift building for The Village of Kopfarr

[Boslok]

Here's my WIP for The Lift building in The Village of Kopfarr where that WIP can be found here.

So the idea is that long ago the dwarves from the mountains build this large 20 ft. x 20 ft. lift for the village of Kopfarr. To get to main area of Kopfarr a lift is needed to get above the steep cliffs which protect and follow along side the stone cold river (name still WIP).

It's a stone building carved into the head of a dwarf. The lift rises into the bottom of the chin of the dwarf's head and from there they can exit through the back of the head/building to the main part of the village. The lift is surrounded by ancient oak scaffolding, which helps to support the stone head above. The mechanism that pulls up the large chains and lift are 2 large water wheels, once the 2 large levers are unlocked the wheels are free to move. The dwarves then built underground channels from the nearby lake and water from this lake powers the wheels. Hope that all makes sense. Also, up in the stone dwarfs head is a lookout/observation room using the eyes and ears of the head as windows.

Initial sketches and start in photoshop.

IMG_4551.jpgthe_lift_300_03.jpg

[Falconius]

Interesting project. I look forward to see how it comes a long.

If you are interested in waterwheels, you might want to lookup overshot watermills as well, a type I only discovered when researching stuff for my own dwarf projects. It is more efficient and just as ancient as the undershot waterwheels. There are also a couple of other types, and a more modern type called a "Gravitation water vortex power plant" which is also pretty cool. Because I started with the undershot wheels it was too much work in my own projects to change them though. And they are what people universally think of when they think of waterwheels.

[Boslok]

Thanks Falconius for all the great info and advice. I never really considered the power of the waterwheels when comparing the different designs. Here's what I came up with a couple of years back when I was working out the Kopfarr Watermill. I'll probably try and incorporate the wheel somehow into this map.

Screen Shot 2018-09-06 at 11.52.40 AM.png

[Boslok]

Still figuring out the size of the building, it's becoming apparent that it needs to be larger to fit everything in it. I'd like the water wheels to be horizontal, but we'll see.

Screen Shot 2018-09-06 at 7.31.41 PM.jpg

[Boslok]

Bit of an update, This is my first crack at the mechanism, and I already know how I'm going to change it. First off, the chains are going straight up from the water wheels to go up into the second level. Two wheels there will allow the chains to move all the way to the front and directly above the lift platform. Hopefully this will be a more sound engineering wise.

Screen Shot 2018-09-10 at 4.49.24 PM.png

[Boslok]

Started on the second level and added different elements. The lift is more of a cage now with a gate/bridge that is lowered by a hand crank in the lift. On the second level I've added the wood wheels that control where the ropes go overhead of the lift. I'm sorta like the blurred scaffolding under the top layer of scaffolding, gives it a bit of depth that hints at scaffolding all the way down.

Still have plenty to do yet, I need to fix the lower area where the chains are and make the giant levers. I've also only done the minimum on the dwarfs head and shape of it. I'm imagining it as mostly helmet with some face and beard.


the_lift_300_02.jpg

[Boslok]

Few new updates. First off, got rid of the buttresses because once I saw the bug I could not unsee it, creeped me out with a dwarf face. Set the stairs in the left wall to add more room. Added stairs leading up into the dwarfs head guards room and added a weapons table and other elements. Theres now a pulley system to unload crates in 2nd level storage area. The cliff side is temporarily, it came from another map of mine and I really need to rework it.

Still working on the lift mechanism, so far what I have worked out is that there are two wheels at top of the map nearest to the wagon, those when turned (they look like ship steering wheels), will open gates down below that allow the water to then turn the water wheels that lift the lift cage. I need to build some sort of breaking mechanism for this. The water wheels also have wheels with handles (same as the others), so that they can be manually turned if needed. So when this is all working, water rushes through the gates turning the water wheels which will gather the chains on large wooden spools/reels. From the spools the chain travel up to wooden wheels on the second floor, here they split to four more wheels which are located above the four corners of the lift cage.

I'm still considering the suggestion from Falconius with the overshot waterwheels. What I would do then is just drop the water wheels lower down which would allow the water from the gates to go overtop instead of underneath. I'm also considering making a simple isometric map that explains the process more.



Screen Shot 2018-09-19 at 2.42.30 PM.jpg

[Larb]

This is looking really good by the way. Also I agree the stone spiral stairs look much better offset slightly from the main building.

Regarding the buttresses, you could just go for much shorter stone ones - maybe wedge shaped.

[bkh1914]

I've been silently watching this thread...

Those wood buttresses always struck me a strange. Why not use tapered stone buttresses (i.e. Larb's suggestion). Or just make the walls thicker. The area doesn't seem to be lacking for stone.

About the water wheels:
Overshoot gives more power for a given amount of water because gravity is doing most of the work instead of the current flow. And you have plenty of drop for overshoot wheels.
And I've been wondering why you have two wheels, one for each side of the cage. This creates problems from an engineering point of view. The water wheels won't be turning at exactly the same rate, which will cause the cage to become canted in its tracks. And possibly get stuck. And then something will break. A primitive technology solution is to tie the shafts of the two wheels together. Or better yet, have only one larger wheel. And a single large chain will avoid issues with the chains winding unevenly on the drums. Then split the chain into four parts to lift the corners of the cage. Or if the cage has wheels to keep it aligned in the shaft you can lift the cage from a central point in the cage's top frame (like modern elevators).

[Boslok]

This is looking really good by the way. Also I agree the stone spiral stairs look much better offset slightly from the main building.

Regarding the buttresses, you could just go for much shorter stone ones - maybe wedge shaped.

Thanks Larb, taking your advise and doing that, they'll be in the next update.