c/elevator-mechanics

I finally figured out why my governor tests were always off by a hair

Been doing elevator work for about 8 years now, mostly in and around Cincinnati. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why my overspeed governor tests would come back just slightly out of spec, like maybe 2-3% too high or low. I'd check the cable tension, clean the sheave, replace the shoes, all the usual stuff. Nothing fixed it consistently. Then about 6 months ago I was swapping out an old Otis governor on a 10-stop office building and I noticed the previous guy had put the wrong size cable on it. Like the cable was within spec for the car but the governor was rated for a different diameter. I'd been making the same mistake for years on other jobs too, just grabbing whatever cable was handy without double checking the governor's label. Now I always match the cable to the governor first thing before anything else. Has anyone else run into this where the wrong cable size was throwing off your test results?

Switched to digital leveling on all my traction elevators last year

I used to do all my rail alignment by feel and a 4 foot bubble level. After 3 botched jobs where the car still had drift issues, I finally bought a Hilti laser level and digital angle finder. It cost me about $700 for the setup but saved me a full day of rework on a 30 story job in Denver. Now I zero out every bracket before I even bolt it up. Anyone else made the jump from analog to digital and never looked back?

Controller threw a weird error code and I spent 2 hours chasing a ghost in a downtown Chicago highrise

Found a 1987 elevator code book in an old machine room yesterday

It listed a minimum car gate height of 72 inches, and I could not believe how much shorter that was than the 84 inches we use now, has anyone else run into old specs that really caught them off guard?

Tried lubricating a door track with cooking spray and learned my lesson fast

Sprayed some Pam on a sticky elevator door track last Tuesday to get through a quick fix, and the next call was the doors slipping every time they tried to close. Anyone else have a weird makeshift lube backfire on them?

Rant: Threw $400 at a 'smart' elevator diagnostic tool and it was useless

Bought that Bluetooth vibration analyzer for our MRLs in Chicago last month. Thing couldn't even tell a bad bearing from a loose rail bolt. Anyone else have luck with the old stethoscope method instead?

Old timer told me to always grease the guide rails by hand, not spray.

I ignored a 40 year vet at a job in Cleveland who said spray lube just pushes dirt into the bearings. Six months later I had to replace a whole set of roller guides on a hydraulic because they were grinding down from grit. Anyone else ever get bit by taking the easy route on rail maintenance?

Dropped $400 on a stupid controller board and it fixed nothing

Bought a new door controller for a 1998 Otis lift because I was sure that was the issue. Turns out it was a $15 limit switch that was out of adjustment. Has anyone else wasted time and money chasing the wrong part first?

Swapped to microfiber rags for cleaning rails and it was a disaster

I got tired of leaving lint all over the guide rails from my old cotton rags, so I bought a 50 pack of microfiber cloths from the home store. Figured they'd be better for the job since they pick up everything. First two cars I cleaned with them worked fine, but on the third one the microfiber caught on a tiny burr I missed and shredded into a hundred little fibers inside the rail. Took me almost 3 hours to pick all that crap out with tweezers and compressed air. Never again. Learned to stick with tack cloths or at least check every inch of the rail before wiping. Has anyone else had microfiber fail on a job like this or am I the only unlucky one?

Used to rely on the old rope-and-pulley method for leveling cabs, but after a rough install last spring where the car was off by almost half an inch, I switched to a laser alignment tool and now I’m done in half the time.

What changed for me was watching an old timer in Brooklyn zip through a job with a laser, and I haven’t touched a plumb line since - has anyone else made the switch and seen a big difference in accuracy?

The old Otis test jumpers are getting impossible to find

Started out 12 years ago at a shop in Minneapolis and we had a drawer full of those brass test jumpers for the Otis 211. Now I'm lucky if I can find one at the supply house that isn't some cheap aluminum knockoff that breaks after 3 uses. The older guys would just bend a paperclip, but after I shorted a hall call board last spring I'd rather just buy the real thing. Anyone know a shop in the Midwest that still stocks the brass ones?

My old method for aligning elevator guide rails was all feel and no tools

I used to just eyeball the plumb line and adjust those rail brackets by hand until it looked straight. Took forever and I'd always be going back to tweak things after the car ran rough on test. About 6 months ago I picked up a cheap laser alignment kit from a supply house in Chicago, cost me around $180. Now I can set those rails dead nuts straight in half the time. The first job I used it on was a 4-stop hydraulic in an old office building, no callbacks for noise or wobble. Anyone else switch to lasers or still trusting the old string and level?

I spent $180 on a laser alignment tool and it saved me 3 hours on one call

I was fighting with a door sensor that kept tripping the safety edge on a Schindler 3300. That laser paid for itself in time saved on that single service call. Any of you guys use one for quick alignments?

Why does nobody talk about how long it takes to find a single bad wire in a 30 year old panel?

Had a call last Tuesday in a building downtown where a car kept stopping between floors. Checked the controller, the door locks, the limits, everything. After 4 hours I finally found a wire that had rubbed through its insulation on a sharp edge inside the junction box. It was just barely touching ground, but only when the car moved a certain way. That one tiny spot took me longer than the whole rest of the troubleshooting combined. Has anyone else ever spent a full shift on something that simple?

Used to swear by greasing rails every single month until an old timer showed me his logbook

I was hardcore about greasing guide rails monthly, every job, no excuses. Last week a retired mechanic with 30 years in stopped by the shop and saw my schedule. He laughed and pulled out his old maintenance log. He only greased his rails every 3 months and did a quick dry run test in between. His cars ran smoother and he had way less drag issues than me. Tried stretching it to 6 weeks on my last two jobs and saw zero problems. Plus cut my grease bill by a third. Any of you guys run longer intervals or am I just being lazy?

That emergency stop reset trick that saved me 3 hours on a stuck Otis

Last Tuesday I had a 2001 Otis elevator stuck on an intermediate floor with no response to the reset. I'd tried cycling power and checking the main board lights three times with no luck. Someone on another forum suggested holding the emergency stop button down for a full 20 seconds while hitting the reset sequence. It kicked back to life immediately and I was out in 10 minutes. Anyone else run into this weird reset timing on older models?

Finally got that one stubborn door to level out after a month of tweaking

I've been wrestling with a freight elevator door at a warehouse downtown for about four weeks now. Kept coming back after hours to adjust the hanger brackets and nothing was sticking. Yesterday I swapped out the old nylon guides for some heavy-duty roller guides I had in the truck and it leveled perfectly on the first try. Has anyone else had a simple part swap fix a long-running issue like that?

Finally got a laser tool that I actually use

I was real skeptical about buying a laser level for setting elevator guide rails, figured it was just another gadget to collect dust. Picked up a cheap Bosch self-leveling one on a whim last month and it saved me like 2 hours on a single job downtown. Can't believe I waited so long, anyone else have a tool they were dead wrong about?

Found a plunger stuffed inside a service elevator call station yesterday

Someone actually jammed a toilet plunger into the button panel on the 3rd floor of a hospital in Cleveland. Has anyone else found random junk crammed into their equipment that made you question humanity?

Talking to a retired mechanic changed how I see door hangers

Met an old-timer at a supply house in Portland last week and he said the new button-style hangers are fine but the old U-channel ones just held up better after 15 years of use lol. He had a point about how much torque those doors put on the hanger over time. Anyone else still stock the U-channel ones for certain jobs?

The difference a door zone sensor makes on a 2015 Thyssen

I worked on a 2015 Thyssen in a 12-story building downtown for years. Before we swapped the door zone sensor, it had a nasty habit of stopping a few inches off level maybe once every 40 trips. After we put in a new inductive sensor (like $60 part), it's been dead on for over 3 months now. No more adjusting the leveling every single week, which used to eat up my Tuesday mornings. The old sensor was just worn down from vibration, nothing fancy. Has anyone else seen a big jump in reliability from just swapping one sensor like this?

Just got back from inspecting a 1969 Otis in a courthouse downtown

I was checking out an old Otis unit in the county courthouse over on Main Street. The thing still had its original relay logic and someone had wired in a bypass that completely bypassed the door lock circuit. Who thought that was a good idea?

The old timer who told me to ditch my digital tester for a manual multimeter was right

Got to talking with a retired elevator guy named Ray at a supply shop in Cleveland last month, and he swore my Fluke meter was overkill for checking relay contacts. He handed me a $15 analog meter and said "you'll hear the difference when a contact is dirty, not just see it." Has anyone else found that analog meters actually catch intermittent faults better than digital ones?

Just hit 500 elevator doors adjusted in my career

I was looking at my work log and the number really jumped out at me. That's a lot of door rollers and hangers, you know? Has anyone else kept track of something like that?

Vent: Found a fix for that weird door operator hum on older Otis units

Had a 90s Otis Gen2 making that low hum even when idle, driving tenants nuts. Bypassed the usual checks and just added a 0.1 uF ceramic capacitor across the motor leads as a snubber, noise gone in 30 seconds. Anyone else tried this on the old solid-state boards?