Please read instructions carefully : Use it like a real lift. WARNING : Loud noises and maybe flashing lights. Description part 2 : The oldest one got replaced with a Kone MX06 EcoDisc MRL in February 2007 (After just 9 years) and the newest one got replaced with a Schindler 3300 MRL in January 2010 (After just 6 years). Both 3300 and EcoDisc are still here, both of the 2 lifts are working properly and reliably and both serve 2 floors (0-1) and are located in the same building which is a very small-scale one. Those 2 IMEM lifts got replaced even though they were rarely used ! These got replaced for 2 reasons : Unreliability and lack of spare parts ! Just after they installed the IMEM lift in late 2003, they discontinued the model and made the spare parts crazily overpriced because they knew that these lifts will keep breaking down ! Proof : Less than 5 of them are still original now ! Even though, over 40 000 of them were installed in total ! But in March 2007, 45 % of them have already been modernized or replaced ! In September 2016, 75 % of these IMEMs are destroyed ! And in January 2024, more than 99 % of them are gone ! The last remaining lifts are in a residential complex from July 1998 and the lifts are still maintained by Doyle And Slaters. And now, all of the spare parts for the logics are now gone (Doyle and Slaters sold all of them) which is a very bad sign because you can’t fix the older late 1990s IMEM Ascensores logic if ever it fails ! Also, I just phoned a friend who lives in this residential complex and he told me that one of the 5 lifts broke down because of a logic failure and it’s being heavily modernized because the lift itself was pretty worn out ! The GMV pump & valve block and the lift car structure will be kept but the rest will be fully replaced including the hoisting mechanism (Hydro ram, pulley wheel, cables and cables attachments). This lift will also have a heavy cab refurbishment, new Wittur HydraPlus shaft doors, car doors and door operator and of course, Dewhurst push buttons, Lester Controls logic controller, Lester Controls voice and chimes and Lester Controls TFT LCD displays ! The hydraulic oil will also be fully replaced ! And apparently all of the other lifts will also get the same treatment as the broken one which is being modernized ! Looks like these very cheap late 90s lifts are about to be extinct now… I’m gonna check these apartments and try to ride at least one of them in original condition before it gets modded ! Just 4 of these late 90s Doyle and Slaters hydraulic lifts with older IMEM Ascensores logic remains original now and they will end up modded by Doyle And Slaters soon ! And all of these 5 lifts (4 original, 1 being heavily modernized) in this complex are 8 floors high and are the tallest 90s Doyle and Slaters IMEM hydraulic lifts ever built ! Anyway let’s enjoy this glass hydraulic lift at a small mall located in Gloucester ! And that’s it for the description !
Credits to : Euroliftfan2024, LF2021, ME5, halfai, MS54, Jon5432 and all… Title : Modded again ! The strange modded hydraulic glass lift… I came back to that really strange hydraulic lift at the odd small scale mall located in Gloucester and guess what ? It’s been modernized again ! Before this mod, this was a 2006 Robertson hydro that was abandoned in 2008 then it was fixed and had it’s Selcom door operator replaced with a Meiller Türen one in 2012, then, it got modded in 2020 Their modernization was done by Doyle and Slaters but they used Patel and Ward equipment. And this mod is really weird but the lift is fairly efficient, has pre-doors & they also have upgraded the Bucher LRV-1 valve & this lift now has a brand new soft-starter but for some odd reason this lift takes longer to charge the hydraulic than originally (The former starter was a star-delta one). And listen to the voices and chimes LOL. The lift cab has also been refurbished BTW but the door system has not been replaced. The controller is a custom Patel and Ward PLC logic as expected and it’s also got a programmable voice and external chime unit which is why it makes custom noises and BTW, the floor numbering is now correct - YAY ! And there is also a very interesting floor indicator in the lift car as well ! But this mod is quite good for a generic mod overall and this is way better than I expected for Doyle and Slaters. Unlike the 2 mods at the Kelton Hotel in Lewisham which are absolute trash ! These used to be 2 ultra rare glass Schindler prototypes (1 Mobile 630/Direct Drive and 1 Smart) from 1998 modded in 2002 with Lester Controls logic and Selcom doors. The Mobile 630 was a MRL w/ the motor underneath and large tires to propel the lift car and the Smart was a wormdrive MRL traction, now the Mobile is a single ram inground telescoping hydro MR & the Smart is now a single ram roped hydro MR. The lift cab have also been horridly refurbished with stupid card boards and they’re no longer glass but the worst thing about these 2 mods is the location of the motor room. Near the shaft of these 2 prototypes, there is a Orona OR 98 hydraulic goods lift from 1998 and it has an extremely large motor room. There is plenty of room for all of the stuff installed during these 2 2002 mods (Logic cabinets, oil coolers and Leistritz pump units). But guess what ? They put the motor room at the top floor and the hotel had to remove 3 bedrooms to create this room ! The motor room is also located 25 meters away from the 2 lift shafts aswell. This means that both oil pipes have to be 25 meters long, plus the distance between floor 5 and the shaft pits and that distance is above 21 meters. The oil has to travel a crazy distance before reaching the cylinders, which means that a lot of energy is wasted in the hydraulic pipes, the pumps and oil coolers must be very big, very powerful and very loud, the pumps takes a crazy long time to charge and both of the 2 lifts runs very violently (Both lifts are very bouncy and wobbly and they starts going up way harsher than most Oakland lifts), the Lester Controls voice is horrid as well (At least it doesn’t has the annoying « Please mind the doors » message as the logic is an older Lester Controls MP500 logic which was introduced in the late 90s), both of the 2 lifts takes ages to level, they have a stupid ticky tape, you cannot hear the hydraulic machinery from the lift cars (But you still can hear the oil circulation noises and the hydraulic ram movement noises), the equipment in the motor room is so noisy that both of the 2 lifts automatically shuts off between 4 PM and 9 AM. When a lift moves, the fluid heats up so much that the 2 oil coolers turns on as soon as someone presses a call button the 1rst time after the 2 lifts automatically come back into service and these 2 coolers stays on until 4 AM (When the lifts automatically go out of service) and both coolers also stay on until the oil temperature of both hydraulic tanks is below 25°C & once the oil temp of the 2 oil tanks is below 25°C, the 2 coolers turn off and finally, the guests at the top floor can have some peace and quiet ! These 2 mods are definitely some of the worst generic Lester mods ! Also, Doyle and Slaters is also very well known for installing loads of very cheap and nasty IMEM hydraulic lifts. These have horrid and incredibly unreliable controllers, cheap fixtures and of course SELCOM Hydra Arm doors. Although, they all have GMV pump units and ILE voice which is rather nice but the rest is awful and they’re not made to last as they are very cheaply built single ram roped hydraulic lifts ! The oldest one (Which is the first ever Doyle and Slaters lift BTW) was built in July 1997 and the newest one was built in November 2003. Part 2 is in instructions.
