Hello!

So, I've got this desire to be able to move my grow lights up or down about 6 foot throughout the course of the grow.

My thought process was to have a stepper motor that rotates to either take up the rope holding the light, moving the light higher, or rotates to release rope holding the light, moving the light lower.

The struggle I'm having is placement of the motor in relation to the applied weight holding/moving the light.

Initially my very simple thought was to place a spool on the end of the stepper motor, and have the rope wrap around the spool according. But a direct weight placement on the drive shaft of the stepper motor would cause an uneven weight distribution on the shaft, and what I would assume to be not good at all. In other words, if the light is hanging from a rope that's wrapped around my motor shaft, there will be an uneven (downward force - gravity) applied to the shaft. This is not desirable.

So then my thought process was, in order to get even weight distribution on the shaft - I would need it to pull in parallel with the shaft - and in comes the Idea of a threaded rod. A threaded rod would achieve the weight distribution solution I'm looking for, but I'm not sure how I'm going to get 6 foot of travel distance unless I've got a 6 foot threaded rod... which seems impractical?

I'm thinking there is a combination of gears, or something that I can use, to make this happen - but I'm at a loss for what the answer is?

I figured someone on this board probably has the experience, or engineering background, who can quickly identify a solution? My I'm being too optimistic!

Either way, I appreciate any help you can provide!

Thanks.