basic

Pulley Mechanical Advantage & Load Calculator

MA = load/effort = n_ropes — rope pulley system.

Calculates mechanical advantage, required effort force, and rope travel distance for a compound pulley system to lift a given load.

Daniel Oh By Daniel Oh
Published Last reviewed 1 min read

Inputs

Results

Enter values and click Calculate to see results.
Was this helpful?

How to use this calculator

  1. Fill in the inputs above using the units you already have.
  2. Values update automatically as you type — no submit button needed.
  3. Hover any result row for the underlying formula and intermediate values.

Formula

MA = n_supporting_ropes; Effort = Load/MA; Rope_travel = load_travel × MA

In depth

Calculates mechanical advantage, required effort force, and rope travel distance for a compound pulley system to lift a given load.