Hi everyone - I'm new here and have no experience with elevators. I recently acquired a small lift for next to nothing from a guy who used to work tearing down buildings and spent the past couple decades storing everything that was in good working use when the buildings were torn down; I would like to use it in my house which I'm getting ready to build. Unfortunately, I don't know the brand (stupid me forgot to check for a nameplate on the motor and now it's hidden behind other building supplies, though I can dig it out... it might also be written on the electrical box). It's a very simplistic one-man chair lift - a little bucket seat that goes five meters straight up on two rails, hauled up by a standard counterweighted electric motor with a steel cable. Here are some pictures:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54125007@N08/21528337401/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54125007@N08/21519645215/in/dateposted/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54125007@N08/21331600760/in/dateposted/


Before I just set it up and have an electrician connect it, I want to make sure I'm being *safe* about it - that is, whether there's any maintenance that should be done, any inspections, whether the cable is still good, that sort of stuff. For example, I examined the cable closely. From a distance it looks 100% perfect. But up close I could see the occasional strand broken:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54125007@N08/20896844314/in/dateposted/

I never found anywhere on the cable where two strands were broken at the same place, although there were some spots where strands were broken maybe 4 centimeters apart from each other. Also, near the end of the cable (and only there, that i saw), if I reverse-twisted it to reveal the inside, it looked like this:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54125007@N08/21519591185/in/dateposted/

I don't know if that's rust (although I think the cable is stainless, so rust would be weird), or some sort of fiber that's entrained in the middle, or what. It looked more like an old organic strand than rust, though I don't know why it would be there. Also, here's the eye at the end:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/54125007@N08/20896877674/in/dateposted/


So basically, I don't know if these sort of things are normal, acceptable wear and tear, or if I need to replace the cable. And I don't know what other sort of maintenance if any I should look into for the rest of the system.

I can get more info and better pictures if needed.