Type the number of floors into the calculator, not one. Each elevator is a single section of the shaft, so a tall base pays the bill again for every stop, gear included. A five-floor shaft takes five gears, the same as an armored door. Weigh that before you start: until a Level 3 bench, gears come only from loot and the recycler, and the door guards your loot while the lift only saves a climb.
The high quality metal and metal fragments per section are a small slice of a furnace run. Smelt them in one go and craft the shaft whole, because a shaft that stops a floor short sends you back to the ladder anyway.
Count the power too. The lift stops when the power does, so a base that adds one usually wants a large battery behind it.
Questions
Elevator ×10: how many resources?
High Quality Metal ×30, Metal Fragments ×2,000, Gears ×10.
