An overhead crane

J

John Larson

Aluminum

Joined

Mar 20, 2004

Location

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Oct 24, 2005

• #1

I've been regularly upgrading my mills and lathes, and have gotten to the point where the lathe chucks, mill vises, and work pieces are simply too heavy to lift. I had planned on using a forklift, but this has no finesse at all. So I built a jib crane with a post and wheels on the outside end that looks like an A-frame post. My experience with jib cranes in the past has been a bit negative; they're massive relative to their lifting capacity. I sold the ones I had. I've used A-frames a good bit, too, but they are a bit easy to tip over with bad results. Also, they tend to always be in the way when not in use. Which is why I've been using the forklift solution for the past 4-5 years. I didn't want to run the forklift in my heated shop this winter. My mixture of the two bad ideas seems to be a good idea. Just finsihed and tested it today. The outboard pole and wheels pivot toward the wall and are out of the way when not in use. The outboard and inboard poles carry the weight like an A-frame.

 

J

jkilroy

Diamond

Joined

Jul 23, 2004

Location

Vicksburg, MS

• Oct 24, 2005

• #2

Sounds great! If I could visualize it that is. Would it be possible to post a pic? Or email me a pic and I will post it for you? I need to do something like this ASAP and I am interested in what you have done.

 

D

dxhall

Aluminum

Joined

Aug 15, 2004

Location

Wheat Ridge, CO

• Oct 24, 2005

• #3

Sounds like a neat idea. I have the same problem -- heavy tooling and a bad back. Can you post the pics? Dennis

 

M

Michael Az

Stainless

Joined

Dec 16, 2002

Location

Safford, Az., USA

• Oct 25, 2005

• #4

I just decided the other day to build a crane from the top of my mill. This stuff is getting too heavy anymore.
Michael

 

D

damonfg

Titanium

Joined

Apr 23, 2003

Location

Portland, ME, USA

• Oct 25, 2005

• #5

I improvised one for the lathe a few weeks ago.

Took a piece of 1.5" round tubing, pressed in some bearing bronze and bored it out to 1". Bent the tubing into an L shape, 3' tall, 2' long.

Next piece was a rod turned down to 3/4" (cozy fit in the end of the tubing), then a quick groove down it's length in the mill.

Groove was aligned on the corner of an aloris holder and welded in place.

Now to use the crane, I put on the aloris holder with the 3/4" shaft sticking straight up. Then I drop on the L shaped tubing, and then put a chainfall on there.

Oh yeah I added a couple of rings to attach the chainfall, one outboard, one in the middle of the leg.

Works like a charm. Past couple of weeks has been nothing under 150lbs on that lathe. This was a quick fix but works like a charm.

Was gonna get the aloris crane, but didn't want to wait the 16 hours for MSC to get it here

 

matt_isserstedt

Diamond

Joined

Dec 15, 2003

Location

suburbs of Ann Arbor, MI, USA

• Oct 25, 2005

• #6

An overhead (bridge) crane is a wonderful thing...gonna have one someday

The only problem is that it conflicts with standard residential garage door tracks and garage door openers...

-Matt

 

precisionworks

Diamond

Joined

Apr 20, 2005

Location

Benton, IL USA

• Oct 25, 2005

• #7

A lot depends on the height of your door tracks, the ceiling height & the height of the I-beam. My tracks are 9' above the concrete floor (10' ceiling). Subtract 1" for clearance, 5" for the beam, 5" for the trolley and 16" for the hoist (your numbers will vary).

Still enough lift to make it useful to get things in and out of a pickup bed - like my 1300# welder platform

 

S

surplusjohn

Diamond

Joined

Apr 11, 2002

Location

Syracuse, NY USA

• Oct 25, 2005

• #8

I have seen a number of set ups using c channel barn door track with barn door rollers and a little chain fall, real simple, but one track.

 

bluchip

Stainless

Joined

Jun 11, 2005

Location

OH

• Oct 25, 2005

• #9

An overhead (bridge) crane is a wonderful thing...gonna have one someday

The only problem is that it conflicts with standard residential garage door tracks and garage door openers...

Click to expand...

Yeah...and then we'd have to rewire the whole shop as all the machices have power dropped from the ceiling.....and air lines ....

 

precisionworks

Diamond

Joined

Apr 20, 2005

Location

Benton, IL USA

• Oct 26, 2005

• #10

"...and then we'd have to rewire the whole shop..."

NO, No, no, Bluchip.

Just make your gantry 1" below ceiling height, roll it from one end of the shop to the other, it will automatically rewire the shop for you

 

matt_isserstedt

Diamond

Joined

Dec 15, 2003

Location

suburbs of Ann Arbor, MI, USA

• Oct 26, 2005

• #11

One guy I bought an arbor press from had a curved monorail (I-beam) which was supported from the wooden trusses of his garage. Nice little rod hangers going up thru the drywall.

He had a trolley on there which could negotiate the curves and ran somewhat of a circuitous route around the perimeter of the garage...looked slightly cobbled from "spare parts" but nicely done as well and it sure was a bonus when lifting the press onto a moving dolly.

-Matt

 

Richard Rogers

Titanium

Joined

Nov 27, 2001

Location

Bentley, Louisiana

• Oct 26, 2005

• #12

Seems like your idea is good, but wouldn't the A-frame end of the pivoting jib crane defeat some of the underside clearance benefits of a stiff-armed jib crane? Then again, you could support lots more weight! Today, we had a forklift hub to load into the lathe (heavy), and we have a military surplus engine hoist at the shop that loaded it right up. Much better than those Harbor Freight engine hoists, mind you, and with a long reach. Forklift is, as you say, without feel or finesse, especially in a one-man situation.

Decided to sell the jib crane that I thought about putting in, mainly because of the height needed. Your idea could work well for many shops with lesser ceiling height, I can tell you that.

Richard

 

bluchip

Stainless

Joined

Jun 11, 2005

Location

OH

• Oct 26, 2005

• #13

"Just make your gantry 1" below ceiling height, roll it from one end of the shop to the other, it will automatically rewire the shop for you"

Gotcha precisionworks ...

I can see it nowred this all up and nows his stuff. probably got big enuf conductors and graounds that all the Bridgeports will be drug to one end of the building in a pile

 

J

John Larson

Aluminum

Joined

Mar 20, 2004

Location

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

• Oct 26, 2005

• #14

I'll try to post a picture. Think of a football goal post that has wheels on one post and a pivot pin on the other that lets the crossbar pivot. There's 15 feet between the floor and the bottom of the trusses. I didn't go up that high. My three phase cords hang from the ceiling and this rig's pivot arc clears the relevant two. I've seen old factories with jib cranes, one per post. I've been thinking, but haven't really convinced my self I need more than this one. If the outside post and wheel assembly doesn't tuck outta the way when it isn't in use, then it will just be in the way, even in a big shop.

A big electric motor repair shop a few miles from me has a huge A frame on about 100 feet of railroad tracks sunk in the floor. Self-propelled. The Teamster trucker just sits in his cab while the electrical union guys unload the truck using this neat crane. Then there are numerous jib cranes to let the mechanics and machinists move stuff outta the aisle to their work benchs. Almost as cool as an overhead crane system.

 

j king

Stainless

Joined

Oct 27, 2003

Location

ohio

• Oct 27, 2005

• #15

I showed this before but maybe someone didnt see it.It works great and doesnt require the floor to be swept.