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Bridge crane or gantry crane in home shop.

J_R_Thiele

Stainless
Joined
Jan 22, 2003
Location
Columbia Missouri
I am planning to put up a new building for a home shop. I am thinking 30 x 50 (?60) or 40 x 50 (?60).
Bigger is better- but also more expensive, and cost is a factor.

In revieweing prior threads about the ideal shop several people suggested a bridge crane of about 3 tons capacity.
I have no good idea of the cost, or to what extent and cost the buidling could be desinged for this capacity and have one put up later.

I am considering both all metal building or one with ICF walls (insulated concerete forms) and
a steel beam roof support and to suspend the bridge crane, or supports for the rails built into the walls.

It is much easier to get prices on a gantry crane, and this could be obtained later.

Any one have any ideas about bridge crane costs/ advantages vs a gantry crane? Other suggestions?
 
While I like to see people thniking about the crane before the building,, and the all steel
building is easy enough to have the manuf. add the rail bracket's (and thicken up the columns)
for a bridge crane....

3 tons on 35' wide is gonna break the budget, and probably gonna need powered trolleys
for every direction.

Neighbors shop has 3 tons about 30' wide, is a full blown fab shop dealing with 1/2" thick plate
all day long, into the burn table, to the 400 ton press brake, onto the truck etc. and it
fully powered in every direction (which it really needs to be)

The Gorbel style freestanding workcell type gantries are available up to 2 tons, freely roll
by hand, and maybe span 20'. They don't move the whole frame around like an "a" frame,
but you add them after the building is up, they are completely free of the building
 
The bigger and uncluttered the floor the less need for overhead lifting and moving of stuff. I built a small shop 14 x 40 and hung steel down each side so I could pick up and move 1/2 ton anywhere in the shop. ---Trevor
 
I, too, think that the bridge crane will break the bank unless you have really deep pockets. I have a 12' wide, 10' high, two ton gantry crane and am very happy with it. (Don't go narrower than 12' so that you have room to move around if you plan on doing stuff like pulling engines out of vehicles.) (I would like to add a second trolley as sometimes you need two skyhooks.)

As for being in the way, I have a slot I can slip the gantry crane into so that it straddles some shelving when not in use, though that is very seldom.

Instead of a bridge crane, I would invest the extra money in making the building taller so you could get a 12' or 14' high gantry crane in there.
 
Some time ago, I was able to buy a dismantled bridge crane 30x50 for scrap value. I erected it on the fresh slab, and then used the framework to hang the walls and roof on it.
Unfortunately, no images due to fire.

Lee (the saw guy)
 
Johnoder is absolutely right . A lot of bridge cranes are going for scrap of close to scrap prices , if a person doesn't have to have it right now. One way would be to use a gantry till a good buy on a bridge comes along.
I would go for as long a span as possible even if the bridge travel had to be very short to start out with, extra travel track can be added later if the bridge is up.
I have two gantrys over my big lathe , the second is real manuverable and will snake in about anywhere , the caster spreaders will rotate 360 degrees, the normally locked up casters can be unlocked so they will caster. This allows allowing it to go between machines that 10 inches apart by rotating the caster spreaders ( on end at a tine for sure) Also since the verticals are telescoping pipe , the horizontal top crossmember can be raised several feet if I want to take it outside.
I'm really wanting a bridge crane , gantrys are usable , always troublesome.
 
A bridge crane is a wonderful thing to have

#1 problem though is it allows you to stack way to much stuff under it at least with a forklift you need to leave room to get the forklift out.

A custom made crane to fit a shop will set you back plenty.

A custom made shop to fit a used crane is way cheaper.

Once past 50 years old a crane pays big dividends though seems like I use it to pick up almost every thing now.
 
The decision can be easier if you can find a used bridge crane at a decent price - check with machinery dealers, material handling equipment dealers, and demolition contractors. If you can find a usable, workable, right-sized crane, then the building can be designed around the crane and the costs won't be too horrible. When push comes to shove, though, a gantry crane is a LOT cheaper - I built one for my shop for $ 800 that was designed to clear the lights by 2" and with a 2000 Lb capacity at a 5:1 safety factor. It normally lives straddling my welding table, and it is long enough that I can pick up something and set on the table without moving the crane. It has an air-operated hoist and a hand operated hoist. Given my druthers, I'd have a bridge crane, but reality says that the crane is a gantry crane.
 
Lalatheman

Is the gantry something you made yourself?

Everyone
How much of the cost is in the rails carriage beam and hoist vs structure to support the above, and does the cost "scale" to capacity Would a 2 ton 20 ft beam in the center of a 30 or 40 ft building be significantly less expensive? Does the cost then just shift to the roof beams?
 
Everyone
How much of the cost is in the rails carriage beam and hoist vs structure to support the above, and does the cost "scale" to capacity Would a 2 ton 20 ft beam in the center of a 30 or 40 ft building be significantly less expensive? Does the cost then just shift to the roof beams?

If you put a 20' span crane beam in the middle of a free span 40' building, each and every steel "leg" (tapered column with roof truss)
is gonna have to be built much stronger. The foundations will have to carry not only more vertical force, also
the sideways component will go up.

If you span the whole width with the crane, only the tapered legs will need to be made slightly stronger, and the
foundations will need to be (maybe) made larger.
 
I have installed several new bridge cranes. The Gorbel (?) crane I had quoted the other day was a 2 ton, 28' bridge 32' travel, for just the structure was 13k, throw in about 10K for a powered hoist, install and trucks. If you can find a used bridge, powered trucks and a hoist (not hard) (1 and 2 ton and 5 ton are easy, 3 ton are not so common) then it is just buying steel. Powered is nice-but level and balanced is pretty good. Jibs are also an option, but 3 ton are not common and get hard to move. All depends what you are moving and how often. A nice gantry may be good enough with some planning-that is what I am doing in my home shop. Ideal home shop-no, but I rarely lift more than 1000 lbs more than once a month. It would have been handy to have a heavier gantry for lifting a mill off of my trailer (3300 lbs) but, with rollers, ramps and planning, I have gotten confident that having that huge gantry may not be the best way to spend my money and have to store. To spend 10k on a nice hoist would be fun, but I personally would rather have spent it on organizing my shop (nice cabnets) and small handy tools that I will use much more often than having the cadillac hoist for the occasional machine move so I can drop it anywhere in a 40x60 shop. Pipes or a pallet jack would be easily stuffed in a corner and do it very well. If you are machining lathe beds daily, then yea, get the hoist.
Joe
 
I'm plannig for a bridge crane in my shop, but with a big difference. The plan is not for the building columns to have to handle the load, but rather inset properly sized ones to take the rails set just inside the building ones. The second columns will be tied to the building ones for stability only. The current plan only calls for the bridge to cover one bay, but could eventually run the entire length of the building. The foundation will be designed with this in mind.
 
Joe

I had picked 3 ton as it had been mentioned in an earlier post. I believe a 2 ton hoist would be more than enough.

When you say 13K for the structure on the 2 ton you quoted- what does that include?
 
One thing possibly being missed here is that if you have good bridge crane, a smaller shop is possible, you can easily pick up and relocate machines out of the way. Clearing a larger space for that big fab job. By moving say the Bridgeport + shaper + other smaller sized machines to one side becomes like a 5 minute job. As to needed tonnage that's always a crap shot at best. IMHO if you can over spec the buildings + runways so you can run 2 or more bridge cranes on the same track. Really opens up a lot of larger jobs when you can independently lift and manuver both ends of the work pieces. But you gotta remember, i use to build long reach excavator - heavy plant. 10+ meter long multi ie +10 ton parts were every day items.

My way of looking at it, you need good cranes if your lifting stuff to build or machine it multiple times a shift. Doing stuff with a forklift is clumsy compared to a crane. Putting a crane in to only install the machinery in a machine shop working on smaller jobs, that may only need more than hand loading of a part less than once a shift is a bit of a expensive luxury that would offer a better return spent on other things.
 
here is my swivel leg gantry. The vertical is 6" pipe welded to the caster spreader . The inner pipe is welded to the horizontal crossmember , which is a 10" beam with a wide web. Other gantry is visable dimly in the background
Dave

//http://s972.beta.photobucket.com/user/lalatheman/media/eetest001.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
eetest001.jpg.html


Where did the pic go ?
eetest001.jpg.html


Well Ive tried everything I know but pictures wont stick .
http://s972.beta.photobucket.com/user/lalatheman/media/eetest001.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
Anyhow the idea is if you want to take it in behind somthing ,a tight clearence you swivel one set of casters 90 degree push it through and then set them back to 90 degree with top member, change the other end and go on through. Obviously it would fall over quick if both caster carriers were turned paralell to the top crossmember at once. and I don't swivel them loaded .

Makes it real manuverable , so far I have gotten it in everywhere it doesn't look like it would go. For safety it would need the swivel legs padlocked into its safe operation configuration.

Dave

Dave
 
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I have a 3T Vestil 10'Wx12'H gantry crane in a small shop (about 650 square feet). It's very useful, but it does require lots of precious floor space to maneuver. I store it straddling the big mill normally. If your budget allows, a bridge crane would probably be superior in terms of access and convenience.

Unless you also have a forklift, make sure your crane can pick loads off an open truck backed into your facility.
 
Don't forget to consider height. If your needs for a shop without a crane are met with a10 or 12 ft ceiling add 4 ft for any kind of crane to account for the beam, hoist and rigging.

Another point is, does the whole shop need crane service? Or can you restrict service to the machine tools and an adjacent work area? A gantry crane has to be maneuvered and if the shop gets cluttered it's a PITA to stop and shift it for crane access. A bridge crane rises above it all. I suggest a less than whole shop free-standing top running bridge crane. If you look around you can sometimes find used, salvaged, and or surplus naterials and equipment.

One last thing, if your shop is anything but home hobby, check local DLI safety and cert requirements before you commit.
 
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