New Bridge Crane

drcoelho · Apr 6, 2019

Just installed new bridge crane to be used for moving Deckel mill and Weiler lathe accessories around. This room is very limited, 7.5ft ceilings, and overall room only 9.5ft by 17.5ft. I decided to embed the end support posts for the bridge crane in the walls so not to lose floor space. The bridge crane is also innovative in that the beam rides on top of the runway with only 1" clearance from the ceiling, and the beam is set within the vertical space of the runways to keep it as high as possible. The crane can move heavy stuff anywhere within the room.

The room still being remodelled, mill and lathe expected later this year.

johansen · Apr 6, 2019

Looks great, is that c chanel welded on top of a 6x6 square beam for the rollers to ride in?

Looks like it could handle 5 times that 1000 pound limit.

drcoelho · Apr 6, 2019

Yes, C channel welded on top of 4x4 square beam. And yes, probably over-engineered...the structural engineer only took into account the 4x4 and not the added strength of the C channel in calculations.

ripperj · Apr 6, 2019

I’d like to have something like that in my shop, nice job. I’m going to make up something with a small trolley for Unistrut, they are good for 400#, I just need something to help get chucks on/off my lathe

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jz79 · Apr 6, 2019

looks good for the 1000lb capacity, but the bridge "ends" (the flats that the bridge is hanging in) looks very weak compared to the rest of the structure...

Ringleboy26 · Apr 6, 2019

Looks good. What are you gonna do about the lights? I hate dark rooms.

drcoelho · Apr 6, 2019

jz79 said:
looks good for the 1000lb capacity, but the bridge "ends" (the flats that the bridge is hanging in) looks very weak compared to the rest of the structure...

Crane design certified by structural engineer and tested to 1000 lb, its solid.

drcoelho · Apr 6, 2019

Ringleboy26 said:
Looks good. What are you gonna do about the lights? I hate dark rooms.

Going with low profile LED lighting....I hate dark rooms as well.

Rob F. · Apr 6, 2019

It looks nice and I like it. With two top beams you can run the hoist between the beams and raise your max hook height a little. It may not be an issue if your just moving mill accessories on & off tables. Anyway job well done.

cwilcox · Apr 6, 2019

With one of these hoists like i have in my residential garage you will have only 7" from hook to bottom of beam. That might net you a few valuable inches. Watch ebay for them using low profile chain hoist and low headroom chain hoist.

drcoelho · Apr 6, 2019

Rob F. said:
It looks nice and I like it. With two top beams you can run the hoist between the beams and raise your max hook height a little. It may not be an issue if your just moving mill accessories on & off tables. Anyway job well done.

I considered that, but then you lose access to parts of the room due to width of the double beam setup. As it is I can get anywhere in the room within 12" of the walls.

drcoelho · Apr 6, 2019

cwilcox said:
With one of these hoists like i have in my residential garage you will have only 7" from hook to bottom of beam. That might net you a few valuable inches. Watch ebay for them using low profile chain hoist and low headroom chain hoist.

View attachment 253880

That would be very helpful, I'll keep a watch for one.

cwilcox · Apr 6, 2019

Your crane looks really nice.

This link shows the equivalent 1 ton model which is what my crane is rated for but I only paid $250 for mine whereas this one is trying for much more.

IR 1 Ton Ultra Lo Swivel Trolley Truck Hoist Chain Fall Chester Low Headroom | eBay

drcoelho · Apr 7, 2019

cwilcox said:
Your crane looks really nice.

This link shows the equivalent 1 ton model which is what my crane is rated for but I only paid $250 for mine whereas this one is trying for much more.

IR 1 Ton Ultra Lo Swivel Trolley Truck Hoist Chain Fall Chester Low Headroom | eBay

What is the width of your hoist? I'm looking also at Harrington SHB010 which has amazing headroom of only 4.5" but trade-off is it is very wide at 21.5" thus losing side wall access. The link you provided above is showing width of approx 19".

Rob F. · Apr 7, 2019

drcoelho said:
What is the width of your hoist? I'm looking also at Harrington SHB010 which has amazing headroom of only 4.5" but trade-off is it is very wide at 21.5" thus losing side wall access. The link you provided above is showing width of approx 19".

I would call the direction it travels the length, showing at 19", similar terminology to a car. Width would be across the beam, looks to be less than 12" from the ebay pics.

drcoelho · Apr 7, 2019

Rob F. said:
I would call the direction it travels the length, showing at 19", similar terminology to a car. Width would be across the beam, looks to be less than 12" from the ebay pics.

I'm concerned about what you are calling "length" which is the dimension parallel to the beam.....the dimension orthogonal to beam is not of concern. Thx for clarification.

Luke Rickert · Apr 7, 2019

jz79 said:
looks good for the 1000lb capacity, but the bridge "ends" (the flats that the bridge is hanging in) looks very weak compared to the rest of the structure...

Clearly this is working around the low ceiling height. Not ideal but certainly strong enough. I say that with my calibrated engineer's eye

I wonder what safety factor the engineer used, definently a considerable one (at least 3). If I were doing a design with my "stamp" on it I would probably use a factor of 5 but for my own workshop that isn't necessary.

That crane looks good, if perhaps a bit overkill

I am also in the process of putting a bridge crane in my new workshop although as it is basically a new building built inside a very old one I have a bit more vertical space to work with and will use a more conventional design. The bottom of my I beams is 2.5m from the floor (so 8 feet). I am only designing for moderate weight stuff like the a Schaublin 13 universal table or the parts off my lathes. (so under 100kg) My thought process is that I either need 2 tonnes or 200kg capacity, anywhere in between is either not enough or overkill for my purposes and 2 tonnes capacity isn't practical for my building etc. A 8 tonne toe jack and a pallet jack will handle the heavy stuff just fine.

Luke

drcoelho · Apr 7, 2019

The structural engineering report I got for this crane is upwards of 30 pages long, very thorough. Along with the typical loading calculations, seismic calcs were done (I do live in San Francisco bay area = earthquakes).

cwilcox · Apr 7, 2019

drcoelho said:
What is the width of your hoist? I'm looking also at Harrington SHB010 which has amazing headroom of only 4.5" but trade-off is it is very wide at 21.5" thus losing side wall access. The link you provided above is showing width of approx 19".

Mine is 17.5" long (tip of roller to tip of roller) 17 to the outside of the steel uprights. Those uprights are built with swivels on each so it can run on curved monorails. In a home shop you could cut and weld and reduce it to somewhere from 10 to 12 inches I think. All safety notes apply, certified welder, load test etc etc.. The hook is offset and about 7.5" from one end of the 17.5" length.

My hook is 6-5/8" from underside of beam to lifting point when fully raised.

Those ultra low hoists are nice but like you said long and also expensive.

Swivel Truck Lowheadroom Hoist

Something like this is smaller than the Harrington but only starts at 1.5ton.
Lowheadroom Trolley Hoist

rwa2004 · Apr 7, 2019

The little I know about overhead cranes is that their capacity has little to do with the failure point (factor of safety) and most to do with their deflection. I think the capacity is limited by the amount of stored energy for when, not if a load is dropped.

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New Bridge Crane

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