Unistrut "overhead crane"........anyone use it?

david n · May 19, 2021

I want to hang some unistrut over a machine to lift the 4th axis on/off the machine. (And before all you safety nazis chime in, I'm only lifting around 100lbs and I will be the only one doing the lifting.) There are trolleys that fit right inside of the unistrut channel. I'm thinking of two rails and one cross beam to make my "crane". I'll go up in the attic and put a strap up/over the bottom web of a rafter. Anyone use these little trolleys for a similar application?

Phil in Montana · May 19, 2021

I would go to a good hardware store and by a sliding garage door kit, the trolleys are a lot better, and would hold 500lbs real easy...Phil

SIP6A · May 19, 2021

I have been working on this very problem. I am going to use the 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 for the rails and the double 1 5/8 x 1 5/8 for the beam. The rails are going to be tied into the 2x6 ceiling joists evey 16" should handel #500 easely.

david n · May 19, 2021

Phil in Montana said:
I would go to a good hardware store and by a sliding garage door kit, the trolleys are a lot better, and would hold 500lbs real easy...Phil

Yeah I was think of that too...........pole barn sliding door hardware..................

Rob F. · May 19, 2021

Rolling door hardware will eat up a little more headroom than the 1 5/8 strut will. Strut is also thicker metal than the box track. The common box track rollers from national have a capacity of 225 lbs per roller so 2 rollers will do a 450 lb door. These are the standard double rollers with 4 wheels each.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/National-Hardware-Zinc-Box-Rail-Hangers-5005-BOX-RAIL-H/206653373

I would go with strut if the rollers will hold the weight. There also is double tall strut....

MilGunsmith · May 19, 2021

Tractor Supply has the sliding door track and trolleys in stock.

david n · May 19, 2021

The more I look at my set up, I may just do a wall mount jib. :scratchchin:

The machine is close to the wall so I only need about a 48" arm. It really doesn't even need to swing. I can jog the mill table under the hoist, lift, slide to the wall, set 'er down.....................................just a braced arm. I have some 2x2x1/4 tube lying around. I can mount the unistrut under the arm......................

BobH · May 19, 2021

I use the 4 wheel trolleys on the double depth strut fastened 16"oc through the back with a 1/4 ton chain fall and I've maxed it out plenty of times. A couple of hundred pounds is no problem.

boslab · May 19, 2021

You can get overhead catenary trolleys for unistrut, with the overhead clamp things the heavy strut can carry a reasonable load, it’s not meant for lifting but with sufficient trolley wheels in the channel it’s great for tool positioned, catenary cables (obviously) sliding guards, gates and all sorts, it is pricey compared to a fabricated as the fittings add up quick, I like the stainless myself
Mark

metalmagpie · May 19, 2021

I made an overhead lifting structure from strut. One problem was that the strut itself is not manufactured to tight tolerances. Nor are the lengths necessarily straight. But I managed to make it work and have used it for over 15 years. I used 608 skate bearings and 8mm rod to make my rolling elements rather than buy.

drcoelho · May 19, 2021

I use the unistrut trolley system in my shop. Unistrut has some very detailed calculations in their catalog for determining capacity of the unistrut and also of the trolley. For 100 lbs, if you follow the calculations that unistrut provides, you should be fine. Make sure to get the heavy duty (highest rated) trolleys.

Kyle Smith · May 19, 2021

This track and trolley system works pretty well. It's nice for pole barn doors and kids playground zip lines, I'd imagine it would work well for your 4th axis.

McMaster-Carr

DDoug · May 19, 2021

Kyle Smith said:
This track and trolley system works pretty well. It's nice for pole barn doors and kids playground zip lines, I'd imagine it would work well for your 4th axis.

McMaster-Carr

That's know as "CannonBall track" in the pole barn world.

kb0thn · May 19, 2021

I used to install 1-5/8 12 gauge strut above / in front of fixed battery banks I serviced. This trolley:
McMaster-Carr
(interesting. McMaster used to rate these as 600 lbs and now they rate them at 500 lbs)

I was pretty gentle about how I used it to remove the 300 lb cells. But one time I watched my customer attach the cell and just yank it out and let the chain hoist attached to the trolley "catch" it. Huge shock loads doing that. Strut was fine.

I've also stich welded strut to tubing and made slightly heavier duty variants.

My goto these days for a light duty monorail is some S4x7.7 beam and a Jervis Webb trolley:
Beam Trolley 3/4 Ton | Heavy Duty for I-Beam Systems

BuffDan · May 19, 2021

I used unistrut and trolley for my lathe chucks. I remove chuck from the lathe, roll over to a storage cart, then change chucks as needed. Solid, works great.
Bought the unistrut locally and the trolley from Amazon

Shaybuilder · May 19, 2021

I have 2 overhead Uni-strut rail systems over several of my mills and it works great with no problem. I have one rail over my Deckel copy for switching the universal table and fixed table which are at least 200 pounds each or more. I fastened the rail with the hangers they make for a rail system on my rafter 24" centers and have an electric hoist on each one. I bought the Uni-strut channel from the local electrical distributor but had to buy the rest of the components from McMaster Carr. Uni-strut provides calculations for their components.

DDoug · May 20, 2021

I hung 2 runs of it in the weld shop, hang my wire feeders from them.

Hightemp · May 20, 2021

built a 12' X 8' sliding wall using double height unistrut and 4 wheel sets from McMaster. Worked great.

country_boy · May 25, 2021

McMaster had 5000# door track.

Not familiar with using the upstrut rollers for significant weight, but trolled are available for several hundred LBs. The data is readially available out there on the strut as a structural support. 100 lbs is nothing if your lengths are reasonable. If the bridge is wide enough, you can get double thickness deep strut- it’s about 4x as strong.

david n · May 29, 2021

It's up..................works perfect.

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Unistrut "overhead crane"........anyone use it?

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