Hi-
How are you? My name is Jerry. I would like to introduce myself and my upcoming project on the practical machinist forum. First thing's first. I am impressed by the technical content y'all have here regarding machinist related topics! Although not a machinist myself, I do some light fabrication and so a quick read of a few threads has been educational. Thanks. So who am I then? Well by day I sling software for a living. However my hobbies trend toward automotive based projects. On occasion therein I find the need to lift stuff. Heavy stuff, well "heavy" in this context anyway. Probably not so heavy in the machinist's world. Anyway, I'm getting off in the weeds a bit here, as I tend to do sometimes. The point being that my outbuilding isn't tall enough for a lift and the doors are neither tall nor wide enough to pull my trucks inside of it to boot, so I decided that I should just build a gantry crane. And actually I didn't even know the proper name for a gantry when the idea struck me. I think I referred to it as "that lifting mechanism ... you know, the one that they have in manufacturing shops and ship yards ... yeah that thing." And having made that admission, I can hear y'all now: "oh boy, here we go again!"
But rest assured, I took my time, did some research and thought things through rather carefully. My guesstimate was that I spent about 2 months in that process. Ok fine, so why am I here on Practical Machinist bothering y'all? It is that research that brought me here actually. I found more technical information regarding gantry cranes and their construction (as well as other information) on this forum in one "concentrated" area than I did anywhere else on the Internet. Believe it or not. Do a Google and see what you turn up if you are skeptical. And I particularly enjoyed the one thread that illustrated several poorly designed and/or executed gantry builds ... now that was funny! That was a good read.
And in case you were wondering, yes, there was a particular, specific event/task that led to my decision to build a gantry. I have a 2000 F-350 DRW and my current endeavor is to rust proof its frame. To do that right you gotta lift the cab. And how are you gonna do that exactly without a lift, no access to one, no space for one and limited time? My solution was a gantry build. I have other projects that I'd like to get to at some point in the future that also will require heavy lifting, I enjoy metal fabrication as a secondary hobby and so for these reasons a gantry seemed like the right solution. For me anyway.
All that said, I decided that as a thank you to both the Practical Machinist forum and its members for the research data that I obtained here that I would share my build experience as its own thread in your General forum category, which is where I found the bulk of gantry-related threads. I realize that it'll be old-hat for most, but my primary objective is to provide a detailed build delineation so that others who might seek such information in the future can have yet one more build data point to reference. Ergo, I'd like to help by passing on what I have learned, even though I consider myself a novice at the whole gantry thing.
So. That's the background. That's why I am here. I hope it's ok with all of y'all to create such a thread. Again, my intent is to help, that is it.
"Yeah sure, sure, what precisely are you building?" you might ask. Well the first and foremost element regarding this process that I gleaned at the very outset of my research was to find an existing gantry design that you like and copy it. Ergo build that. Sage advice I thought, so I proceeded along that route. I found a gantry build that appealed to me...it was an inverted-T design, 2-ton, 4000 lb crane that was constructed by folk out on the left coast. Cal Poly IIRC...yeah that was it. For reference, this is a link to that summary report, for however long the link remains valid naturally. My suspicion is that many of you are likely familiar with it, but who knows. That said, I also decided that I wanted a telescoping crane - and I first learned of that concept on THIS forum BTW - so in the end the aforementioned build was only the straw man of what I wanted to do. Still, the basic concept was the same, just telescoping. Ok so that makes it quite different, yes I realize that. I did find plans for a telescoping crane here, BTW. Although the telescoping aspect of this design was what I was searching for, essentially, I decided that I didn't like some aspects of this design, primarily the materials list. Nope, my crane will be a son of these two fathers. Admittedly, by not replicating a design in a precise manner, I kinda feel like I eschewed the very advice (as stated above) that I garnered an appreciation for so early on. However, I want what I want and so I plan to continue down this road. In the end, my device will look a bit like both of these, yet distinct in its own right. Still, I feel that what I've decided on is similar enough that safety won't be a huge concern for me - in the sense of building something from scratch without reference to any existing designs. I definitely didn't want to do that. In the end, I surfaced "somewhere in the middle" and I'm ok with that; this is my meaning, I hope it is at least somewhat understandable.
"Hmmmmmmmm...so how does yours vary" I am certain a few of you are thinking, assuming you are still reading this novel. Well, in microcosm, I chose 1/4" wall thickness for my legs and supports, whereas both of the above designs used 3/16". I just liked the idea of a little extra heft that the slightly-more thickness yields. Also, both of those designs used I-beams for either the leg gussets or the legs themselves. I wasn't a fan of that - for whatever reason - and chose to just use the 5x5x1/4 SST for most all of the support components: the uprights (verticals), the legs and the gussets. Just for the sake of completion, a few more details regarding my design choices:
1) I'll use 4x4x1/4 with 3/16" flat bar welded to the sides for the telescoping portion
2) Then I'll use 4x4x1/4 again for the beam gussets. Both the top of the 4x4x1/4 verticals and their gussets will have 1/2" plate welded to them and that plate will bolt to the bottom of the I-beam
3) I chose a W10x30 I-beam at 15' length, though I plan to use it at the 10' mark most of the time. I went with the W-beam and the 15' in length primarily because the local steel supplier had that lying around and made me a hell of a deal on it. My research indicates that a W-beam should be ok for a gantry build, though I noticed that most are S-beams. Does anyone have any feedback on that issue?
4) I'll use large, heavy-duty casters for the mobility and am considering the quad approach that was illustrated on THIS forum, though I can't find the thread to link in for the life of me...
5) I do plan on making the width adjustable, though with "set positions" so that the supports (verticals) are bolted in place when the time comes to actually use the crane.
6) I'm toying with the notion of making the gantry crane a one-man configuration and teardown affair, but we'll see where that goes.
And that's it for now. Whew! Thank you for reading the long initial post. My progress will be steady, albeit rather slow due to family duties, which always come first. I have a 3-year old son who likes to be around daddy and sometimes he just wants to play with the frogs, so...I put my tools down and play with the frogs.
The steel was delivered this morning, BTW, which is why I decided to post today. Now that the actual material is here, the project feels like it has some momentum! Yeah. I'll enjoy that illusion while it lasts. A picture of what was delivered is attached. Somehow pictures in build threads just make things seem more real, more tangible than just a bunch of text, so I'm including one. I had to rent a forklift to offload that stuff, as the I-beam weighs ~450 lbs on its own.
Ok I'm gonna stop typing now. Thanks again!
Jerry
How are you? My name is Jerry. I would like to introduce myself and my upcoming project on the practical machinist forum. First thing's first. I am impressed by the technical content y'all have here regarding machinist related topics! Although not a machinist myself, I do some light fabrication and so a quick read of a few threads has been educational. Thanks. So who am I then? Well by day I sling software for a living. However my hobbies trend toward automotive based projects. On occasion therein I find the need to lift stuff. Heavy stuff, well "heavy" in this context anyway. Probably not so heavy in the machinist's world. Anyway, I'm getting off in the weeds a bit here, as I tend to do sometimes. The point being that my outbuilding isn't tall enough for a lift and the doors are neither tall nor wide enough to pull my trucks inside of it to boot, so I decided that I should just build a gantry crane. And actually I didn't even know the proper name for a gantry when the idea struck me. I think I referred to it as "that lifting mechanism ... you know, the one that they have in manufacturing shops and ship yards ... yeah that thing." And having made that admission, I can hear y'all now: "oh boy, here we go again!"
But rest assured, I took my time, did some research and thought things through rather carefully. My guesstimate was that I spent about 2 months in that process. Ok fine, so why am I here on Practical Machinist bothering y'all? It is that research that brought me here actually. I found more technical information regarding gantry cranes and their construction (as well as other information) on this forum in one "concentrated" area than I did anywhere else on the Internet. Believe it or not. Do a Google and see what you turn up if you are skeptical. And I particularly enjoyed the one thread that illustrated several poorly designed and/or executed gantry builds ... now that was funny! That was a good read.
And in case you were wondering, yes, there was a particular, specific event/task that led to my decision to build a gantry. I have a 2000 F-350 DRW and my current endeavor is to rust proof its frame. To do that right you gotta lift the cab. And how are you gonna do that exactly without a lift, no access to one, no space for one and limited time? My solution was a gantry build. I have other projects that I'd like to get to at some point in the future that also will require heavy lifting, I enjoy metal fabrication as a secondary hobby and so for these reasons a gantry seemed like the right solution. For me anyway.
All that said, I decided that as a thank you to both the Practical Machinist forum and its members for the research data that I obtained here that I would share my build experience as its own thread in your General forum category, which is where I found the bulk of gantry-related threads. I realize that it'll be old-hat for most, but my primary objective is to provide a detailed build delineation so that others who might seek such information in the future can have yet one more build data point to reference. Ergo, I'd like to help by passing on what I have learned, even though I consider myself a novice at the whole gantry thing.
So. That's the background. That's why I am here. I hope it's ok with all of y'all to create such a thread. Again, my intent is to help, that is it.
"Yeah sure, sure, what precisely are you building?" you might ask. Well the first and foremost element regarding this process that I gleaned at the very outset of my research was to find an existing gantry design that you like and copy it. Ergo build that. Sage advice I thought, so I proceeded along that route. I found a gantry build that appealed to me...it was an inverted-T design, 2-ton, 4000 lb crane that was constructed by folk out on the left coast. Cal Poly IIRC...yeah that was it. For reference, this is a link to that summary report, for however long the link remains valid naturally. My suspicion is that many of you are likely familiar with it, but who knows. That said, I also decided that I wanted a telescoping crane - and I first learned of that concept on THIS forum BTW - so in the end the aforementioned build was only the straw man of what I wanted to do. Still, the basic concept was the same, just telescoping. Ok so that makes it quite different, yes I realize that. I did find plans for a telescoping crane here, BTW. Although the telescoping aspect of this design was what I was searching for, essentially, I decided that I didn't like some aspects of this design, primarily the materials list. Nope, my crane will be a son of these two fathers. Admittedly, by not replicating a design in a precise manner, I kinda feel like I eschewed the very advice (as stated above) that I garnered an appreciation for so early on. However, I want what I want and so I plan to continue down this road. In the end, my device will look a bit like both of these, yet distinct in its own right. Still, I feel that what I've decided on is similar enough that safety won't be a huge concern for me - in the sense of building something from scratch without reference to any existing designs. I definitely didn't want to do that. In the end, I surfaced "somewhere in the middle" and I'm ok with that; this is my meaning, I hope it is at least somewhat understandable.
"Hmmmmmmmm...so how does yours vary" I am certain a few of you are thinking, assuming you are still reading this novel. Well, in microcosm, I chose 1/4" wall thickness for my legs and supports, whereas both of the above designs used 3/16". I just liked the idea of a little extra heft that the slightly-more thickness yields. Also, both of those designs used I-beams for either the leg gussets or the legs themselves. I wasn't a fan of that - for whatever reason - and chose to just use the 5x5x1/4 SST for most all of the support components: the uprights (verticals), the legs and the gussets. Just for the sake of completion, a few more details regarding my design choices:
1) I'll use 4x4x1/4 with 3/16" flat bar welded to the sides for the telescoping portion
2) Then I'll use 4x4x1/4 again for the beam gussets. Both the top of the 4x4x1/4 verticals and their gussets will have 1/2" plate welded to them and that plate will bolt to the bottom of the I-beam
3) I chose a W10x30 I-beam at 15' length, though I plan to use it at the 10' mark most of the time. I went with the W-beam and the 15' in length primarily because the local steel supplier had that lying around and made me a hell of a deal on it. My research indicates that a W-beam should be ok for a gantry build, though I noticed that most are S-beams. Does anyone have any feedback on that issue?
4) I'll use large, heavy-duty casters for the mobility and am considering the quad approach that was illustrated on THIS forum, though I can't find the thread to link in for the life of me...
5) I do plan on making the width adjustable, though with "set positions" so that the supports (verticals) are bolted in place when the time comes to actually use the crane.
6) I'm toying with the notion of making the gantry crane a one-man configuration and teardown affair, but we'll see where that goes.
And that's it for now. Whew! Thank you for reading the long initial post. My progress will be steady, albeit rather slow due to family duties, which always come first. I have a 3-year old son who likes to be around daddy and sometimes he just wants to play with the frogs, so...I put my tools down and play with the frogs.
The steel was delivered this morning, BTW, which is why I decided to post today. Now that the actual material is here, the project feels like it has some momentum! Yeah. I'll enjoy that illusion while it lasts. A picture of what was delivered is attached. Somehow pictures in build threads just make things seem more real, more tangible than just a bunch of text, so I'm including one. I had to rent a forklift to offload that stuff, as the I-beam weighs ~450 lbs on its own.
Ok I'm gonna stop typing now. Thanks again!
Jerry