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Small Mobile Shop Hoist

mrplasma

Aluminum
Joined
Sep 25, 2020
I got tired of straining my back picking up large vises, grinders, tool boxes, etc. and decided to fabricate a small hoist to do the heavy lifting for me.

The unit sits on locking casters, and is narrow and short enough to fit through a doorway. However, it is wide and tall enough to straddle a workbench to place a load. It uses a $125 110V electric hoist with a single line capacity of 440 lbs. and has a hand-held remote control.

It will fit around a 24" wide cart or dolly to load or remove items. Drill press sized equipment can be moved by lifting and placing it on struts laid across the bottom two frame tubes.

IMG_8988.jpgIMG_8989.jpgIMG_8992.jpgIMG_8990.jpg
 
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I like it. An ATV winch with a car battery and onboard charger would be neat - then it would be self-contained when in use and charging when not. They can be bought for similar money with higher capacity.
Looks like it might even fit over the end of a knee mill table for picking up vises, rotabs, etc.
Thanks for sharing.
 
If your shop is long and narrow, consider a bridge crane. When I was planning my little container based shop (after 4 years of shopless hell) I realized there would not be room to use even a basic engine hoist, but at ~8' width it would be very easy to incorporate a bridge crane.

bridge_crane.jpg

Top running, bottom of beam at 8', covers the full 40' length of the shop. Has 1T trolley and hoist currently, but it should be good for 2T if needed per the design and beam calc. Of course most of its use will be in the 200# range like the 10" tilting rotary table.
 
Looks handy, how much do you have in it for time and materials?
 
I probably have $300 and about 4 hours time in it. I had the casters on hand. I probably will add some diagonal bracing in the back. I tried to keep it simple enough to undo 8 bolts and disassemble it.

I don't intend to lift anything really heavy with it - maybe 250 lbs max. Casters and pulleys have a 550 lb capacity each.

No, Doug -- no plasma cut parts.
 
A Hoyer lift is a lightweight engine crane like patient lift often sold for cheap used.
Bill D.

but somehow...the OP's crane does not resemble a hoyer or engine lift in any way.....Which is a good thing.
 
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It seems to me that by using sufficiently heavier components, a more powerful hoist/winch, and a bit of reinforcement, this configuration could pick up almost anything it fit around. I'm tempted to build a heavier version, except that I don't need it.
 
I like it. An ATV winch with a car battery and onboard charger would be neat - then it would be self-contained when in use and charging when not. They can be bought for similar money with higher capacity.
Looks like it might even fit over the end of a knee mill table for picking up vises, rotabs, etc.
Thanks for sharing.

you can get the same type of winch in an AC version, so you don't have to worry about charging batteries.
Although , the battery does make it something you can load in the truck and take anywhere.

But with an inverter you can run an AC from the truck.
 
you can get the same type of winch in an AC version, so you don't have to worry about charging batteries.
Although , the battery does make it something you can load in the truck and take anywhere.

But with an inverter you can run an AC from the truck.

I only suggested a DC winch with a battery so you wouldn't be tethered by an extension cord while you were using it. Either way it's a handy tool.
 








 
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