Building a Gantry Crane

Glenn Brooks

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iam planning on building a 2 ton gantry crane for my RR shop, similar to the one in the photos below. It won't be real tall, maybe 8'-9' to the top of the beam.

My big question is how long should the cross beams be, at the bottom, where the casters mount?? Is there an optimum formula for the length of the cross beams - for stability?? If no rule of thumb, what length of footing do you recommend?

I wish I had taken some measurements when I visited this roundhouse, but didn't think about it at the time, Of course..!

IMG_3230.JPG IMG_3017.JPG IMG_3011.JPG

Thanks
Glenn
 
You can just grab the ratio of height to width of the base from your pics. Of course it's a guestamation but should be good enough
 
Gantry crane is a back saver, i've made 3 till now and for the cross beams at the bottom, where the casters mount i've used from 80 to 120 centimeters depending on the hight, and how top heavy it is, the secret to a good gantry crane is its wheels, bigger they are easier to roll on uneven floor, forget about plastic wheels they break no matter the weight rating, i've made my own steel wheels on the lathe, simply cut, face, drill and you done, 100-140 mm diameter.
 
An I or H is the traditional build.
I didn't have a trolley for my first gantry build. However, I had multiple rugidized solid rubber wheels. They came out of industry somewhere.
I chose to use thick wall box tube for the construction, grade 8 bolts as wheel axles, a large extra shackle from which to hang the chain fall, and hot rolled plates for the sides.

Daryl
MN
 
Something not often seen but could be helpful is a cable system linked to a crank on the side that controls where the hoist trolly is.

Turn crank and trolly moves

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk
 
Glen, that is one heck of a diesel electric train engine you have there. What is it, quarter scale of the real size one?

Back at the old family homestead, we had a gantry crane dad built that had two uprights made of 3" square tubing with .250" wall. Base was also the same square tubing. On top was a piece of 8"H beam, don't remember the weight of the beam. He found some steel rollers about 8-10" in diameter welded to the bottom of the 3" square tubing. We had a 2 ton chain fall we used on it. I will say, we picked up two 3200 lb milling machines with it over the years and not once have any issues with it. I wished I kept it too!
 
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I built one using a design that one of my friends who is a mechanical engineer did while working for a shop that did fabrication. It used 5" channel leg down with plates welded on the downward side to mount the casters, it did not use support columns directly under the upper beam that the trolley runs on, but 2" pipe forming an "A" shape from the end and welded onto a plate on the top that was in turn bolted to the "I" beam and were welded onto the 5" channel at the bottom. for lateral stability, a small channel was bolted onto and crossways to the "I" beam about 24" inward from each end; to these, another pair of 2" pipes were welded to the small channel and to the larger bottom channel, just inboard of the first two pipes mentioned; An advantage to this construction is that it leaves the side open for access, and also the whole thing can be disassembled to be moved, if necessary. We used casters about 4 or 5" diameter with cast iron wheels. I have a D size blueprint of it, and could get it reproduced and sent at nominal cost if anyone is interested in the details.
 
Glen, that is one heck of a diesel electric train engine you have there. What is it, quarter scale of the real size one?

Back at the old family homestead, we had a gantry crane dad built that had two uprights made of 3" square tubing with .250" wall. Base was also the same square tubing. On top was a piece of 8"H beam, don't remember the weight of the beam. He found some steel rollers about 8-10" in diameter welded to the bottom of the 3" square tubing. We had a 2 ton chain fall we used on it. I will say, we picked up two 3200 lb milling machines with it over the years and not once have any issues with it. I wished I kept it too!

I don't think that's Glen's engine. I have seen in pics his steamers. I think that's just where he took some measurements, but yea, it's impressive.

Glen scale the upright, if it's a 6" upright, figure out the scale, then measure the base, and apply the scale to figure out it's real length.. it should be close.
 
The most usefull indoor gantry crane I've ever seen is the one Keith Fenner built for his crowded shop. He's able to steer it all around and over his machines. The uprights swivel at the top . Get the trolley with the roller option not much more to by but so much easier then yanking the thing around. Some of his YouTube's he shows his crane.
 
I don't think that's Glen's engine. I have seen in pics his steamers. I think that's just where he took some measurements, but yea, it's impressive....................................
Yeah, I realized that after I posted. Still impressive! Thanks.
 
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