Gantry Crane

[Boswell]

One section of my shop is a little over 600 sq ft with a 17' ceiling. As I am starting to do more with steel and have borrowed a friend engine lift to help move things around but this is awkward. I have been looking at a gantry crane like this one. Gantry Crane. I would add a manual chain hoist. I feel I have plenty of room and it sure would be helpful for moving heavy stuff around and unloading stuff from the truck.

I would like to here what other peoples experiences are with gantry cranes

 

[benmychree]

I had a shop built gantry crane in my shop; found it akward to use, mostly used it over a 30" lathe, much better was a 360 degree jib crane that I built under one of the roof trusses and braced with rods with turnbuckles to the two adjacent truss corners, it worked quite well, it had a reach that was nearly right up to the corners of the truss that it was underneath, it pivoted on a plate anchored to the floor with a large tapered roller bearing and a 2" dia. plain bronze bearing at the top.

 

[samstu]

I have one ,I've used it sparingly, it lacks wheels and I have a tractor with a front end loader and a engine hoist.

A friend has one he uses all the time which has wheels and his shop is over 10.000 square feet, so he has a place to store it. Wheels are nice but it's a two man job and slow. He also has an electric hoist on his.

An electric hoist hoist is very helpful so you aren't moving crane around when pulling on chain hoist to lift load. An electric hoist also allows for separation between you and load in case of failure.

Note, ratings on cranes, etc have changed. It used to be they had to be tested at something greater than rating (maybe 150%), now they only have to prove to hold rated weight. An then there's the whole china quality thing.....

Depending on your situation, an electic forklift might be the right answer, especially the walk behind type. Used examples are often competitive to crane and hoist.

 

[rwm]

I have that exact gantry crane. I find it to be reasonably well built. I have a CM chainfall hoist. I use it primarily to load and unload a trailer and it is excellent for that purpose. I find it safer to raise the load and then back the trailer under it rather than move the gantry when loaded. I guess it depends on the load.
Robert

 

[C-Bag]

I’ve used gantry cranes and they work good for unloading but are cumbersome like samstu said if you are trying to move something. Like he also mentions if it were me and one came up I’d find an electric walk behind forklift. I liked the one we had at my last job better than a regular forklift because it could get in super tight places and pick up a lot. There has be a couple around here for around $1,000 and while that more than the gantry it would take up less space and you can move stuff by yourself which is almost impossible with an gantry even with wheels. YMMV.

 

[BGHansen]

I have a Harbor Freight 1-ton with a 2-ton trolley and chain fall. Don't use it a lot but it sure comes in handy when I do! I ran a string over the top beam with no load, then picked up my BP at a touch over a ton. Had maybe 1/8" deflection in the middle. Have had no issues with mine.

Bruce

 

[Buffalo21]

Note, ratings on cranes, etc have changed. It used to be they had to be tested at something greater than rating (maybe 150%), now they only have to prove to hold rated weight. An then there's the whole china quality thing.....

I have friends that work in lift/crane manufacturing, they say the standards are going up, a much stricter procedures for the certification process.

 

[gr8legs]

The one from Northern Tool is supposedly a 4,000 pound rated unit and if you need that much capacity then it's probably the best route.

However, Freight Harbors is a 2,000# rated unit that is a tiny bit wider and much cheaper when you consider the freight charge and the usual 20% coupon. Wider is better for truck/trailer unloading, etc.

They are usually in-stock at local HF stores. (no freight)

Do some shopping and budgeting and see which is right for you.

Similar stuff also often shows up on your local craigslist at good prices.

YMMV

Stu

 

[Boswell]

Thanks everyone for you feedback and Ideas. I have been watching craigslist for awhile and not seen anything that I can use. Usually too big.
I was I liked the 4000lb model because the height adjustment process looked easy and could be done by myself. Also I tend to fall into the "if its worth doing, it worth overdoing" . the one I linked to with freight, trolly, chain hoist and tax would be around $1200. I'll take a look at the harbor fright model. there is harbor freight outlet just a few miles from my shop.

 

[Bi11Hudson]

Looking at the advert, I would trust such a hoist to load maybe 250 pounds. It may have been tested for the advertised load doing a static dead lift. Moving the trolley along the strongback exceeds that.

Hoisting equipment needs at least a 5:1 safety margin. For "general" shop use, a factor of 10:1 is more appropriate. If you need such a lift, I'd say build one. A mobile home "I" beam put together with pop rivets would be stronger than that.

I'm feeling particularly "salty" this AM. Hoisting equipment is no joke, There should be a serious safety margin for anything that gets lifted off the ground by even an inch. OSHA has a standard that one doesn't walk under a lift. My perspective is even tighter than their's.

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