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this is on my short list. I don't suppose you could post pics of your pickup mount?
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How do you lift big stuff in your shop?
- Thread starter jpfabricator
- Start date
this is on my short list. I don't suppose you could post pics of your pickup mount?
Here's a video of it! It works very well for being such a cheap item.
[video=youtube;01L8IXHMtls]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01L8IXHMtls[/video]
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- Nov 5, 2010
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Braggart!
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- Feb 7, 2014
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- 90
Cherry picker but my mill only weighs 660 pounds.
The cherry picker is supposed to be able to lift 2 tons but that's with the boom all the way in which makes it pretty much useless. That close the legs are so close together you'd have to put anything heavy like that on a platform and then how are you going to move it off the platform?
I recently passed on a very old very big very heavy milling machine mostly because of the lack of ability to move it. That and it was three phase. I weighed out/calculated the cost of building a phase converter and then realized that to pick the mill up from it's location, load it on something that could handle it, transport it, unload it and then somehow move into place...just really wasn't feasable even if the mill was free. Which is wasn't. If the guy had said, just take it and give me 200 bucks I might have taken it. It's worth more than that in scrap and it works and has tooling. It was an old military machine. Just a monster! Huge bed! But it really didn't have much Z travel. I think if I could have fit an engine block between the table and head I would have found a way to get it.
The little mill I just picked up yesterday for 650 bucks will do pretty much whatever I'll need it to, move with a pick up and load/unload with a cherry picker. And plug into a 120v outlet. I couldn't beat that with a stick.
By far the coolest setups I've seen on this thread are the home made gantries. Not that they are the most sophisticated but because they're simple and cheap. If you own a business and have a highlow that's one thing. You need it anyway. I don't. I fix cars so I need to be able to move engines and automotive related equipment. Which reminds me, I just bought a brake lathe a couple of weeks ago and moved it with the cherry picker too. That thing was much heavier than it looked. Probably heavier than the mill.
Loved the old military wrecker by the way.
Wayne
The cherry picker is supposed to be able to lift 2 tons but that's with the boom all the way in which makes it pretty much useless. That close the legs are so close together you'd have to put anything heavy like that on a platform and then how are you going to move it off the platform?
I recently passed on a very old very big very heavy milling machine mostly because of the lack of ability to move it. That and it was three phase. I weighed out/calculated the cost of building a phase converter and then realized that to pick the mill up from it's location, load it on something that could handle it, transport it, unload it and then somehow move into place...just really wasn't feasable even if the mill was free. Which is wasn't. If the guy had said, just take it and give me 200 bucks I might have taken it. It's worth more than that in scrap and it works and has tooling. It was an old military machine. Just a monster! Huge bed! But it really didn't have much Z travel. I think if I could have fit an engine block between the table and head I would have found a way to get it.
The little mill I just picked up yesterday for 650 bucks will do pretty much whatever I'll need it to, move with a pick up and load/unload with a cherry picker. And plug into a 120v outlet. I couldn't beat that with a stick.
By far the coolest setups I've seen on this thread are the home made gantries. Not that they are the most sophisticated but because they're simple and cheap. If you own a business and have a highlow that's one thing. You need it anyway. I don't. I fix cars so I need to be able to move engines and automotive related equipment. Which reminds me, I just bought a brake lathe a couple of weeks ago and moved it with the cherry picker too. That thing was much heavier than it looked. Probably heavier than the mill.
Loved the old military wrecker by the way.
Wayne
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- Jan 22, 2011
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Before I slowed into semi-retirement, I kept a small forklift around for unloading and loading trucks, mostly material in bar form, or if it was a larger bar, I'd have the supplier do the saw work. Then it might come in on a pallet. Finished parts might be palletized, or once in a while, a single part would need to be crated. Forklift for all of that.
Now, the work I chose to do is small enough so that even when I buy a bar, it's either man-handle it, or possibly the supplier cuts in in half for me. And my volume is low, so I don't need to do anything on a pallet now.
When I bring in or remove a piece if equipment, I either do it the Egyptian way, if I have time and feel energetic, or bite the bullet and rent a lift. On the Mighty-Turn I brought in - the last machine- I loaded it at the source with a forklift, but when it was there, I put 4 x 6 runners under it, and winched it off the trailer, an auto-hauler, into the shop, and being creative out of necessity and stubbornness I used come-alongs and pipes to position it and jacks to get it back on the leveling feet.
Also in the shop, I have a shop built rolling gantry. It is a combined welded and bolted design, so it can be broken down if needed. I do have a problem with it though. When I had the shop built, I went with 8 foot walls. The gantry is about 8'2", and I have 96" fluorescent fixtures mounted to the bottom of the joist piece if the trusses. So....it will not even get close to clearing the truss bottom. Fortunately, the trusses are 10 feet apart, so I chose a "bay" and have the gantry within it. Of course, I can't get above all of the machines, but I can cover the Acer 17 x 60 lathe (primary lathe), the BP clone, and the Zayer No. 3 universal mill. It's also situated and clear to bring in a car or truck in for engine pulling. I can also back a trailer in to unload "stuff" if it is within the capacity of the gantry. I have lifted a bit over a ton with it many times. I can pick up my clone no problem. I brought in a 6 x 12 surface grinder....unloaded it easily. Although I can roll it over the Zayer, I believe it's weight is in the area of 4500 lbs, so can't pick it. I can load and unload heavier parts, or rotary table, dividing head, vise, etc on it though.
I have a light duty gib crane where I did have a bandsaw, and a 500 lb electric hoist in it. It's more or less over the Mighty-Turn, but I really don't like it. It's not what I call secure, and I never plan on using it. It will be removed in favor of something heavier. The M-T is capable of heavier work, so I want to be able to put a 750 lb piece of material in it if I want to.
Now, the work I chose to do is small enough so that even when I buy a bar, it's either man-handle it, or possibly the supplier cuts in in half for me. And my volume is low, so I don't need to do anything on a pallet now.
When I bring in or remove a piece if equipment, I either do it the Egyptian way, if I have time and feel energetic, or bite the bullet and rent a lift. On the Mighty-Turn I brought in - the last machine- I loaded it at the source with a forklift, but when it was there, I put 4 x 6 runners under it, and winched it off the trailer, an auto-hauler, into the shop, and being creative out of necessity and stubbornness I used come-alongs and pipes to position it and jacks to get it back on the leveling feet.
Also in the shop, I have a shop built rolling gantry. It is a combined welded and bolted design, so it can be broken down if needed. I do have a problem with it though. When I had the shop built, I went with 8 foot walls. The gantry is about 8'2", and I have 96" fluorescent fixtures mounted to the bottom of the joist piece if the trusses. So....it will not even get close to clearing the truss bottom. Fortunately, the trusses are 10 feet apart, so I chose a "bay" and have the gantry within it. Of course, I can't get above all of the machines, but I can cover the Acer 17 x 60 lathe (primary lathe), the BP clone, and the Zayer No. 3 universal mill. It's also situated and clear to bring in a car or truck in for engine pulling. I can also back a trailer in to unload "stuff" if it is within the capacity of the gantry. I have lifted a bit over a ton with it many times. I can pick up my clone no problem. I brought in a 6 x 12 surface grinder....unloaded it easily. Although I can roll it over the Zayer, I believe it's weight is in the area of 4500 lbs, so can't pick it. I can load and unload heavier parts, or rotary table, dividing head, vise, etc on it though.
I have a light duty gib crane where I did have a bandsaw, and a 500 lb electric hoist in it. It's more or less over the Mighty-Turn, but I really don't like it. It's not what I call secure, and I never plan on using it. It will be removed in favor of something heavier. The M-T is capable of heavier work, so I want to be able to put a 750 lb piece of material in it if I want to.
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2015
- Messages
- 291
Currently use an engine hoist and bribe the 16 yr old son.
Been looking at a project though. Many of the U PULL IT type wrecking yards have hoists that are double A frame with a beam across. They use old hubs off the back of front drive cars for wheel mounts and run emergency doughnut spares for tires. Couple things I would change is give it the ability to be jacked up higher via long reach (engine hoist style) on the ends to raise the cross bar and then pin it. Run feet that were 1 inch from the ground so when the weight was too much for the tires the feet would sit down and allow the lift to happen. And that would save you if a tire failed or hub weld failed. Some sort of steering on one end. Maybe use front hub assemblies and a center link steering. Other thing is I would use an I beam and trolley with pin lock holes to locate the trolley.
Point is that if you have nothing, the sky's the limit, only thing stopping you is a bit of imagination and funding.
Been looking at a project though. Many of the U PULL IT type wrecking yards have hoists that are double A frame with a beam across. They use old hubs off the back of front drive cars for wheel mounts and run emergency doughnut spares for tires. Couple things I would change is give it the ability to be jacked up higher via long reach (engine hoist style) on the ends to raise the cross bar and then pin it. Run feet that were 1 inch from the ground so when the weight was too much for the tires the feet would sit down and allow the lift to happen. And that would save you if a tire failed or hub weld failed. Some sort of steering on one end. Maybe use front hub assemblies and a center link steering. Other thing is I would use an I beam and trolley with pin lock holes to locate the trolley.
Point is that if you have nothing, the sky's the limit, only thing stopping you is a bit of imagination and funding.
T
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depends on how high you need to list it....
