What do you use for lifting heavy objects?

[pontiac428]

I am fond of those Pacemakers, very nice classic.

Sure, everybody loves a 10EE, but that Rivett is beauty, sophistication, and refinement all in one. You don't see them every day.

I take it the Famot was the one you bought for turning metric threads...

 

[tailstock4]

Machine jewelry. We need to start a thread and talk about those. Your restores and machine choices are absolutely best of the best. The Pacemaker and P and W trip my trigger even more than the Rivett and 10EE. Dave

I would enjoy any discussion on these or other machines. One of the things that fascinates me is the ability of forums or YouTube to promote some machines (deservedly so) while at times forgetting others. I think Pratt & Whitney while not forgotten may certainly be underappreciated.

 

[tailstock4]

Your first pictures is what I am looking to do with my engine hoist. I would like to make something I can unbolt from the current base and install on the counterbalance base and then back again when needed. Your description gives me some ideas on how to make it better, thank you!

I hope it helped. Be sure to post a picture of what you come up with.

 

[tailstock4]

I am fond of those Pacemakers, very nice classic.

Sure, everybody loves a 10EE, but that Rivett is beauty, sophistication, and refinement all in one. You don't see them every day.

I take it the Famot was the one you bought for turning metric threads...

I find the 10EE to be like a Porsche 911 – refined for decades and in the right hands very capable. The Rivett is more like a Pantera – beautiful and full of potential but lacking the refinement of the Monarch. But they are both first class tool room lathes. Hard to go wrong.

I did in part get the Famot for metric threading, although I do have metric change gears for the Pratt & Whitney. The Famot is made by the same company that makes Bison chucks. The quality is actually quite good. It has a number of things that I look for in a lathe of this size such as a weight of around 4,000 lbs., a clutch headstock, a headstock scraped to the v-ways, and isolation of the spindle from the gearing. The drive gears, clutch and brake are housed in the base there by reducing heat and vibration. It’s a very accurate machine and capable of finishes approaching the quality of the 10EE or Rivett though not as easy to achieve. This machine pleasantly surprised me in some of these respects.

 

[westerner]

For me, the HF 2 ton engine hoist has done terrific work

Yup. I used to have a larger one that did not fold up. The Horror Fright unit has done everything the old one did, at 1/4 the floorspace. 580 Super E does all the stuff heavier than that.

 

[Just for fun]

I’ve included some pictures of the small jib cranes I’ve built. The smaller one can lift 500-600 lbs. fully extended. The larger one can lift about 1,500 lbs. The larger one started out as an engine hoist, but little remains that hasn’t been modified or strengthened. One thing that I do recommend is that I used a hoist with a load brake and a large wheel which I made. This allows you to lift or lower a load without fiddling with a ratchet.

The yellow one also has a boom extension which is a hand wheel and an internal acme screw which means it can extend or retract the boom even when fully loaded. It has a 610 lb. counterweight which was a 3” chunk of steel I cut in half and welded together. It sits on a 1.5” thick piece of steel with a 1.5” back bulkhead.

The thing you have to be careful of is the more you design them to lift, the heavier they get and the harder they become to move. I’ve refined these two over many years and they seem to work well.

I also have a large gantry on tracks and a forklift. And even so, I find these two lifts very useful and versatile.

View attachment 429983 View attachment 429986 View attachment 429984 View attachment 429985 View attachment 429987

That small one looks pretty handy, how much weight is in the base to be able to lift 500 lbs?

 

[tailstock4]

That small one looks pretty handy, how much weight is in the base to be able to lift 500 lbs?

I'm not actually sure. The weight is taken on both of them with the booms fully extended and angled at their highest position. The weight of course goes down as the approach horizontal. I test them with a Castron electronic crane scales. I usually hook on to a work bench that weighs about 1,800 lbs. and see what I have. The little one has grown over the years. The box you see is a 45 kva step-up transformer. I estimate its weight to be close to 400 lbs. The square you see behind that is a main transformer out of 10EE modular machine which weighs about 150 lbs (a guess). The round is a 6" pipe filled with concrete. The base started out as a hydraulic table I made. The base is 1/2" plate. The top plate is 3/8" thick with 1/2" skirting around it. One of its best features is that it can go anywhere in the shop. It is steered by a tiller on the back.

The larger one has the advantage in that you can set a pallet on the legs, pick something up and retract the boom in and set it on the pallet.

 

[RWL]

I have yet to build this, but I have the parts. I picked up a winch from a boat trailer at a yard sale to use as the winding mechanism.

https://rick.sparber.org/mmct.pdf

For the moving the lathe and mill I have a Harbor Freight engine hoist. There's so little room in the shop now that it really isn't very useful, but if I have to lift a machine, it's the only thing available.
I have a 1000 lb Harbor Freight lift table [a Craigslist buy], but rarely use it because it takes forever to pump up.

 

[RWL]

You can also make your own wooden gantry. It's described in a discussion on lifting / moving a big shaper here:

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groups.io

I'm not sure if that link will open for everyone or not. I'm a member of the group, so I can see it, but it's worth joining just to read that thread on making a lifting horse / wooden gantry.

 

[tailstock4]

I have yet to build this, but I have the parts. I picked up a winch from a boat trailer at a yard sale to use as the winding mechanism.

https://rick.sparber.org/mmct.pdf

For the moving the lathe and mill I have a Harbor Freight engine hoist. There's so little room in the shop now that it really isn't very useful, but if I have to lift a machine, it's the only thing available.
I have a 1000 lb Harbor Freight lift table [a Craigslist buy], but rarely use it because it takes forever to pump up.

I suppose there are as many solutions to this as there are problems. For me the important thing is that these small lifts are designed to save my back. For that to become a reality they have to be easy to use and easy to deploy - no set up. Otherwise, when you are in a hurry, you just skip it.