What do you use for lifting heavy objects?

For equipment, this is really handy. Battery powered, will lift 3K pounds to 15 feet.

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In the shop, I have anchor points in the ceiling at strategic spots and use this Kito Chain Fall I ordered from Japan.

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Winegrower said:
Wow, Rabler is a hard act to follow! My hat’s off to you, amigo. :)
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Try not to follow! I think it is mostly in defiance of over 4 years of hormone deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. Without testosterone those cancer cells don’t reproduce but the muscles waste away awfully fast. I wasn’t going to let it stop me. Thankfully done as of Sept, slowly recovering strength and energy.
 
Ecosta777 said:
Just like the title says! What are you using in your shop for lifting heavy things like dividing heads, rotary tables, mill vises, etc...?

I recently found out I have a small hernia, but it's also been getting harder to man handle heavy tooling items as I get older. I am looking to keep the budget to under $300. So far I have only been looking at engine hoists, and electric ceiling hoists.

The engine hoist would be beneficial to me to move any heavy machinery if needed, but even a collapsible ones takes up a lot of space. And it seems like it would be hard to maneuver close to machines / excessive for just picking up a dividing head or rotary table. I can find a used 2 ton for about $200 pretty easily.

A 220lb cap. electric hoist is about $100 + whatever I need to make to install it. I was thinking either just a swing arm off the wall, or maybe a small mobile stand for it? The mobile stand would also take up space I don't necessarily have, but be more easily maneuverable than an engine hoist. The swing arm doesn't take up floor space and is easily moved out of the way. I am leaning more in this direction.

I was wondering if there's any other options I have overlooked, or if anyone else has installed one of these electric hoists in their shop?



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The thing about an engine hoist is that the boom does not extent past the legs. So, if you want to move a rotary table for instance you will have to straddle the mill. My shop is really full right now and using an engine hoist is out of the question. One of the hydraulic tables is a little inconvenient also but would work.

For me, I am gathering parts to put up a lightweight Jeb crane using a length of Uni-strut and a small 220lb electric hoist like you are thinking about. It doesn't need to lift a lot, my 8" rotary table I think would be the heaviest item. It's just that my back is not all in that good of shape, most of the time I can lift and move the table but there are times when I wouldn't be able to.
 
rabler said:
Try not to follow! I think it is mostly in defiance of over 4 years of hormone deprivation therapy for prostate cancer. Without testosterone those cancer cells don’t reproduce but the muscles waste away awfully fast. I wasn’t going to let it stop me. Thankfully done as of Sept, slowly recovering strength and energy.
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Great to hear that Rab . It took awhile for me to get back into the swing of things myself . My stomach lets me know when I'm doing too much , and then I back off . We have a lift limit of 50 lbs. at work ............................there's not a day in the week we're not lifting over 100 lbs . :eek:
 
I never knew that unistrut channel could be used to support a trolley with a load rating of a quarter ton. And it’s cheap!

Rick “putting stuff on his Amazon shopping list” Denney
 
I'm glad you asked!

I have a 2000lb engine hoist
5 ton gantry crane
27" wide and 16" wide pallet jacks
Motorcycle lift
2 (yes 2) Genie lifts - one for each hand!
... and am building a 400lb bridge crane in my shop

I prefer to avoid manhandling anything above 40 lbs these days: knees, hips, back, shoulders and one elbow are all far less than 100%. My wife thinks I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, but I think I am just wearing out. Might as well use it until you lose it!
 
rwdenney said:
I never knew that unistrut channel could be used to support a trolley with a load rating of a quarter ton. And it’s cheap!

Rick “putting stuff on his Amazon shopping list” Denney
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In a smaller shop, Unistrut can be fixed at every joist right near the walls all the way along. That would be a quarter ton on each side A cross beam can be a small section RSJ good for (say) a ton or so, factoring in some safety. It's a gantry crane safe to maybe 1/3 ton that I have speculated about building, but I do already have a 2-Ton engine crane that folds up and stacks away nice. It is awkward to use pushing it about on the floor, but so far, it has saved my back and been real handy, and didn't cost a bundle.
 
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