What do you use for lifting heavy objects?

[Beckerkumm]

I start out a project with the intention of taking pictures and fully explaining the process but that lasts as long s my attention span and soon I'm twelve steps along before remembering to document any useful information. Yours are a million times better. Dave

 

[Cheeseking]

Couple ideas for those of us (like myself) that don’t have separate shops or garage space available and opted to set up in a basement, consider possibly using the I-beam/s. Granted not all homes have steel I beams or deep enough foundations to be useful. In my case I had a couple 6x10 steel beams in the shop to take advantage of. Between the various chain fall hoists, a folding engine crane and putting things on wheels I’ve been able to single handed move and re-assemble a BP, lathe, surface grinder etc.
Made an eye bolt plate with thread rods slung over some pallet rack uprights that I use when the I beam travel isn’t convenient. Not lifting more than 500lb so I’m sure there’s not a strength issue.

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[Harry Knutz]

Gantry I built for a lathe and mill I bought just for the tooling that came with them, Sold what I didn't need. Beam was not long enough, Extended the beam. I have a trailer hitch that spans the legs and use a chain on each side to stiffen it enough to move around the yard. A guy came from Montana to purchase this "Lagun Mill" that was barely used by a deceased Hobbyist. I did wind up parting out my old South Bend 13 and keeping the Shenwai, I have seen people bash these little lathes, But They most likely never owned one of these Taiwan made little lathes that make accurate parts, I have thoroughly enjoyed the lathe.

The gantry is wide enough to pull a Car trailer between it. My guesstimation is "4000" Pounds.

I also have this old Military crane trailer with a Yanmar diesel engine and a hydraulic winch, this Thing is surprising what it will lift, And I have an old diesel tractor with forks on it. And a 2 ton Cherry Picker.

 

[Charles scozzari]

Gantry I built for a lathe and mill I bought just for the tooling that came with them, Sold what I didn't need. Beam was not long enough, Extended the beam. I have a trailer hitch that spans the legs and use a chain on each side to stiffen it enough to move around the yard. A guy came from Montana to purchase this "Lagun Mill" that was barely used by a deceased Hobbyist. I did wind up parting out my old South Bend 13 and keeping the Shenwai, I have seen people bash these little lathes, But They most likely never owned one of these Taiwan made little lathes that make accurate parts, I have thoroughly enjoyed the lathe.

The gantry is wide enough to pull a Car trailer between it. My guesstimation is "4000" Pounds.

I also have this old Military crane trailer with a Yanmar diesel engine and a hydraulic winch, this Thing is surprising what it will lift, And I have an old diesel tractor with forks on it. And a 2 ton Cherry Picker.

Great design with gusseting for no problem lifting. I think you can go more then 2 tons.

 

[Dabbler]

Here is my 5 ton gantry crane. This is a picture of the short main beam, which gives it a 5 ton 6 foot wide format for indoor use. The other beam is 11 feet 8 inches wide and also 5 ton capacity for rolling a trailer underneath in outdoor use.

 

[Charles scozzari]

Here is my 5 ton gantry crane. This is a picture of the short main beam, which gives it a 5 ton 6 foot wide format for indoor use. The other beam is 11 feet 8 inches wide and also 5 ton capacity for rolling a trailer underneath in outdoor use.

View attachment 430658

WOW, that'll hold the crack of daylight

 

[Harry Knutz]

Great design with gusseting for no problem lifting. I think you can go more then 2 tons.

Thank you! I imposed my own limit, I doubt I will get anything over 4000# for my little 900 sq feet shop, However I am looking at a Supermax mill which is a heavy beast, But I still don't think it's 4000#, But close. If I do get something heavier, I may try it slowly and see what happens.

I used the crane trailer to upright it.

 

[intrepid]

The only thing I have that fits in the 2-C-note category is an engine hoist. A chain hoist is cheap enough, but it has to attach to something. For the intended purpose, that something has to be able to move, so there needs to be an overhead track, gantry, bridge crane, or jib crane. And that will make it more than a coupla hundred bucks, by far.

I have used the bucket on my tractor to move things, but it's ungainly for things I want to move in and around my lathe. I was the only thing I had for moving the concrete counter top I put on my main bench.

Rick "pondering a beam on the ceiling for a trolley and chain fall" Denney[/img]

Tell us about the concrete countertop. How has it held up as a workbench top? Thanks.

 

[Dabbler]

Gantry I built for a lathe and mill I bought

I love your crane! very nicely done!

 

[Chips O'Toole]

I use an HF hydraulic lift table. I store my heavy accessories on it (large chucks, rotab, etc). I can wheel it over to the mill, raise the HF table, lower the mill table, and slide stuff across. At the lathe I use a "chuckmate" to swing the chuck into place. Hmmm, I don't see the chuckmate in a quick search - they might not be around anymore. A picture is warranted, I will follow up...

These things are incredible. They don't look all that useful, but once you have one, you start to think up all kinds of things you can do with it. I have a set of 4 shelves, each one 4x8 plywood, and I picked them up and moved them on my Harbor Freight table. I got them more or less where I wanted them with the tractor, and the table let me fine-tune the position. I bought the 500-pound table because there is no way I would try to move the bigger one into or out of a vehicle without help.

I put a quick attach adaptor on my tractor's loader, and I used the table to lift it to the loader so I could line it up and put the pins in. Really made things easier. You can't do that with an engine hoist or a Hoyer lift.

I want to screw a sheet of steel onto it with hinges so I can roll things like pressure washers and generators onto it and lift them so I can work on them. There is no reason why you can't modify one of these things. I may weld some stuff on the bottom to move the wheels out farther so I can have a larger platform.

Lifting is really stupid. I try to resist lifting anything. When I was young and even dumber than I am now, I liked to see what I could lift, and when I was with other guys, I would get right in there with them, lifting just to be macho. I gave that stuff up years ago, and more than once, I've told my friends "so sorry" when they tried to get me to help them with things they shouldn't have picked up.