Shop Garage Hoist - How it's going to kill me?

[SomeGuy]

Installed a Princess Auto 440/880lb cable hoist on 12 gauge unistrut track that is 10 feet long with some pre-made trolleys today. It's anchored to the ceiling with sixteen 3" x 3/8" lag bolts into vertical 2x6's that are roughly 16" on center that make up the ceiling (just supporting the ceiling, nothing above, they were put in by the builder so I could hang stuff from the ceiling rather than the metal crap they'd have used for just the drywall), and they span between two huge steel beams, one of which is right inside the bulkhead next to the track (so not a mid-span load). I made plates out of chunks of 3"x6" by 1/4" thick mild steel that are welded to the unistrut itself (ground off the zinc before welding) in a bunch of spots.

Of course, everyone who ever mentions they put these things up in their garages get torn apart by the internet saying it's not engineered and if you try to lift a couple hundred pounds the entire thing is going to fail instantly...so, how is this one going to kill me? I don't ever intend on lifting more than a few hundred pounds with it, I have an engine hoist already if I need to lift my mill or lathe or an actual engine...so this is more just there to act as a third hand when working on whatever.

And yes, already took it for a test run with my welding cart, heaviest thing that isn't my lathe/mill/toolbox in the garage that I can move. I'd guess it weighs probably 200-300lbs given the cart weight, plus two 80cf tanks on it, my welder, a couple 10lb rolls of wire, a small toolbox filled with clamps and more 2lb spools and such, and a big 25' extension cord. It picked it up without any fuss at all, not so much as a creek or noise from above.

Here's a good view of the structure above from when the house was being built (before it all got spray foamed and whatnot):

 

[Doggggboy]

Concussion.
You'll have something heavy hanging there waiting for the paint to dry, forget it's there and walk right into it.
You'll fall down and smash your head on the concrete floor.
RIP

 

[Bandit]

Looks good, did you use at least grade 5 lag bolts? I have twisted apart some 3/8 lags by hand, like they were cheese (unmarked grade).
Better wear a hockey helmet or something, oh, is @Doggggboy in your will for your metal working gear? Maybe has plans for you to hit your head on the floor, LOL.

 

[SomeGuy]

Looks good, did you use at least grade 5 lag bolts? I have twisted apart some 3/8 lags by hand, like they were cheese (unmarked grade).
Better wear a hockey helmet or something, oh, is @Doggggboy in your will for your metal working gear? Maybe has plans for you to hit your head on the floor, LOL.

They're lags from TSC before they closed, whatever the by the weight stuff is....they torqued down really well.

LoL the head bump thing is a good call

 

[Doggggboy]

LoL the head bump thing is a good call

It's either that or the librarian in the garage with a candlestick.

 

[slow-poke]

Looks super handy to me (good advance thinking)!

I wouldn't trust it for lifting and engine, but I bet it would.

I like your I-Beam, I had one installed for lifting engines when we added a deep two car garage to the existing two car garage at our old house. I miss that garage. My wife got the extended and new kitchen while I scored the new found garage space (happy wife, happy life);-)

 

[Susquatch]

so, how is this one going to kill me?

It really doesn't matter. When you are dead, you don't know you are dead. It's just hard on everyone else around you.

It is the same when you are stupid.

But since you asked, it's pretty clear to me that you will get killed by non-symetrical tri-pecular blunt coagulation trama.

If you zoom in on the 3rd bolt from the other end, you can see that it is already showing signs of classic elastic strain failure caused by using low grade bolts where 8 is required by code. As the failure propagates, the entire assembly will zipper from the south end heading north. This will result in a sound not unlike a freight train air horn. If you hear the horn, it's too late. You are already prodophenticulated.

I wouldn't worry about it too much though. Death by tri-pecular coagulation trama is usually painless. In rare cases, it also causes involuntary semoral ejections. The odd survivor has described a sensation not unlike being levitated by electrical auroras. Some guys call it the magic death smoke.

It's a good way to go. WAAAAY better than the head bump scenario.

 

[Engmaxx]

Hey man, looks great! I put one in my little shop to lift rotary table and anything else unwieldy and heavy to the mill or on table, etc. IIRC, the pre-made 4-wheel trolleys are 600 lb rated so there is your potential limit. I used GRK screws instead of lag bolts as I had them on hand from a pergola build and I believe each screw is 900+ lb tensile/pull rated and I used two per hanging bracket. I am sure you are more than fine...though I didn't see a close-up of the bracket welds

 

[SomeGuy]

Looks super handy to me (good advance thinking)!

I wouldn't trust it for lifting and engine, but I bet it would.

I like your I-Beam, I had one installed for lifting engines when we added a deep two car garage to the existing two car garage at our old house. I miss that garage. My wife got the extended and new kitchen while I scored the new found garage space (happy wife, happy life);-)

When I look at the load capacity on all the different components in the mix (trolleys, strut, plates, lags, 2x6's, steel beams, etc.) I should in theory be able to lift the full 880lbs the hoist is capable of without anything failing...but not something I'm willing to test.

Also, that I-Beam is structural to the house, it's supporting the floor joists for the room above while keeping the garage clear span. It bridges an 18' span and they used 4 of them across my garage (one being a brick ledge for the second floor exterior cladding though, only 3 are main structural supports) and by code I believe they are required to be fire protected (aka drywalled), and hence will likely never directly be used for anything garage related (ie. I won't put a beam clamp or actual trolley directly on them).

Hey man, looks great! I put one in my little shop to lift rotary table and anything else unwieldy and heavy to the mill or on table, etc. IIRC, the pre-made 4-wheel trolleys are 600 lb rated so there is your potential limit. I used GRK screws instead of lag bolts as I had them on hand from a pergola build and I believe each screw is 900+ lb tensile/pull rated and I used two per hanging bracket. I am sure you are more than fine...though I didn't see a close-up of the bracket welds

Yeah, there's two trolleys holding it so should in theory double that at 1200lbs, which puts me above the hoist capacity. The lags I have here should be at least 200lbs per inch pull out strength (very conservatively as that's the rating for a 5/16" lag into SPF and I used 3/8"), so I figured 400lbs (discounting drywall and plate thickness from the 3" lag) per lag, and each plate has two, and given two trolleys in the track it should spread the load a bit beyond a single plate.

Welds are good, I'm fairly sure if I did destructive testing the unistrut itself would pull apart before the welds let go lol I had to manage heat a bit to keep it from warping, but everything penetrated quite well as I stitched things around in ~1 inch long welds at various points.

 

[Junque]

Barn door track isn't bad for that purpose. I put a gantry in my garage using the regular track which has a load limit of 450lbs per runner I believe. The No.30(?) track is even heavier, maybe 700lbs per runner. Was a bit of a B to put up, but it works well even with the noisy as hell Princess Auto winch.

 

[jorogi]

IIRC, the pre-made 4-wheel trolleys are 600 lb rated so there is your potential limit.

Oh that's a good one

 

[SomeGuy]

Barn door track isn't bad for that purpose. I put a gantry in my garage using the regular track which has a load limit of 450lbs per runner I believe. The No.30(?) track is even heavier, maybe 700lbs per runner. Was a bit of a B to put up, but it works well even with the noisy as hell Princess Auto winch. View attachment 68135View attachment 68136View attachment 68137

Yours looks like an X-Y gantry? How much range of movement do you have with it?

 

[JustaDB]

I picked up one of those winches last summer on sale mostly to lift the rotary table onto the mill. Haven't mounted it yet, but some good ideas here.

 

[Junque]

Yours looks like an X-Y gantry? How much range of movement do you have with it?

It runs the length of the garage, so about 18' maybe on the X and the Y is limited by all the shelves and cr*p to about 6'. I used the torx drive Simpson-Strong-tie construction screws/lags to mount the rails. Maybe 5" screws into every second joist, I can't remember exactly now. There isn't much clearance over the tops of the wheels on the runners when they're in the rail, so a low-profile head was necessary. I got some graded washers with an ID that just fit over the shoulder on the screw heads.

 

[SomeGuy]

It runs the length of the garage, so about 18' maybe on the X and the Y is limited by all the shelves and cr*p to about 6'. I used the torx drive Simpson-Strong-tie construction screws/lags to mount the rails. Maybe 5" screws into every second joist, I can't remember exactly now. There isn't much clearance over the tops of the wheels on the runners when they're in the rail, so a low-profile head was necessary. I got some graded washers with an ID that just fit over the shoulder on the screw heads. View attachment 68139

That's pretty awesome!

Yeah, the clearance within the strut for the trolley is tight, that's why I welded on external brackets so I could easily lag the entire thing up. It also spread the load to two points at each joist and I also wanted to save as much vertical height as possible, so it gave me the tightest possible fit to the ceiling versus using the pre-made brackets.

 

[Martin w]

With your aviation skills and background. I’m sure it is over engineered for what you want to use it for. Looks great to me.
You have seen my jib hoist (kinda looks like Jesus on the cross) or is it Jesus! Will that hold anything? Lol
Martin

 

[SomeGuy]

With your aviation skills and background. I’m sure it is over engineered for what you want to use it for. Looks great to me.
You have seen my jib hoist (kinda looks like Jesus on the cross) or is it Jesus! Will that hold anything? Lol
Martin

I have an aviation background? news to me lol

 

[djberta]

Love the winch, your lighting is sic

 

[SomeGuy]

Love the winch, your lighting is sic

LoL the eight 4500 lumen LED shop lights? or the eight (although two are down right now, was using them for a show) ETC Source 4 575w par cans?

 

[LenVW]

After you have it in place.
Put a LARGE decal on it that states the ‘safe load’ capacity of the weakest link in the hoist.
Factor of Safety = 4 or more.
(Anchor lags, lifting hooks, etc)

Lifting Equipment should be adequately Engineered for the application.
Especially if you are lifting items near human access and work areas.