Impromptu gantry crane build

[phaxtris]

I did notice your rigging was set up to load both sides of the flange !

Have you noticed the price of tremclad/rustoleum lately....by summer a guy might need a loan just to paint the thing ! Crazy inflation

 

[Darren]

One day I want to build a super lightweight, knockdown , Portable gantry. Truss type design, for light weight and strength, knockdown for portability. Something i can toss in the truck and go.

At home I have machines and hoists that can normally lift things, but this weekend I did a transmission R&R job on an F150 that was on the hoist and thought it would be nice to have a jib crane, or a small hand forklift to get the transmission off the 3' high transmission jack and onto the ground, and the new transmission onto the jack. So another new idea was born. I ended up using the trucks receiver hitch and my small cable come along. It worked, but seemed pretty primitive. I had an engine hoist a few feet away, but its a pain to setup too for a 30 second lift.

 

[phaxtris]

@Darren you could probably find an aluma beam on marketplace or kijiji as your hoisting beam, i would imagine you would be good for 500-1000lbs on one of those, they are nice and light

or there are always junior i beams, they make 5's and 6's that are only 10 and 12lbs a ft

a re-purposed/misappropriated aluma beam from marketplace or kijiji is probably the cheapest and lightest option

Edit; i was looking at the wrong page, those were w flange, they make an 8" jr thats only 6.5lbs/ft

 

[Darren]

I don't work well with aluminum. But its a consideration for sure.

When i think of this project, I think of like the large span, lightweight tent shelters with lightweight tubing arranged into a strong trusss.

At the home shop, I'm going to build a jib crane that can service the main vehicle hoist area as well as the lathe and mill., which are close by the one vehicle hoist post.

 

[justin1]

@Darren you could rip of something like this not the same as portable gantry but could fix some of your needs and probly can be built for less then 400$ in new steel and market place engine hoist.

Be ya as far as portable gantry aluminum is way to go for if you only want to do 2k and under then just make coloumns telescopic but you'll probly be limited in height and length with aluminum. Like phaxtris suggested find a used beam but you could also make a triangle frame like radio tower or flat roof truss but probly cost more in material by time finished and if your point loading it will only as strong as what ever size tubing is more or less.

For my next truck I want to import one of these bad boys 2000kg load cap and a small crane in foot print of a f150 solve all my portable lifting needs

 

[Darren]

I build out a few trucks in my shop. Bare frame to fully done work truck. Shortening, lengthening, 2wd to 4wd, dump beds, flat decks, etc. One of the next ones is a very low profile 4 segment boom, 800 lbs capacity, manual extension, that can reach 22', with minimal weight, minimal footprint, once every 1000km usage. He cant buy it, so we will build it. So that is a consideration. I have my equipment trailer that we may also add a prototype boom to for testing.

BUT

when you have to go into a private garage to remove a machine, or any of the colleges, none of this helps. You need a quick erection so you can get it in as fast as possible. When I got my Emco V13 at the college in Ohio, they gave me a time limit and it was hard to work under those conditions. Everyone was watching, things wern't working, finally an old timer came along to give me some pointers. Never again will I go through that. The old guy finally got fed up and got it up for me with the forklift and plunked it on my trailer. Next time i want to be prepared.

Sometimes you need a quick pick me up type of deal, just to get the job done so you can get some sleep.

 

[Chicken lights]

One day I want to build a super lightweight, knockdown , Portable gantry. Truss type design, for light weight and strength, knockdown for portability. Something i can toss in the truck and go.

At home I have machines and hoists that can normally lift things, but this weekend I did a transmission R&R job on an F150 that was on the hoist and thought it would be nice to have a jib crane, or a small hand forklift to get the transmission off the 3' high transmission jack and onto the ground, and the new transmission onto the jack. So another new idea was born. I ended up using the trucks receiver hitch and my small cable come along. It worked, but seemed pretty primitive. I had an engine hoist a few feet away, but its a pain to setup too for a 30 second lift.

+1 for a jib setup. I don’t know if that’s the correct term for it, or not. I had a jib boom made for the shop loader, with a 6’ jib and a 3’. The 6’ will let me pick a dressed Ford 460, but that’s pushing things. The 3’ I can move a light truck around.

I cut the bucket off the loader arms, had a welder weld on a skidsteer quick attack plate, then had the welder build the jib plate to fit the skidsteer plate. That way, in theory, it should fit a skidsteer if I ever upgrade. Once it was built the engine hoist was sold never to be replaced

It’s the cats meow, low idle means slow hydraulics makes for safe lifts, or set the idle higher for faster hydraulics. You can run the hydraulics standing beside it. It doesn’t have one single working brake or parking brake but with 5.89 gear ratio in first gear just shut the key off, in gear.

 

[Darren]

+1 for a jib setup. I don’t know if that’s the correct term for it, or not. I had a jib boom made for the shop loader, with a 6’ jib and a 3’. The 6’ will let me pick a dressed Ford 460, but that’s pushing things. The 3’ I can move a light truck around.

I cut the bucket off the loader arms, had a welder weld on a skidsteer quick attack plate, then had the welder build the jib plate to fit the skidsteer plate. That way, in theory, it should fit a skidsteer if I ever upgrade. Once it was built the engine hoist was sold never to be replaced

It’s the cats meow, low idle means slow hydraulics makes for safe lifts, or set the idle higher for faster hydraulics. You can run the hydraulics standing beside it. It doesn’t have one single working brake or parking brake but with 5.89 gear ratio in first gear just shut the key off, in gear.

I have forks for my Bobcat 873. It will lift the average car or small SUV onto a flat deck for sending to scrap. Problem is, in the winter, the bobcats frozen, I'm frozen, and i dont wanna open the door and make the whole shop frozen. I'm also lazy. A swinging jib attached to the post of the first lift (the blue 10k car hoist, if you recall) thats hanging around doing nothing can be put to good use, quickly for small tasks.

 

[Chicken lights]

I have forks for my Bobcat 873. It will lift the average car or small SUV onto a flat deck for sending to scrap. Problem is, in the winter, the bobcats frozen, I'm frozen, and i dont wanna open the door and make the whole shop frozen. I'm also lazy. A swinging jib attached to the post of the first lift (the blue 10k car hoist, if you recall) thats hanging around doing nothing can be put to good use, quickly for small tasks.

I have forks too, but they don’t get used often. Most stuff I’ve handled isn’t on skids and it’s just faster to use chains with a lifting plate.

I realize your shop can’t really have a machine in their to move stuff, a swinging jib like you described would be very handy

If you happen upon a municipal snow plow, the lifting plate they use on the plow chain is a great start, let’s you run two legs of chain with one lifting point

*coughs* they sometimes fall off

 

[140mower]

If you happen upon a municipal snow plow, the lifting plate they use on the plow chain is a great start, let’s you run two legs of chain with one lifting point

*coughs* they sometimes fall of

If I remember, I will try and get a picture of what the local plow trucks use.... Basically two plates with a hole on one end and a slot going from the hole towards the other end. A large shackle goes through the holes and the chains drop into the slots. They are just flame cut from 1/2" plate. The shackle pin goes through the hole in the lift arm for the plow just above the hydraulic cylinder.

 

[Ian Moss]

I have been invited to show my " articulated jib crane". My basement was 10' high before the hung ceiling and lights were installed, so I have 8'3" under the lights. The column and "elbow" have PA flange bearings for 1 3/8" dia. bar. The primary arm is 5" square tubing with fitted and welded plates inside to resist parallelogram distortion when the secondary arm is off an angle and torquing the tube. The bearing on the bottom of the column sits on a large steel plate with concrete anchors and is grouted in place with expanding grout. It sits on the floor above the footing that is in place for the telepost supporting the main floor beam. The top bearing is mounted to a U bracket that fits the wooden beam and is secured with a couple bolts through the neutral axis of the beam.
The PA "electric cable hoist" was much too fast for my liking so I added a block above the hook to reduce the speed to 1/4. The speed was still an issue when trying to gently place the mill vice or fit chucks to my L0 lathe spindle, so I added a PA linear actuator to the cable anchor point so the the hook moves at 1/4 the speed of the linear actuator. Very nice. Shown are the lifting fixtures for the mill vise and the lathe chucks. They are configured to lift at the balance point of the vise and chucks. The chucks can also rotate on the lifting jig to align with the spindle key. This is not a heavy duty lifter, just an aid to keep an old man from killing himself. Glad to answer questions.