Light Durty Overhead Track Crane

[Hawkeye]

Ron, you asked for it.

In preparation for the arrival of my 'new' Victoria U2 milling machine, I felt the need for some kind of crane to help lift the accessories to the table. The vertical milling head is listed at around 100 pounds and the 8" vise at 120 pounds. I had considered a jib crane or a pivoting track. I was looking at the piece of U-track on my garage ceiling that I use to help removing and installing motorcycle engines. It seemed like a good idea. It's the same kind of track used to hang sliding barn doors. A quick check of on-line ads gave me a full set of garage door tracks, including two pieces of U-track for $30.

My setup consists of two 5' tracks running east-west attached to the joists with an 8' track suspended under them on trolleys. A third trolley runs on the 8' track with a block-and-tackle hanging from it. I added an aluminum channel down the middle with a plywood guide pulled by a rope-and-pulley arrangement to move the 8' track along the two 5' tracks without twisting. The lifting trolley is pulled sideways by hand.

<It appears that I can't post pictures. Sorry>

[ScrapMetal]

Dang, I would like to see that. I've considered doing something similar in my tiny "shop" but I have so little room to begin with and the ceilings are already so low...

Let me know what happened when you tried to upload pictures/post them. You should be able to use the "upload attachment" tab below the area where you are writing in a post or link to an exterior source for a pic.

-Ron

[Hawkeye]

Here's an attempt to post photos of the crane. I take it we can only have 3 attachments per post.

The two 5-foot tracks are bolted directly to the TJI's. The 8-foot track is suspended 6" below the TJI's on trolleys to allow it to clear the light fixtures.

P6190043a.jpg

The third trolley on the 8-foot track supports the block and tackle. I will probably add a vertical bar with a cleat to allow tying off the rope when there is a load on the hook.

P6190044a.jpg

The third bar on the joists is an aluminum channel to guide a wooden 'rudder' to keep the long track straight across the top tracks. a system of pulleys and rope allow the moving track to always be pulled from the middle.

P6190045a.jpg

[Hawkeye]

Two more pictures.

The arrangement of pulleys allows moving to the right by pulling the right-hand rope - left with the left-hand rope.

P6190046a.jpg

See ... I did find a use for that pulley. Had it in the garage for decades.

P6190047a.jpg

[ScrapMetal]

See ... I did find a use for that pulley. Had it in the garage for decades.

Excellent!!

That should be quite the back saver. (I did up the number of attachments allowed in a post to a baker's dozen.)

Thanks,

-Ron

[Hawkeye]

I moved my 55 pound anvil with it yesterday, just to see how it moves with a load on. No problem. Today, I saved some pain by moving the new motor closer to the back of the mill. I really need to rig a cleat on the block and tackle so I don't have to hold the rope with one hand. It does move easily enough under a heavier load to prove useful.

[Turbinedoctor]

Very clever idea. I might use something like that in my shop.

[starlight_tools]

I was up visiting Mike on the weekend and was admiring his system,

Here are my observations.

Those tracks are designed to hold a 450 lb door, with two carriers being used to hold each door. Each carrier is rated for 225 lbs.

Now when I inquired and said my door was over 450 lbs, they suggested that I use an extra couple of carriers to take the extra weight and spread it over a wider section of the track.

Also your problem with the cross track skewing.

Here is my suggestion. Get another two of the carriers. Mount a carrier to each end of a cross member, say about 2 foot long and attach the cross track to the centre of that cross member. This assembly should be rather ridgid so it cannot flex as you roll it back and forth. Also mount the lifting hook to a second carrier. This should give you a better travel ability and a bit better capacity. Alternately, I was thinking that if one took a length of 1/2" flatbar and mounted axles with wheels with bearings every 6 inches, that would work even better as the wheels and bearings on those carriers are a bit hokie-pokie.

Now I did find a supplier for a better track system, but it is in the US only.
http://www.rwhardware.com/images/pdf/0888.00331.pdf this shows the cross section of all the different box track types. The ones in Canada are 16 Ga so equivalent to the no 31.
http://www.rwhardware.com/products/376- ... 000-Lb-Max)/
http://www.rwhardware.com/products/888- ... 500-Lb-Max)/

This system will support up to 1000 lbs per pair of carriers or up to 5000 lbs per pair of carriers. (5000 lbs is a double 2500 lb carrier and the tracks have to be welded together if longer than a stock section of track is needed.

For kicks I priced them out, Wholesale in USD $20.00 per foot for 1000 lbs, $42.50 per foot in 5000 lbs. Plus getting them into Canada. So looks like I will go back to looking at the 3" or 4" I-Beam.

Was good meeting up with you the other night.

Walter

[starlight_tools]

Ok so I have been giving this some more thought.

Here is what I have come up with so far. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

The shop is 10'-10" x 28' long and has an 8' ceiling height. There is a second room right beside it that is 10'-10 x 20' used as showroom. The headroom is very low so I can-not go with anything that will hang down very far. this eliminates 6" to 8" I beams which would be my first choice.

Walls are 2x6 construction, 16" OC with block walls on the exterior walls approx 4' high

Ceiling has 2x10 Joists, 16" OC running across the width of the room.

I need to stay 26 in from each wall the main rails, to clear cabinet doors, etc. this leaves the main rails at 6'-5" C-C. The largest free span would be 6'-2"

The air cleaner will have to be moved as it is the only thing that hangs down "too far"

The bridge would consist of two rails 16" C-C, that way the load would span at least two joists at all times. the hook point would be centred between the two rails and be as close to the top of the bridge as possible while still being able to slide under the main rails.

The rails would consist of 3x4x1/4 HSS tubing that has a slot milled on the "welded" flange 13/16" wide. these would be mounted to the ceiling joists with a pair of 1/4" thick plate hangers for each joist and bolted through the joist with 1/2" bolts. Tabs on the bottoms of the hangers would support the rail. These hangers could be welded to the rails, or left to float. But no welds would be in "shear"

The span across the front of the shop would be a second "fixed" set of rails that the trolley could be rolled off the main bridge onto to allow picking up items from the front door, with the option of a second set of rails in the show room.

Any thoughts as to where the week links could be?

Any thoughts as to how much weight this might hold?

Walter

[Hawkeye]

Walter, that would be one solid crane. I've moved one piece that weighed a measured 155 pounds. The weak link on mine is, as you previously pointed out, the tendency for the cross-rail to skew when it is moving along the main rails.

Your proposal should be capable of lifting up to 1000 ponds. (Just my non-engineering opinion.) In any case, I can't see it failing to lift pretty much anything you need to get up onto a machine table. It could even move a medium-large machine, but I'd keep it very close to the floor.

Nice design.