Door track as hoist track?

[Krodad]

I'm doing some thinking about how I'm going to deal with getting some light equipment up to my future mezzanine storage area (10' high) and was thinking about using this heavy duty door track and hangers as my trolley system for an electric winch. The heaviest I would be lifting would be 400lbs max...maybe add 100lbs for a lifting cage. Want to store off season things like riding mower (400lbs), snowblowers, as well as storage totes.

Anyone use something like this or see potential problems?

 

[DIC]

I wouldn't hang much weight on them horizontal but you could use them vertical like this.

 

[TheOtherChris]

What will it be mounted to? Installation specs call for mounting brackets at a maximum spacing of 60" (assuming a single trolley load of 1250lbs). I would think that would be a good sized beam supported on each end. If you already have one in place to mount the track to fine but if you have to install it I would probably use an I-beam trolley instead.

 

[histeel1]

Looks like it could work great for home use depending on what you have it supported to. I work on overhead hoists and cranes for a living. That c track is similar if not beefier than the c-track used for the electrical festoon cable running across the "bridge" beam. I've actually thought about a small low capacity bridge crane made from c-track myself.
I mean if something happens the floor will stop it.
If $$$ is no object check out the Demag KBK system. This stuff is awesome.

 

[Krodad]

Actually I was going to span across my trusses with multiple 2x8's, then hang the track from that, so the track will be running parallel with the trusses, which are at 8' spacing. If I understand the clearances inside the track, I can then use carriage bolts from the track to a top plate which sits on top of the 2x8's.
This way the load is spread between my truss chords...theoretically giving each one only a temporary 250lb load which is also spread by the track supports.

I just don't see a great way to mount an I beam in the middle of the trusses since hanging it would require probably welding on some kind of bracket, which I could do, but for the light loads I'm talking about why spend the money on a beam when this track would give me over 2:1 safety margin. And it's presumably far less expensive.

Also been thinking about the vertical platform lift linked to in the post above. The biggest issue I would have with that is that I need to allow for something the size of a riding mower, so it would be pretty large. would need to be able to roll it off the lift so would need to extend the framework up probably 5' above the mezzanine floor.

Been trying to consider another method of doing the lift on vertical tracks, but keeping the winch itself anchored to the floor or bottom of the wall/framework and using a pulley at the top of the apparatus...but this would only be practical if I converted to a double cable setup so I don't have a singe cable in the middle of my exit area up top.

Would appreciate any other ideas!

 

[Rockcam]

I'm doing something similar for my loft.

You might consider Unistrut. It's rated for much higher loads depending on how it's supported, and the product line includes trolleys designed for material handling.

Search The Asylum and Jones Mechanical for two well executed examples.

 

[pepi]

I'm doing some thinking about how I'm going to deal with getting some light equipment up to my future mezzanine storage area (10' high) and was thinking about using this heavy duty door track and hangers as my trolley system for an electric winch. The heaviest I would be lifting would be 400lbs max...maybe add 100lbs for a lifting cage. Want to store off season things like riding mower (400lbs), snowblowers, as well as storage totes.

Anyone use something like this or see potential problems?

You are kidding right?

I am laughing cause this is a funny joke, be sure to put up a youtube when ya get er going.

 

[Falcon67]

Whats to laugh - door tracks and correct hardware/trolleys can handle up to 2500 lbs. There's some big-azz barn doors out there.
http://www.barndoorhardware.com/product-information/sliding-door-hardware/800-box-track/

http://www.barndoorhardware.com/pro...ing-door-hardware/1500lb-to-2500lb-box-track/

 

[toolman1967]

I think that would work great. I used the unistrut for my lift but that track looks like it is reinforced with the rods running the length of it. Should be plenty strong for lifting a couple hundred pounds.


Tim the Toolman

 

[trainer]

It works great. I've got a few pieces mounted on the ceiling for whenever I need skyhook.

 

[hedhunter9]

I am going to be looking at building some sort of lift in my pole barn, I have about 7-8 vintage dirt bikes I want to put up on top of my work shop that I built inside my pole barn.. It is 7 feet high. Most of the bikes weigh 200 to 225 lbs. But the problem is length.
I will have to make a lift at least 6 foot wide..

I have been looking at a lot of the U-Tube videos of the various lifts and am getting some good ideas..

Bob

 

[Krodad]

I am going to be looking at building some sort of lift in my pole barn, I have about 7-8 vintage dirt bikes I want to put up on top of my work shop that I built inside my pole barn.. It is 7 feet high. Most of the bikes weigh 200 to 225 lbs. But the problem is length.
I will have to make a lift at least 6 foot wide..

I have been looking at a lot of the U-Tube videos of the various lifts and am getting some good ideas..

Bob

If the bikes are the main thing you're going to store up there, I would think a track that is maybe 12' long, with half over the storage area and half over the shop floor would let you simply hook up to a couple straps around the bike...maybe one on the handlebars and one through the rear tire and just hoist them up, slide them over to the storage deck, and you're done.

I'm not sure I could do that quite as easily with a riding mower.

My biggest issue is getting my hoist high enough to clear what I need...my mezzanine deck will be 10' high, and my truss chord is 14' high, so I need to get quite a bit higher than than to allow for the track and hoist. Probably going to have to rig up some kind of boxed out "deck" over the chord to get 4 more feet out of it all. Not sure it's going to be easy as working at that height is a lot different than looking up at it.

Might have to just incorporate two big gantry crane posts into the mezzanine support and put a beam across those, then do the vertical tracks to capture a dumbwaiter kind of thing.

 

[tstaude]

This may be crazy, but you could even make a mini bridge crane from these materials with some mild fabrication. You would need a significant back bone for the bridge.
This would allow side to side motion over the mezzanine in addition to in and out.

We have bridge cranes all over at work, and they save your back when handling heavy items.

 

[histeel1]

This may be crazy, but you could even make a mini bridge crane from these materials with some mild fabrication. You would need a significant back bone for the bridge.
This would allow side to side motion over the mezzanine in addition to in and out.

We have bridge cranes all over at work, and they save your back when handling heavy items.

Yea! I have thought about this for many years. Using c-track you wouldn't lose much headroom at all. Lightweight to install etc..

 

[Krodad]

Hmmmm....just found this on CL. Hydraulic elevator mast taken from a warehouse where they had a cage on it to lift 4000lb paper rolls. Will go from floor to floor height of almost 12'. Talked to the guy for about 30 minutes. I could power with an electric/hyd power unit, but it needs to be pretty big. Looking at maybe 1200 bucks to do that, but could just remove the telescoping cylinder and lift the thing with an overhead winch for 180 bucks.

Thinking I could put a 4x8 deck on it, and it would serve double duty as an adjustable height, heavy duty workbench most of the time.

Might bite on it just so I don't kick myself later. He wants $500.

 

[histeel1]

Hmmmm....just found this on CL. Hydraulic elevator mast taken from a warehouse where they had a cage on it to lift 4000lb paper rolls. Will go from floor to floor height of almost 12'. Talked to the guy for about 30 minutes. I could power with an electric/hyd power unit, but it needs to be pretty big. Looking at maybe 1200 bucks to do that, but could just remove the telescoping cylinder and lift the thing with an overhead winch for 180 bucks.

Thinking I could put a 4x8 deck on it, and it would serve double duty as an adjustable height, heavy duty workbench most of the time.

Might bite on it just so I don't kick myself later. He wants $500.

Phew... that thing would be way overkill IMO for what you were originally wanting to lift. That multi stage mast looks HEAVY!

 

[Krodad]

Oh it's heavy as heck I'm sure....just thinking that someday if I ever really wanted the capacity it's capable of, I would have it. But you're right...I imagine just lifting the mast sections empty is probably more weight than I would ever lift in equipment.

I was thinking that if I kept it hydraulic, it would actually be something I would feel safe riding on myself.

It's 3 hours away so it would be a while before I have time to go look in person.

 

[neel2008]

If you are not overloading the capacity the manufacture has stated, how is the track and/or trollies gonna know they are moving a 400 pound mower as oppose to a 400 pound door? I thought about doing the same.... Id just follow the directions on how often you support the rail like the instructions say and obey the capacity it says....I also thought about doing it like a gantry setup with 2 pieces that support a third piece underneath perpendicular to the other 2. You would have to mount the channel to like a piece of steel box tubing for support though....Then hang like a 500 lb winch on a double trolley setup on the third rail and have a nice range of motion.

 

[neel2008]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26267&showall=1



pretty much already done.....on GJ even. lol

 

[tstaude]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26267&showall=1



pretty much already done.....on GJ even. lol

That is a nice jib crane setup! Now someone here just needs to make a mini bridge.

 

[Bruce4310TX]

I'm doing some thinking about how I'm going to deal with getting some light equipment up to my future mezzanine storage area (10' high) and was thinking about using this heavy duty door track and hangers as my trolley system for an electric winch. The heaviest I would be lifting would be 400lbs max...maybe add 100lbs for a lifting cage. Want to store off season things like riding mower (400lbs), snowblowers, as well as storage totes.

Anyone use something like this or see potential problems?

Do a search there is a thread where they did just what you want nice pics also.

 

[neel2008]

That is a nice jib crane setup! Now someone here just needs to make a mini bridge.

post 38, the guy put a sliding door rail along the peak of the roof in his attic with a harbor freight winch on rollers.....

 

[Krodad]

just looked at it...pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

I swear I did a search...for some reason this did not come up.

Thanks for finding it!!!

 

[neel2008]

just looked at it...pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

I swear I did a search...for some reason this did not come up.

Thanks for finding it!!!

 

[tstaude]

I hate to hijack the thread, but this is the bridge crane I had in mind.
This gives infinite range of motion in the area. We even have some where the perpendicular rail with the hoist extends beyond the two parallel tracks.

 

[Mr_fixit]

I'm doing some thinking about how I'm going to deal with getting some light equipment up to my future mezzanine storage area (10' high) and was thinking about using this heavy duty door track and hangers as my trolley system for an electric winch. The heaviest I would be lifting would be 400lbs max...maybe add 100lbs for a lifting cage. Want to store off season things like riding mower (400lbs), snowblowers, as well as storage totes.

Anyone use something like this or see potential problems?

I'm using this now with a small electric hoist to do just what you want to do. Mine's about 15' long. I bolted it to the bottom of my truss. But you better make sure you attach it to something that's strong enough. I use it to get small items up the stairs to the 2nd floor. (snowblower, small compressor, lawnmower) I made a little trolley using the wheels that normally roll in this track. It works good. I use it for a couple hundred pounds. If I wanted to lift more, I'd use something different or make a longer trolley using 4 sets of wheels instead of 2, to spread the weight over a larger area. ( and I'd make something to distribute the weight of the rail and items being lifted over 2 joists.

 

[Mr_fixit]

If it's really heavy, I'll use this..

 

[dmoore]

In my shop we needed to bring items from the first floor to the second floor. Normally this isn't a big issue and there are tons of youtube videos on barn door track or unistrut being used mounted to a wall as a track. The problem we had was that it was in the middle of the building, unsupported by any wall and thus we needed a method that would allow level and un-swaying support going up and down. We then hit upon barn door track doubled-up. This lift has worked with up to 800# and the winch is rated at 1,200 in it's current double-line configuration. Here is a video that we did that shows the entire thing:

 

[cparcell]

Can you buy chance send some build specs or designs for you elevator. What was cost on that

 

[dmoore]

Can you buy chance send some build specs or designs for you elevator. What was cost on that

If that is in reference tom the elevator video I just posted - I think the video should contain all the concepts needed to reproduce it. Spec's won't help because they would be specific to my shop - floor to ceiling height, joist height, roof pitch, floor thickness, winch, etc. Once we came up with the design, we did a CAD drawing - nothing fancy, just to determine the exact spacing since some of the spacing had to be down to 1/4" or less for it to work correctly.

As to the cost - here is about what I spent on it:

$130 - Winch
$500 - Rail (imported Italian stuff, very nice stuff) and trucks
$150 - Misc Steel tubing
$20 - Wood
$50 - Misc items like paint and hardware

 

[Krodad]

Great vid! Thanks for posting.

I haven't heard a Maynard Ferguson track in years!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[dmoore]

Great vid! Thanks for posting.

I haven't heard a Maynard Ferguson track in years!

The track used in the video was purchased from our local steel supplier, SSS Steel: http://www.sss-steel.com/catalog/ - the track is item HAC24 on page 96 of the catalog.

 

[cparcell]

It would be interesting to build shelves that lower down in a couple spots in my garage say middle of the floor

 

[JakeKohl]

Great vid! Thanks for posting.

I haven't heard a Maynard Ferguson track in years!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

No doubt...I need to dial up a little Bird Land myself this evening!

Nice lift too. Well executed.

 

[hedhunter9]

I am going to be looking at building some sort of lift in my pole barn, I have about 7-8 vintage dirt bikes I want to put up on top of my work shop that I built inside my pole barn.. It is 7 feet high. Most of the bikes weigh 200 to 225 lbs. But the problem is length.
I will have to make a lift at least 6 foot wide..

I have been looking at a lot of the U-Tube videos of the various lifts and am getting some good ideas..

Bob

Went another direction.. Built a jib crane instead... Works great....

Bob