Truck Crane in the Home Shop?

[bdbecker]

Just exploring ideas for the new workshop... I've made due up to now moving heavy things using various methods ranging from perfectly safe to somewhat sketchy. While I've been lucky up to this point, luck is not a strategy. I got to thinking, I wonder if incorporating something like one of these truck mounted jib cranes could be useful in the shop?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H46ZKCBN?tag=atomicindus08-20

(Not set on this make/model, just one of the first that pops up when searching for truck mounted cranes)

I have a fair bit of experience from the day job with crane systems and am fully aware that the one linked above has it's limitations. This would really be used for getting somewhat heavy items up to a working height - either placed on a cart or workbench. I'd likely anchor the crane to the floor in a strategic spot in my workshop to be useful, but also out of the way when not needed.

Just wondering if anyone has used one of these sorts of cranes before and what your experience has been with them.

 

[Stuart in MN]

There are floor mounted jib cranes available from a number of sources. This is a link to the Grainger catalog section on them, not that you have to buy from Grainger but it shows what kind of cranes and capacities are available. https://www.grainger.com/category/m...oning/cranes-festoon-cable-systems/jib-cranes I'm pretty sure jib cranes have been discussed here at some point, you can probably find some older discussions with the watch function at the top of the page. Of course, the floor needs to be reinforced appropriately, depending on the capacity of the crane.

 

[niget2002]

I went with this wheeled gantry. It's worked quite well for me. It can be a bit cumbersome to move around the shop if the floors don't ahve rolling room. I originally bought it to use my mill, but find I use it quite often even to lift things that are only a couple of hundred pounds (like the rotary phase converter for said mill).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KKNBU82?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[manwithtools]

Another handy item is a hydraulic lift cart. You only need to get an item on the cart and then it can easily lift it to bench or truck bed height.

 

[bdbecker]

There are floor mounted jib cranes available from a number of sources...

Yep, part of my role at work is spec'ing and sourcing crane systems. Everything from little 1/4 ton jib systems to multi-ton powered bridge systems that run several hundred feet. An industrial grade system is way more than what I need. I basically want to be able to lift things that are a couple hundred pounds without relying on my back to take the brunt of the work. I could really get away with a small chain hoist slung over a support beam, but was looking to see if I could take it one step further and find something a little more useful.

I went with this wheeled gantry...

I was looking at those, but as you mentioned, they can be a little bit of a chore to move around. I have considered installing an I-beam along the ceiling that a hoist could live on, supported on each end independent of the house structure. If I could find the right deal on a scrap beam somewhere, that'd be a strong contender.

Another handy item is a hydraulic lift cart...

That is the backup plan...

 

[gimpyrobb]

Hydraulic pallet stacker is the way to go!

 

[cannuck]

Just exploring ideas for the new workshop... I've made due up to now moving heavy things using various methods ranging from perfectly safe to somewhat sketchy. While I've been lucky up to this point, luck is not a strategy. I got to thinking, I wonder if incorporating something like one of these truck mounted jib cranes could be useful in the shop?

Is this an existing building or one you are putting up? What wall height and clear floor dimensions?

 

[Stuart in MN]

Yep, part of my role at work is spec'ing and sourcing crane systems. Everything from little 1/4 ton jib systems to multi-ton powered bridge systems that run several hundred feet. An industrial grade system is way more than what I need. I basically want to be able to lift things that are a couple hundred pounds without relying on my back to take the brunt of the work. I could really get away with a small chain hoist slung over a support beam, but was looking to see if I could take it one step further and find something a little more useful.

There's a small jib crane called a Skyhook that's designed for lifting heavy parts or replacing chucks on a metal lathe: https://skyhook.cc/premium-tool-post-mount-sky-hooks.html Also, if you search on 'mini jib crane' some other products show up that are bench or floor mounted but are otherwise similar to a truck mount crane. The cheapest one I saw was from Vevor...I'm a little suspicious of that company but a lot of people seem to be happy with stuff they bought there, so your results may vary. https://www.vevor.com/other-c_45583...jib-for-machine-lumber-lifting-p_010758060017

 

[manwithtools]

The cheapest one I saw was from Vevor...I'm a little suspicious of that company but a lot of people seem to be happy with stuff they bought there, so your results may vary. https://www.vevor.com/other-c_45583...jib-for-machine-lumber-lifting-p_010758060017

Literally the same one the OP posted in his first post...

 

[mike93lx]

A buddy put a similar one on a mezzanine we built and he loves it. If you have a movable platform that you can bring over to the crane, I could see it working

 

[nadogail]

Any Crane will make your life easier, IMHO a Bridge Crane would be the preferred option to a desire for a shop crane; but they are also the most expensive.

 

[JuncleJohn]

How about modifying an engine hoist to look something like this?
https://share.google/pvdlyJv4MA5DTp5PR

John

 

[matt_i]

I put a 1/4t job crane in my shop during covid. Basically cut the floor and pour a 4' cube of concrete, with studs for anchoring the base.

It has been extremely useful for many heavy angle plates for my Devlieg and a drill grinder. Working on a torque converter swap in a traverse and it's holding everything up at present.

While only rated 1/4t in cantilever, with an S8 ibeam it could easily hold 6k if a guy put together an outboard support leg.

I have a gantry but you need a parking spot for it for the other 99% of the time. I would also hunt for a 3k-5k forklift if you have the room, this is the most versatile of all of them.

 

[finn]

A pallet jack, engine crane, rolling gantry, fork lift, skid steer, or tractor would all be more useful than a stationary or truck /. Trailer mounted jib crane.

I considered a jib crane years ago, but abandoned the idea as being of limited utility compared to engine hoists and car lifts, along with the skid steer, etc.

 

[Fixr]

I've known of people who picked up a used patient lift (often called a Hoyer lift) for use with heavy lathe chucks, rotary tables and the like. Most that I've seen seem to be rated for 400lbs or more.

 

[Cobra5150]

This Vevor pic looks a little optimistic



Unless those are made of balsa

 

[zimman]

Just exploring ideas for the new workshop... I've made due up to now moving heavy things using various methods ranging from perfectly safe to somewhat sketchy. While I've been lucky up to this point, luck is not a strategy. I got to thinking, I wonder if incorporating something like one of these truck mounted jib cranes could be useful in the shop?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H46ZKCBN?tag=atomicindus08-20

(Not set on this make/model, just one of the first that pops up when searching for truck mounted cranes)

I have a fair bit of experience from the day job with crane systems and am fully aware that the one linked above has it's limitations. This would really be used for getting somewhat heavy items up to a working height - either placed on a cart or workbench. I'd likely anchor the crane to the floor in a strategic spot in my workshop to be useful, but also out of the way when not needed.

Just wondering if anyone has used one of these sorts of cranes before and what your experience has been with them.

I have one and will use it soon in my garage. It worked well for engines. Not sure how. I'm more interested in a gantry and rail system. Even if it's only 15-20' it's a lot better.
Zim

 

[tool_scrounge]

+1 on the Hoyer lift. Original (Hoyer made) ones had a straight boom with longer reach. Later models from other mfg had higher load capacity. It is way more versatile and easy to maneuver compare to an engine hoist. It also breaks down into 2 pieces for more compact storage. The adjustable leg spacing is really handy too.

 

[My Old Tools]

My solution. By the time I built my third shop, the loft and the hoist were requirements. Bridge crane would be even better, but would require a lot more headroom.

 

[bdbecker]

I like that Hoyer lift a lot! I'll have to look into those. I like the idea of being able to break it down and store it.

I should have mentioned in my original post - this will be in an attached garage and/or in my basement workshop. As much as I'd like to have a forklift or a multi-ton hoist system, I don't need it for they type of work I do. If I'm restoring a drill press, it'd be nice to be able to lift the head off the column without getting a hernia.

 

[matt_i]

The little truck jib looks hard to put into actual practice, maybe 4' of arm and 4-5' tall if a person bolted it to the shop floor. The big jib crane I refer to above has a 10' arm and just clears the ceiling fan on a 11' ceiling. Getting enough headroom is important.

I also put a smaller Gorbel jib crane bolted to a workbench, its top is 1" x 48" x 96" steel plus has a Sync 250 welder (400#-ish) right behind it. For that one, I had to cut down the column tube and reweld the base plate to it but no big deal to shorten.

 

[cannuck]

My solution. By the time I built my third shop, the loft and the hoist were requirements. Bridge crane would be even better, but would require a lot more headroom.

I have made a fair number of bridge cranes that use minimal overhead by putting bridge beam at same height as funways and trolley with winch on one side and battery on other with 2 part block below taking up not much over half a foot - so a bit over a foot under top of walll to hook. Never tried on 8' walls, tight with 10' but really nice 10+ under hook with 12' walls. Have also done single rail down center of 26' shelter giving 21 under hook to service mezzanine.

 

[jmarkwolf]

You haven't mentioned what your budget is.

I've seen the HF gantry cranes used on FM Market place for as little as $600.

As far as portability, I've seen depictions of gantry cranes (see below) that are "anchored" at one end and swing in an arc saving floor space. Might work for you.

 

[loganb]

I have a clearspan steel beam across the garage supporting the upper floor and I've considered cutting the drywall back on the bottom side to mount a trolley on it. Main thing holding me back is knowing I'd have to take it back down and fix drywall when I sold....but that's not on the books at this time so a foolish thing to keep me from doing it.

I would probably only cut the drywall back on the double car side, have a lolly pole for putting under the beam to give some support and reduce the span of necessary

I have one of the hydraulic lift carts, it's nice but not as handy as being able to back under with something in a truck bed or trailer, pick up and pull out from underneath. I've thought about trying to put in a 500 or 1k lb jib crane...they can be picked up used pretty cheap but would be a bigger project then the trolley on the existing beam

 

[Ag 85]

Attached is my solution. New building so had column engineered by building manufacture to hold Jib. Designed for 2000 lb at 8 feet. Ordered One ton hoist with electric travel use it a lot. Swing is manual. Can back truck under for load / unload. Spend a lot of time working under hook area.
Hoist never complains about holding heavy projects. This is first lift, unloading Wilton band saw from estate sale. I found out crank straps are not good idea for hoisting. Yes I dropped it. Then bought four-legged bridle sling with safety hooks. Duh. Also have similar smaller jib for processing deer in rear work room.

 

[strength_and_power]

Attached is my solution. New building so had column engineered by building manufacture to hold Jib. Designed for 2000 lb at 8 feet. Ordered One ton hoist with electric travel use it a lot. Swing is manual. Can back truck under for load / unload. Spend a lot of time working under hook area.
Hoist never complains about holding heavy projects. This is first lift, unloading Wilton band saw from estate sale. I found out crank straps are not good idea for hoisting. Yes I dropped it. Then bought four-legged bridle sling with safety hooks. Duh. Also have similar smaller jib for processing deer in rear work room.

The lower capacity green and purple round slings can be had on Amazon very reasonably along with shackles. They can come in really handy and tend to stay put where a chain may want to slip. Or have both in true GJ fashion

 

[tool_scrounge]

I like that Hoyer lift a lot! I'll have to look into those. I like the idea of being able to break it down and store it.

I should have mentioned in my original post - this will be in an attached garage and/or in my basement workshop. As much as I'd like to have a forklift or a multi-ton hoist system, I don't need it for the type of work I do. If I'm restoring a drill press, it'd be nice to be able to lift the head off the column without getting a hernia.

You can often find Hoyer (patient) lifts for good prices on the used market.

 

[driftpin]

I have a medium extra-height 2-car garage. It's not stand-up straight second-story height in what I refer to as 'the Loft.' The Loft covers the rear 1/2 of the garage floor space. It was designed by an engineer to support pretty-much whatever you can get in there.

I thought about what I would find useful for moving heavy things into the Loft, and out of it. This is what I came up-with. The jib crane at the short boom length is 2K lbs and probably 1/2 of that at its extended point. It swivels 360 degrees on tapered roller bearings I had my machinist friend fabricate for me.

I use a 2K lbs HFT overhead lift motor incorporated into the jib crane and the remote control keeps me away from whatever is being lifted. Most of what's gone up-into the Loft are motorcycle parts, and disassembled motorcycles.

It works well for my usage, and it has proved durable and reliable.

What structural components go into the Loft?

One door or two

I'm getting prepared to build a 30' wide by 24' deep garage. The walls will be 12' due to my plans to install a 2-post lift. My big question is should I go with 2 9'x9' doors or one large double door. It looks like one double door would be cheaper but would it cause me problems in the future...

www.garagejournal.com

The beginning of getting it installed in the loft:

One Car Bay Do-it-All Garage & Workshop

Edit: The latest pic of my garage space: How it got there (original post): Our house has a three car garage with individual bays, and two of them are completely full with our two vehicles, the kids' bicycles, and camping gear. Which leaves me with one bay to renovate for my needs. My goal is...

www.garagejournal.com

This Powermatic 10" table saw is ~400 lbs.

Attic Lift review

I did a search for attic lifts in a few different word/phrase configurations and mostly came up with threads about a variety of auto lifts; 4 post, two post, scissors...and of course all the posturing about who's choice is the "best"......whew glad I'm not going down that path. I'm sure there...

www.garagejournal.com

shop hoist

I have a loft above my two-car garage. I needed to improvise a way to get heavy things up there safely. This is what I came-up with. It's a 1-ton rated cherry-picker adapted to sit in a floor joist bay on a 'shoebox' of welded 3/8" steel, on a swivel pedestal. The arm is adjustable for reach...

www.garagejournal.com

This thread probably has duplicates of links above and others posting their lift set-ups:

Elevator Thread

I didn't find an elevator thread upon searching. So here it goes. Anyone build an elevator to a loft or attic that they want to show off? I'm thinking that I should have made my loft larger, and plan to expand it this winter in my shop. But heavier stuff may deserve an elevator instead of my...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[bdbecker]

You haven't mentioned what your budget is...

No real budget set in stone - just exploring the idea right now. I'm hoping this will be the last time I have to setup shop. While lifting heavy stuff isn't such a big deal today, it might be someday.

All of this is just fresh in my mind from having to disassemble and move my woodworking equipment into the basement shop over the past weekend. I came up with a pretty slick pulley system that made moving the heavier items down the steps a breeze. I was about to order a manual chain hoist with the idea that I'd just sling it over one of the beams in the basement to help with getting the table saw and band saw back on their bases when I saw the little truck mounted jib and got to thinking about how it could be handy. That, and I have a drill press I want to restore, so it'd be handy for that as well.

 

[OccupantRJ]

My shop ceiling is 8’-8” so I have a monorail boxed in and recessed in a cavity between two trusses to get maximum available hook height. There are three hoists and trolleys on the beam to suit my working style of several items being handled to disassemble or assemble. The linear travel is needed often for my projects.

 

[OccupantRJ]

If it might help anyone a cheap way to get an outdoor hoist is to sink two pieces of electrical service poles into the ground about 4 feet, cut the tops off evenly at a proper height, then bolt a beam across the top. A friend and I made enough money doing an engine swap for a lady with one in our youth to pay for it a couple times over.

 

[cretedog]

Put one together from a Harbor Freight model like shown by Zimman above last winter. Made a new boom and mounted an electric winch on it. Not a bridge crane or gantry, but works fine for its intended purpose.

Vertical Mill hoist

I have a Vertical Mill, (Bridgeport knock off) The vise and rotary table seem to have somehow gained weigh so I would like to come up with a simple hoist I could mount on the side to swing to the side where I set them and then rotate to set on the mill table. Has anyone been down this road?

www.garagejournal.com

Also made one based on a better truck crane a few years back. that one is on a mobile cart and have lifted over 1/2T with it.

 

[My Old Tools]

I have made a fair number of bridge cranes that use minimal overhead by putting bridge beam at same height as funways and trolley with winch on one side and battery on other with 2 part block below taking up not much over half a foot - so a bit over a foot under top of walll to hook. Never tried on 8' walls, tight with 10' but really nice 10+ under hook with 12' walls. Have also done single rail down center of 26' shelter giving 21 under hook to service mezzanine.

But that won't get stuff up in my loft....

 

[Stuart in MN]

You haven't mentioned what your budget is.

I've seen the HF gantry cranes used on FM Market place for as little as $600.

As far as portability, I've seen depictions of gantry cranes (see below) that are "anchored" at one end and swing in an arc saving floor space. Might work for you.

Judging by the illustration that's a pretty old design. It's pretty neat, you could have the stationary pole next to the wall and then the whole thing could put up against the wall when not in use and it wouldn't take up a lot of space. However, the moving pole doesn't look very stable, the rollers should be spaced further apart from each other.

 

[dante2]

This is a HF truck crane the one the fits under the bed rail. I haven't had a very big load on it yet. I did get a hanging scale to test it just waiting for cooler weather and my projects to taper off. It sticks out far enough you could load onto a rolling bench/table. I added a manual boat winch after this pic was taken.

 

[RoninB4]

-It depends upon how far and how often you need to move heavy things. I made a gantry crane out of wood and slapped a chain fall on it for moving the larger machinery in my shop when I relocated. For smaller items (surface grinder, lathe, tool grinder, etc.) that get moved within the shop I often just use machine skates. An engine hoist, furniture dollies, and low profile wheeled platforms are another option but you already know this. I'd love to have a full bridge crane but that's not going to happen. If you have a welder and some metal working machinery then your creativity opens up several possibilities.