Anyone with a jib or bridge crane?

swharris · Feb 10, 2011

The structural engineering is currently being done for our house remodel/shop build. I have to make some decisions so they can be calculated into the design.

Since I do almost every thing by myself, I've thought of adding something to help me do the heavy lifting. To that end, I've thought of either a light duty bridge crane or jib crane(wall mounted). I want something that will be mostly out of the way and allow me the ability to get a motor from one bench to the other or pull a motor by my self.

Will it be cost prohibitive to have one built in or should I just build a small portable gantry crane (like the one below) to use when I need it

or look into a foundationless jib crane like the one above that is movable? Any suggestions or pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!

Steve from Socal · Feb 10, 2011

Shop size, roof height and, what you have in it, will be a major factor in making a choice. A jib is handy but, has limited range of motion. A bridge crane is great IF you have the roof height and ca$h. Yes you can fine used cranes and beams but, the engineering and site work will be costly. If this building has to be inspected you may want to check with your zoning and building departments.

Honestly; a crane system would be great but, it is costly, it takes up space and, a hoist, pallet jack, fork lift or portable gantry is more practical.

Steve

00pewter · Feb 10, 2011

OldCarGuy has a fullsize crane in his garage. You could probably PM him to ask some questions.

akdiesel · Feb 10, 2011

I have to say that gantry crane is a simple yet very creative design.
You have me sold on building one now.

jon1996 · Feb 10, 2011

I built my Gantry last spring, I have used it so much I can not even keep count, First thing is anything less than 10' is pretty useless when you have to lift a tall object out of a pickup bed or off a trailer, I built mine to be adjustable, it is little over 10' tall when lowered and 12' when raised, I have never used it in 10ft height yet, everything I have lifted has been off a trailer, but heres some pictures of mine, the casters are rated for 1200lbs a piece and are steel wheeled, it is built out of schedule 80 4" and 3" pipe, 6" I beam trolley and harbor freight 3ton hoist, but it is soon to be replaced with a 2 ton electric

shopnut · Feb 10, 2011

I have a 10' jib and I'm only going to comment on permanantly mounted cranes, so maybe more members can chime in on the portable gantries.

For a jib, the actual crane is relatively inexpensive, but structural requirements on the wall are pretty extensive. For mine, it puts roughly 3 times the load at the wall anchors as the weight of the actual item being lifted, assuming it's out at the end of the beam. Install it plenty high because trolleys and hoists will take away from the lift height. The bottom of my beam is at 13'.

In my opinion after using both, there's no doubt that the X-Y motion of a bridge crane is superior. But for occassional hobby work, a jib is fine. I mainly chose a jib because of cost and the fact that I could do the entire install job myself without any special equipment rental.

A jib or even a permanantly mounted bridge that's designed into the structure will not really take up any room since its all up in the air. Mine fits tight against the wall so you don't really even notice it up there.

The link in my signature line will take you to the ASYLUM build where a lot more details are given.

Good luck with your decision. Honestly, you will probably be happy with any choice. Whatever you do though, save some money for a good electric hoist - you will NEVER regret that purchase.

electrodude · Feb 10, 2011

Jib cranes and bridge cranes are far preferable, at least to me. I almost lost a friend to a gantry that decided to go dog legging over and dropped it's load. You have to be so careful slinging loads on gantries, if you picking straight up and down, not moving the suspended load, they're fine, but try moving a suspended load on a gantry crane is asking for trouble. I personally won't work with one, period.

I plan on putting a small span bridge crane in my garage when it gets built, no more than a 14' span, so I'll go with a simple I-Beam affair, supported over the rails with guide wheels to keep it from crabbing too much. I also have a pair of older VFD's that I'll use, one for the bridge and one for the winch.

Mr_fixit · Feb 10, 2011

I have 2 20' jib cranes ,a 1/2 ton upstairs a 1 ton downstairs. Picked them both up from a scrap yard after 1/2 the masonry work was done on my new building. I paid about 200 for both, which was a great deal.

Then I had to figure out how I could support them both from the same vertical beam. So I bought a 40 foot long beam, a 30' beam and used 1 or 2 12' beams I had laying aound, cut and welded up a monster sized 3 legged engine stand looking thing. Then I had a backhole dig a "t" shaped hole to bury the "legs" below where the floor would be and then had an excavator manuever it into the hole. After The masonry was done, and the floor done on the second floor, I set the crane on top of the floor. After we completed the roof, I used the trusses to raise the crane in position to attach to the beam. Then I used the crane on the 2nd floor to position the crane on the first floor to bolt it to the beam.

I built the 2nd floor floor with a 4' by 6' hole to raise heavy things up or down. Now I can lift things from one end of the garage and swing the crane to the other end ,and sometimes store them on the second floor. I had to buy a couple elctric chain hoists to make things more convenient.

There's only one thing I had to modify. I had to add two guy wires & 2 anchors to hold the top of the 25' beam. When the crane was loaded and turned all the way to the right or left , the beam flexed about a half an inch of so, which was too much for my liking.

I orginally designed the 2nd floor for 150 lbs/ square foot storage, wanting to store engines.

Lots of work, but they work great.

shopnut · Feb 11, 2011

Hey jon1996,

electrodude got me thinking about portable gantries and I'm just going to offer some advice on yours - you can take it or toss it, but please keep in mind I'm just trying to help you out and possibly prevent an accident when the crane is being loaded to max capacity and the conditions are stacked against you. I don't know the actual sizes/thicknesses of your I-beam so I may be way out of line here, but for what it's worth...

I see what is potentially an Achilles heel on your base I-beams when it's being used in certain conditions. With the trolley near one post and with a heavy load possibly swinging a bit while rolling the crane around, one of the casters could momentarily see the majority of the load. Considering you have cut out the web of the lower I-beams for what appears to be forklift pockets, not much web material is remaining to support the caster. When the caster is swiveled out to the side, it will put a considerable bending moment (twist) on that lowest flange. Below is a quick mod I'm suggesting on each of the 4 corners to prevent any failure down there. The green outline is representing square plates welded on the end of the beam. Of course, some simple gussets between the flanges would do the trick too.

csp · Feb 11, 2011

swharris said:
I want something that will be mostly out of the way and allow me the ability to get a motor from one bench to the other or pull a motor by my self.

What else will you be lifting other than engines? Will it be things that can't be lifted with an engine hoist?

tkiranch · Feb 11, 2011

I like the cut of your Jib

swharris said:
The structural engineering is currently being done for our house remodel/shop build. I have to make some decisions so they can be calculated into the design.

Since I do almost every thing by myself, I've thought of adding something to help me do the heavy lifting. To that end, I've thought of either a light duty bridge crane or jib crane(wall mounted). I want something that will be mostly out of the way and allow me the ability to get a motor from one bench to the other or pull a motor by my self.

Will it be cost prohibitive to have one built in or should I just build a small portable gantry crane (like the one below) to use when I need it

or look into a foundationless jib crane like the one above that is movable? Any suggestions or pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!

Chuckw · Feb 11, 2011

Not by choice but by lack of funds, I bought a HF engine hoist and fit it with their air jack. It works well for me and with a 20% coupon I have under $150 in the whole rig. I have lifted my 3 n 1 mill drill (~400lbs) several times, my bench, and the front of my bike with no issues.

swharris · Feb 11, 2011

csp said:
What else will you be lifting other than engines? Will it be things that can't be lifted with an engine hoist?

Not sure really? VW car bodies off of pans maybe? Machine tools to put on dollys, ect., Stock for projects. I guess something portable would work.

Planning on a two post lift, so maybe a bridge crane would get in the way?

swharris · Feb 11, 2011

Mr_fixit said:
I have 2 20' jib cranes ,a 1/2 ton upstairs a 1 ton downstairs. Picked them both up from a scrap yard after 1/2 the masonry work was done on my new building. I paid about 200 for both, which was a great deal.

Then I had to figure out how I could support them both from the same vertical beam. So I bought a 40 foot long beam, a 30' beam and used 1 or 2 12' beams I had laying aound, cut and welded up a monster sized 3 legged engine stand looking thing. Then I had a backhole dig a "t" shaped hole to bury the "legs" below where the floor would be and then had an excavator manuever it into the hole. After The masonry was done, and the floor done on the second floor, I set the crane on top of the floor. After we completed the roof, I used the trusses to raise the crane in position to attach to the beam. Then I used the crane on the 2nd floor to position the crane on the first floor to bolt it to the beam.

I built the 2nd floor floor with a 4' by 6' hole to raise heavy things up or down. Now I can lift things from one end of the garage and swing the crane to the other end ,and sometimes store them on the second floor. I had to buy a couple elctric chain hoists to make things more convenient.

There's only one thing I had to modify. I had to add two guy wires & 2 anchors to hold the top of the 25' beam. When the crane was loaded and turned all the way to the right or left , the beam flexed about a half an inch of so, which was too much for my liking.

I orginally designed the 2nd floor for 150 lbs/ square foot storage, wanting to store engines.

Lots of work, but they work great.

Do you have any links to pictures? Thanks for your insight.

OccupantRJ · Feb 11, 2011

Not a bridge crane or a gantry, but this is what I had in my previous shop, and will be putting another in the one I am working on.

W650Mike · Feb 11, 2011

4 ton double girder w/ 2 ton chain-fall. It gets more use than I ever imagined.

BTW, I’ve tried electric and pneumatic hoists, but settled on the chain for small increment movements for fabrication etc.

TurnipTruck · Feb 11, 2011

Here's my 2-post crane in the background:
I used 4" pipe spools that already had flanges as the uprights. I redheaded the flanges to the old slab and poured a new (and flat!) slab with Wirsbo tubes on top. I originally just needed a place to hang the door opener and door tracks, but figured, huh, I could beef it up a little and hang a trolley from it, too. I didn't want to hang any pointloads from the shell. I calculated an 8x4 (don't remember the lb/ft of the beam) with an 18' span and 1/360 sag was good for 4 tons, so I hung a 1000lb cap hoist for a fudge factor of 4. I eventually hung a used Smokeeter, the airhose reel, a dangling powercord, and conduit for the Miller Dial-arc welder leads and remote current control as well as the opener and doortracks on the beam.

82_454_shorty · Feb 11, 2011

I had this one built but buying a factory unit is probbaly more cost effective:

ovalracer33 · Feb 11, 2011

Hey I just ordered a Shop Crane and it’s coming next week. It looks like the perfect product for you to. My father and I intend to use it to maintain our Race Cars, work on our Hot Rods, and Motorcycles. I found it at www.shopcrane.com

Charles (in GA) · Feb 11, 2011

For me, a portable gantry crane was the way to go. I found one on Ebay, a make offer, I offered, he accepted, I drove from South Atlanta to Sandusky, Ohio and back to get it. Came with a new trolley and chain hoist. I have used it alot and have no trouble rolling it around, I don't try to move heavy loads with it, but have moved some several hundred pound loads a few feet with no issues. Its 12 ft wide and 12 ft 6 in high when fully raised. Pic is a couple of holes from full up.. Pic is of my unit at the sellers place. They show up on Ebay and Craigslist sometimes. Be sure and allow room under the beam for the trolley and hoist. If you have a beam at 12 ft, you probably will lose about two foot and this can become critical in a high lift.

Charles

highballxs · Feb 11, 2011

Hey, not sure about your set-up. But when I did my addition over the garage I had the structural engineers (luckily my work) over-engineer the load carrying beam by 2000 lbs.

Maybe you can stick a beam in, if so, beefing up the beam is a fairly low-cost alternative. I now need to save my pennies for a trolley and hoist! (or keep scouring c-list until one pops up.)

:beer:

swharris · Feb 12, 2011

ovalracer33 said:
Hey I just ordered a Shop Crane and it’s coming next week. It looks like the perfect product for you to. My father and I intend to use it to maintain our Race Cars, work on our Hot Rods, and Motorcycles. I found it at www.shopcrane.com

Are you going to use it in conjunction with a two post car lift? Not sure how that would work. I do have a hard time conceptualizing things though :headscrat

ovalracer33 · Feb 12, 2011

Our Shop Crane is going to be installed around our 2 post Rotary Lift. It will have 2 bridges, one on each side of the 2 post lift. I can post some pictures once it is installed on wednesday.

shopnut · Feb 12, 2011

W650Mike said:
BTW, I’ve tried electric and pneumatic hoists, but settled on the chain for small increment movements for fabrication etc.

That's a very good point - the single-speed electric hoists are a bit fast for precise positioning. This gives me an idea for using my old manual chain hoist though - I could shorten the chains up and make a mini "fine adjustment" hoist to hang below my electric hoist hook. It seems I could shorten it up to a total of 18" or so with maybe 6" of height adjustment. Just hang it on there when you need it. Add another project to the list :wtf:

After 5 years, I still love this site!

swharris · Feb 14, 2011

ovalracer33 said:
Our Shop Crane is going to be installed around our 2 post Rotary Lift. It will have 2 bridges, one on each side of the 2 post lift. I can post some pictures once it is installed on wednesday.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I found this version that can be partially or fully ceiling mounted (if the structure can handle it) or ground mounted. Only rated to 1,000lbs. but that will be enough for my light duty requirements.

http://snaptrac.com/products.php

Iluke · Feb 15, 2011

I built this job crane to use building my garage- Did't cost much and worked very well. I designed it for a 500 lb lift witha 2 to 1 safety factor. Came in real handy, but if I were to do it again I think I would spring for an electric winch instead of the hand-cranked verison.

AV8OR · Feb 15, 2011

The biggest problem with any of these is what they call "headroom." Once you add the beam width, the height of the trolly, the height of the winch and then the rigging underneath you really need a tall ceiling to get one of these in the shop to make one work.

jonathanttucker · Feb 16, 2011

I'm in the middle of designing/building a gantry crane for engine hoisting right now. i'd be glad to post pics of the plans/build if anyone's interested.

clkimmel · Feb 16, 2011

Here is one for sale on craigs list in Norfolk VA. $5000 too much for me!

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/tls/2216727094.html

jonathanttucker · Feb 17, 2011

the one i'm building will be completely of my design, including the I beam trolleys. i'll have rough plans up within the week. im looking at total cost under $200. i get metal fairly cheap though.

Jim Stabe · Feb 17, 2011

Mine is similar to Shopnut's. I used barn door tracks and hardware for a 900 lb capacity although I won't lift that much. The 12' main beam is 2 x 4" x 1/8" wall rectangle tube. I have lifted a 750 lb bench mill into a pickup and last weekend I put a 550 lb Chevy on my engine stand. It did require substantial beefing up of the post it attaches to. I don't know what I would do without it.

ovalracer33 · Feb 17, 2011

We put up our Shop Crane yesterday. It was very easy to install, it took 3 1/2 hours for me and dad using wrenches, a hammer drill (floor anchors) and 2 step ladders. It moves so easy, we picked up an iron head small block Chevy and moved it around with one hand. I can’t believe how little headroom it takes up, the cross beams about 5-6 inches tall and the hoist we got takes up very little as well. We have a tall shop and we bought a tall crane but for people that don’t have a lot of space for a garage crane this would work great. My father plans to use the lift and the crane to separate the body and chassis on his new project (30 Ford Coupe) in 2 weeks. Check out the picture.

outdoorspace · Jul 19, 2014

ovalracer33 said:
We put up our Shop Crane yesterday. It was very easy to install, it took 3 1/2 hours for me and dad using wrenches, a hammer drill (floor anchors) and 2 step ladders. It moves so easy, we picked up an iron head small block Chevy and moved it around with one hand. I can’t believe how little headroom it takes up, the cross beams about 5-6 inches tall and the hoist we got takes up very little as well. We have a tall shop and we bought a tall crane but for people that don’t have a lot of space for a garage crane this would work great. My father plans to use the lift and the crane to separate the body and chassis on his new project (30 Ford Coupe) in 2 weeks. Check out the picture.

How tall are your ceilings?

Edit: I just realized this thread is 3 years old...

jomobco · Jul 19, 2014

I've used mine a bunch. Handy for a solo job for sure:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=3306&pictureid=40095

Strouty · Jul 19, 2014

outdoorspace said:
How tall are your ceilings?

Edit: I just realized this thread is 3 years old...

That is OK, at least you searched. I was going to put a bridge crane in my shop , but at 12' 6" ceiling height the one I bought would need to be modified and then I would end up with 8' hook height. I am redesigning my shop in the future for taller ceilings to get more headroom.

There are several types of drive cranes available or you could make one yourself, just watch out for the safety police. :evil:

buzz4041 · Jul 19, 2014

I made mine out square tube. It is adjustable in height and easily breaks down so it can be stored easily. I have loaded it to around 700 pounds and that is all it will ever see around my place. As I work alone most of the time it has really saved me over the years.

Cyberbear · Jul 20, 2014

Many years ago I acquired a free rolling gantry crane that was home built by someone and when not in use was a place for his kids to swing. That has really come in handy several times.

I also designed and built my own jib crane that was attached to the outside corner of my shop and is supported by a concrete footing under the slab of my exterior lean-to roof.
The crane is designed to pivot so I can load/unload from two sides of the shop, and then be swung away under the shed roof when not in use. I had everything hot dip galvanized against rust before installation. Not being a civil engineer, I went online to companies that build and sell gantry cranes for the proper specifications. Everything has worked out great and I saved lots by building my own.

sberry · Jul 20, 2014

If a guy dosnt have a 2 T engine hoist he should and it would be a good start. You can do most things a diy would regularly do, takes up very little room, can fold out of the way or be moved.

mr48chev · Jul 20, 2014

A vintage but good thread.
I have had this one for probably 30 years and did a lot of improving in it about 15 years ago.

The I beam is aluminum and the legs are tube steel all military surplus. It is reasonably easy to slide around the yard as it has no wheels on it. Two people can lay it over and unbolt the three sections in about fifteen minutes to transport it. I usually use a 1-1/2 ton chain hoist on it but used the ratchet straps to lift the fiberglass roof off one van and set it on another with my cherry picker on the other end.

sberry · Jul 20, 2014

The real things most people need to rig are far and few. You can tie up a lot of money and while its nice to have it sits a lot. I can make do for one off jobs, I like handiness for the other 99 1/2

Anyone with a jib or bridge crane?

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