Gantries, Who Has Them?

[rangerfredbob]

Here's my gantry, got it at a recent auction for probably too much (~$470 with fees) but I wanted it then and it was there, and still cheaper than the HFT and is wider... It's 10' tall, 10' wide and the footprint is 4' wide.

It has a Yale 1 ton trolley, I spent the last couple evenings getting the casters freed up, they're not perfect but they're greased up and roll good now...

It should nest with the 2 post lift decently

 

[Merch1]

When I was planning my garage build, I wanted some kind of lifting capability as I wanted to have a mezzanine for storage. After following Jaysin Spaceman’s build (rip) and seeing his excellent jib crane I thought that I could copy that for my build. I did and it works well. I will post pics as soon as I can figure out how on the practice page.

 

[GeoBruin]

That's great building it into the shop, takes up less space too, pics when done.

Finally (almost) done.

It was never supposed to be powered but when I swapped out the garage door opener for for the kind that fits on the torsion rod, this one went on Craigslist and it just sat there. Who knows if it will survive long term but it's kinda cool.

I'm going for "smallest shop with a bridge crane".

 

[king nero]

Why would you use a height adjustable one?
I built mine as high as I could, that would fit anywhere in my workshop (one floor, two roofs, with a small height difference). I have no reason to lower it - if anything, I could use a longer chain. Can't imagine why I would want the top beam lower/adjustable?

 

[PCMusicGuy]

Finally (almost) done.

It was never supposed to be powered but when I swapped out the garage door opener for for the kind that fits on the torsion rod, this one went on Craigslist and it just sat there. Who knows if it will survive long term but it's kinda cool.

I'm going for "smallest shop with a bridge crane".

Very cool. What is your estimated total cost all in for this? I've always wanted a Kundel SnapTrac type setup in the garage, but can't justify the price.

 

[930dreamer]

I have a homemade A-frame gantry made from oil field pipe and it's shakey. The casters don't have locks and it needs an I-beam instead of a pipe for the header. I almost had an industrial accident Sunday off-loading a material lift because one caster rolled out the shop door. As I get older I need to stop taking chances on stuff that can injure me quickly. Spanco has some nice products.

 

[b-dog]

Why would you use a height adjustable one?
I built mine as high as I could, that would fit anywhere in my workshop (one floor, two roofs, with a small height difference). I have no reason to lower it - if anything, I could use a longer chain. Can't imagine why I would want the top beam lower/adjustable?

For some, it could be stability. If you've ever put your life at risk with a cheap store bought gantry, you want it as low as possible. For me, my shop door is < 8ft tall and I want to use it outside. I built it with the max height and it clears the door. I would've built it taller if I could.

View attachment 1504024

 

[king nero]

Thanks for your response.
I understand and I agree. I wasn't taking sub-par quality equipment into account when I was writing that before.

 

[67CarGuy]

Finally (almost) done.

It was never supposed to be powered but when I swapped out the garage door opener for for the kind that fits on the torsion rod, this one went on Craigslist and it just sat there. Who knows if it will survive long term but it's kinda cool.

Genius! Don't think I've seen that before, but I like it.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Finally (almost) done.

It was never supposed to be powered but when I swapped out the garage door opener for for the kind that fits on the torsion rod, this one went on Craigslist and it just sat there. Who knows if it will survive long term but it's kinda cool.

I'm going for "smallest shop with a bridge crane".

I love it! Great idea with the opener, how is it to control?

 

[PoorUB]

Finally (almost) done.

It was never supposed to be powered but when I swapped out the garage door opener for for the kind that fits on the torsion rod, this one went on Craigslist and it just sat there. Who knows if it will survive long term but it's kinda cool.

I'm going for "smallest shop with a bridge crane".

The one issue with using the garage door opener is sometimes you need to move the crane one direction, just a tiny bit. With the door opener you may have to go left a bit to make it go right because you can not tell it which direction to go. It wants to go in the opposite direction of what it went the last time it ran.

Gut the control board, put a corded switch and a couple relays so you can push either of two bottons and go right or left.

 

[GeoBruin]

I worked okay but honestly I took it down. Trying to make small, fine adjustments when I was trying to center over something was annoying, and anytime I had something heavy hanging from it, it would trip the torque limiter. It also took up what little storage space I had above the gantry.

The crane itself is awesome. The electric drive... meh.

 

[PoorUB]

I worked okay but honestly I took it down. Trying to make small, fine adjustments when I was trying to center over something was annoying, and anytime I had something heavy hanging from it, it would trip the torque limiter. It also took up what little storage space I had above the gantry.

The crane itself is awesome. The electric drive... meh.

Well, I guessed that one correctly!
I can see it would have been nice. The speed was a bit suspect too, probably twice as fast and I would want.