Art & Inspiration help yourself homemade frame construction design steel beams for chain hoist use workshop

hello guys are a motor enthusiast like you and I possess an old shed that I converted into a workshop so I need a hoist to remove engine and remove lift heavy parts and unload bulky items a small mobile crane to hang a chain hoist may help me to design it virtually measurements are: 10 feet wide 10 feet below hoist height 7 feet wide support base with wheels I thought of a gantry crane with sliding on the cross to be carried out in steel beams reach 2 tons could you help me designing it and suggesting the right materials to the right tube and right beams bolts thanks to those who will want to help the next

 

Why not use a portable engine hoist,they will lift the same amount of weight and you can probably buy one cheaper than the materials it would take to build what you have posted.

You can buy one for less than 200 bucks,from Sears,HF,Autozone,Granger and probably many more places.

A big advantage is when it is not in use it folds up in the corner. HRP

 

I'm all ears, I want to make one of these too and I've already got the chain hoist. While a portable engine hoist is small and can fold up in the corner, a larger gantry crane lift bodies off, pick up my boat, and on and on. Plus they're just neat and the only things more traditional that a gantry crane for lifting is barn beams and oak trees. I'm just not sure about the engineering needed to not kill myself.

 

More of a reason to buy one already built. Harbor Freight sells a gantry crane just like that.

 

The Harbor Fright one is one ton. At almost 700 bucks, I'll let the Chinese keep it. I'm sure I could build a better one from scrounged and purchased materials for as much or less. I'd overbuild it, as I usually do. Probably 2 1/2 or 3 inch, 1/8 wall for the A frame portions and I beam sized for the trolley that I would use

 

The problem with conventional engine hoists is that they don't go under really low cars, and they don't have enough reach for really long nose cars. I really need to build one of these.

 

I'd look here for some ideas...

http://www.diycranekits.com/fixed-height-steel-gantry-cran/

 

Go to your local PullaPart and look at their cranes. The one near me has really heavy duty looking rigs. They're beat to shit, but work pretty well under rough conditions.

 

The one I had used a 6" I beam across the top. The legs on mine were cobbled up because they were too short to start with. If I were to build A frame legs, I would use 1/4" wall 2" x 2" square tube with a 7' wide bottom & a center support of the same tubing. Use large diameter steel casters (with brakes), with 4x the capacity you think you will ever need. Securing the top beam to the legs is the most critical part, and overkill is the word to use here. Be sure the top beam is braced so that it can't roll, and will not allow the legs to spread.

A couple of things to keep in mind with a portable gantry.
1) You can not move it with weight on it, the top beam connection will not take twisting motion very long at all, before it fails and everything comes crashing down. The wheels are only for positioning it in place before lifting anything.
2) Give some thought as to how you intend to assemble your gantry, handling a 200 lbs 10' beam 10' in the air while adding two side A frames to it, is not for the weak at heart, and requires planning.
3) Depending on what your using to lift with, a 10' under beam height is pretty close by the time you get a motor & trans attached to the chain fall under the beam lifting, out of 3' high fenders. or a cab off a frame, with a motor to clear.
4) Moving a large gantry into position is a 2 man job, and the floor better be level. A gantry in the dirt is an accident waiting to happen.
5) If your using new steel (I wouldn't trust rusty stuff) with a new chain fall, I beam trolley, and heavy duty casters, it won't be cheap.

I sold mine to a guy that uses it to break apart large farm tractors to do repairs on, in his shop. Gene

 

I built a rolling A frame gantry many years ago and use it all the time with a 3 ton chain fall. It has 10" heavy duty wheels and is just the ticket for jobs that are out of reach or way too heavy for my HF cherry picker. In fact, it's all I ever used as I've had the cherry picker for less than a year. It's the closest I'll get to having a forklift around the house.

It's a piece of cake to lift bodies and pickup beds off chassis' and I've also used it to up or down load heavy items off a trailer or pickup such as engines, chassis and heavy machinery such as a lathe and sheet metal brake. It's wide enough that I can roll it right over a truck bed or trailer, lift the item, then pull the vehicle away. You can then lower the item onto the ground or a cart or lower it very near to the ground, then roll the gantry around.
A huge plus is that I can do it solo without having to wait/beg for help to lift a body, etc.

 

You could just use your 12' gantry crane to hold the I beam in place. Oh...that won't work...

Sounds like something I need to make, I think I have most of the stuff for it besides the I beam. Although a guy could make his own I beam from flat steel.

 

I need one of those, an oak tree and come-along works good, but not very portable!

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