Welding Tips and Tricks

I was is desperate need of some lifting equipment for my little shop, and after researching different options and cost, I decided to build my own gantry crane.
Got some good 2000 lb wheels for starters


A friend gave me a great deal on a nice piece of W8x24 beam for my gantry.


The rest of the materials come from a local supplier.


I cut the parts to length as much as I could on my home made chop box and finished some of the cuts on my band saw.






Then welding it all together.


A friend of mine bought a magnetic drill, which came in real handy as I had to drill holes into the top plate and beam.
Doing it this way was perfect.




More pics to come!

Love the mag drill. Looks nice. Did you copy dimensions from an engineered one?

Here is what I found and what the design is based upon:

http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/v ... ext=braesp

When it says calpoly.edu you can bet there were a few engineers involved.

After drilling the top plates and beam, I was able to weld the plates and braces to the main posts.
Alignment of these components was crucial!


I wanted to add a little color to my shop, this being a fairly large machine, I choose blue to match my welders and other pieces of equipment. Rattle can spray paint did the trick!


All the parts finished and ready for final assembly!


With a friends help and a forklift (Yes it's good to have both!) we were able to put it all together. It's just the right size to move around the shop and do all the heavy lifting in the future.


I made a little collector box for the lift chain on my hoist to clean everything up a little.
The tacked together box was made a little long to figure out how much space would be needed for the chain with the hook all the way up. It's easy to cut it back as needed.


Here it is mounted to the hoist housing.


Cut to finished length and painted.


First lift test was my welding table, approx 1,500 lb total. Lifted it with ease and moved it a little more into the shop space.


Parked in the corner ready for the next lift.

Very, very nice - I like it!

Amazing work. You are da man!

I'm diggin' the collector box for the chain. It has me thinking.

Defender Chassis wrote:I'm diggin' the collector box for the chain. It has me thinking.

I was thinking the same thing

really compete build.
i see an english wheel and several
bikes in the shop. do you do bikes
mods for a living?
craig

Really nice gantry well done. With your 8" beam I reckon it should be good for 3000 LB as long as you have hi tensile bolts fitted. The chain box is a really interesting idea. Those chain droppers really get in the way if you are trying to protect a nice paint job (which is most times). I'd be interested to know if you experience any jam ups.

I have a 9000 LB (4000kg) monorail fitted to my shop. The structural engineer made me use 14" beam, not so much that 14" web was required, more for the thickness of the flange. He was worried that the beam crawler wheels running on the outside corner would bend the flange down under 9000 LB. Otherwise 12" would take the weight.

I love the work!!! do you think we could get a break down of materials and cost of setting one up?
thanks!!!

motox wrote:really compete build.
i see an english wheel and several
bikes in the shop. do you do bikes
mods for a living?
craig

I love to work on bikes and do a lot of modding, but not for a living!

houdni wrote:I love the work!!! do you think we could get a break down of materials and cost of setting one up?
thanks!!!

Here you go, houdni!

Cost for steel $928.51
Cost for wheels $477.68
Cost for trolley and hoist $537.98
Cost for nuts and bolts $65.77
Cost for paint $12.82
Cost for misc. stuff $50.58

Total Cost: $2,073.34

37 hours for design and fabrication.