Anybody bolted a pickup truck crane to their Bridgeport?

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jmarkwolf

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Saw pics of one guy that fabricated a hand-cranked crane very similar to the HF pickup truck crane, and bolted it to the slotter hole at the back of his Bridgeport Vram .

Thinking about doing this to hoist rotary tables and vises but would like to hear more success stories.
 
No success story. You're idea might be good, but I personally wouldn't get the crane from HF.

I bought one of their 1 ton cranes. I had it in the 750 pound position and was using it to lift something that weighed about 350 pounds. It lifted ok but when I went to swing it over the seal at the top of the jack disintegrated. Literally crumbled like cheap pot metal.

I think a hand cranked winch type arrangement might be better.
 
I thought about a pickup truck crane for my Bridgeport but I went with the hydraulic lift table instead. I just raise it to table height and slide whatever on and off the mill and roll it over to my shelves. It's a lot more useful to me not having it tied to one machine. It might be a good choice if you have the room.
 
I would be building a gantry or beam lift that could get to the machine and anything in my shop area first. Seems much more versatile
 
I have one on my Dufour horizontal with vertical head. It is bolted to the end of the table. I can swing the vise to the table or the head to the overarm bars. It seems stable.
 
kf4zht said:
I would be building a gantry or beam lift that could get to the machine and anything in my shop area first. Seems much more versatile
Click to expand...

I have a gantry, but it's stored on the far side of the shop, with a lot of stuff between where I keep it and my Bridgeport! :)

I'm thinking the small hydraulic HF crane is light enough that it could be easily moved from the Bridgeport for hoisting vises and rotabs, to the lathe for hoisting chucks, to the trailer and to the truck for hoisting whatever, etc.

You'd just need to fabricate extra receiver plates, and bolt them up wherever you might need the crane.

Then you could just hand-carry the 50lb crane where needed, and drop it onto the post, instead of cleaning out the shop in order to roll the gantry over! :)

Partially disassemble it and the pieces weigh even less.

If the hydraulic cylinder fails, you can buy those anywhere.

That's a lot of versatility for $100!
 
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I have a beam crane that runs the length of my work area of my shop made of 8" C channels welded back to back. (Didn't have I-beam at the time). 14' high posts at either end and a 20' span; cross ties across the top to take out any wobble. Installed a 2 ton Jet electric crane(that I picked up at one of those one in a million opportunities that you come across from time to time) on a trolley.
I put the mill at one end and the drill press at the other. Also handy for holding the end of large (long work).
The truck crane sounds like a good idea. It's basically a Jib-crane, right? You might want to make some thing larger so that you can reach further into the centre of your shop. Mount it in the corner or on a wall. It would be sturdier.
Maybe I just think bigger is better.
 
OP here.

Now I'm considering a floor standing light-duty jib crane that would also brace to the wall. Don't know if it's practical since my floor, although reinforced, is only 4in thick and my walls are 2x6.

I'd only be lifting a couple hundred pounds max with it, but a crane centrally located on the wall between the Bridgeport and the lathe would have to have a nearly 5ft boom, to reach both.
 
The 4" floor I would view as a non-issue. Most of your load is going to be at the top wall attachment point. I would take a short piece of micro-lam/LVL and span 2-3 studs at your top attachment point and lag it into your 2x6 studs, or if you want a cleaner look, cut the sheet-rock out beyond either side and and nail your LVL in-between the studs and replace and patch your sheet rock. For you intended use, two pieces of laminated 3/4 plywood would probably suffice. Cheers, Mike
 
Sounds like it's time to rearrange the shop and put the Bridgeport and lathe back to back and share the rear mounting point on the Bridgeport for both machines.
 
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