Lets Talk Gantry Cranes

I made my gantry crane from steel from the scrapyard. It was made originally to move my late father in laws lathe (seen in the pics) from his garage workshop 300km away from home. It needed to be assembled outside, be low enough to roll inside and then jack up to have the lifting height, so it uses 2 long stroke 3T engine crane jacks to lift the top up and down. It uses industrial bin castors (500kg each) for wheels. the uprights are 100mm SHS, with the inner part 90SHS.green shed 1.jpg green shed.jpg

It lifted the milling machine in the photos (1350kg) and has been very useful for a number of jobs. One day I will extend it so it is higher, as this was limited to get it under the garage door, but it limits the height for lifting off trailers or tall machines such as the mill.
 
Goeff your gantry crane looks brilliant! If I had the ceiling height I would so copy your use of hydraulic jacks.
 
Found this thread by doing a search. So it seems everyone that has bought the HF one is happy with their purchase. I will probably go that route unless I can run across some free steel to fab my own.
 
Watch craigslist closely. I see them crop up frequently. I got a killer deal on a 2 ton gantry with a 2 ton electric chain hoist a couple years ago. Built like a rock. No wimpy 5" I-beams on this baby.
 
My HF gantry works well, except that I couldn't put down a channel iron track for the rubber faced wheels it so it seesawed a lot going from one end of the shop to the other. ( All 4 wheels were castors) I replaced the wheels with 2 cast iron fixed wheels and 2 cast iron castors and it helped a lot. The Ideal solution, if you can use tracks, is to lay 2 flatbar tracks with angle iron stitch welded open side down to it. Then you turn a 90 degree Vee groove in the face of cast iron wheels to ride on it. (They don't have to be very deep)
 
The only problem I have with the HF gantry is they should have made it a couple of inches wider. My 16' utility trailer won't fit between the legs. Not really a deal killer, you could modify it pretty easy, but I'm old and lazy these days.
I still look about every time I go in HF in Tyler
 
I agree the width is a tad narrow. Had the same issue with a trailer not quite fitting under it. Of course if they made it wider people might say too wide!! The HF one I have came with all cast iron wheels. I wonder if they switched at some point or if it varies by batch?
 
I have bought two two H.F. Gantry Cranes This Year Both had the cast iron wheels . I have a friend that wanted to hold a ski lift chair and the H.F. would work great Great price ,Under $ 500.00 . All I had to do was remove the I beam end plate and cut 4 foot off the I bean & Re well the end plate in the correct position. It now works great
 
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