# Anybody bolted a pickup truck crane to their Bridgeport?



## jmarkwolf (Jan 12, 2017)

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.


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## Charles Spencer (Jan 13, 2017)

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.


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## pineyfolks (Jan 13, 2017)

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.


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## kf4zht (Jan 13, 2017)

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


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## DaveInMi (Jan 14, 2017)

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.


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## jmarkwolf (Jan 14, 2017)

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



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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## Joncooey (Jan 16, 2017)

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.


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## jmarkwolf (Jan 16, 2017)

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.


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## FOMOGO (Jan 16, 2017)

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


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## pineyfolks (Jan 16, 2017)

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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## jmarkwolf (Jan 16, 2017)

pineyfolks said:


> 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.



Interesting idea.

But it'd be tough to make that work though because my 28ft x 30ft shop doubles as a hangar for my helicopter and I have to leave the middle of the floor open.

My mill, lathe, welding booth, toolboxes, benches, gantry, cherry picker, drill press, 12in sander, vertical and horizontal band saws all line the walls. It all goes together like a jigsaw puzzle. I'm trying to figure out where to put my pedestal grinder which currently resides in my attached garage!


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## jmarkwolf (Jan 17, 2017)

FOMOGO said:


> 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. Cheers, Mike



Hi Mike

Your comments got me to thinking about "pull-out capacity" of lag screws in wood.

I Googled it and found a chart of various size lag screws in various species of wood. It's copyright protected or I would post it here, but I'm sure you can find the same thing if interested. It's published by Zilla (www.zillarac.com).

The highest strength combination in the chart is a 3/8" lag screw, 1" depth into Southern pine, and is rated at 451 lbs of pull-out.

With proper anchoring at the floor alone, the typical free-standing jib crane would be able to hold the load with an appreciable margin. Also anchoring to the wall should provide over-kill for the task.


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## jmarkwolf (Jan 20, 2017)

Update:

Original Poster here.

I've been deliberating how I wanted to implement a small crane or hoist to mount and demount my 10in rotary table and Kurt D688 vise on my Bridgeport, and to change out chucks on my lathe.

I've scoured the web for ideas, and looked at both Harbor Freight pickup truck cranes, and the Unistrut trolley systems, as well as others. I actually have other lifting devices for heavy lifting, but they don't fit well into the corner where my tools are.

The Skyhook has it's fans, but they're spendy, and I've never seen one in person, so I checked Craigslist for a used one. One popped up in Muskegon, Michigan, and included the cart and counter weight accessory pack. The unit is basically new and unused. Some of the packing material is still attached!

I briefly debated whether to make the 2 1/2 hour drive, each way, but the asking price was $400 which is approx $2000 less than the published asking price at places like MSC. The seller says they bought a couple of them but then consolidated some shops and didn't need two. He agreed that he would hold it long enough for me to drive there.

I met the seller in Muskegon, we loaded it into the back of my SUV, and I am now the proud owner. This may even qualify as a tool gloat! See attached pic.

The only downside is the floor space the cart takes up, in my already crowded 28 x 30ft shop. If I decide I don't like the cart I could probably sell it for most of what I paid for the shooting match, and keep the crane. The crane is easily movable to any place where I have fabricated posts to accommodate it. It also has a bunch of mounting accessories available.

Owning a crane takes all of the fun out of looking for a crane!


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## Lornie McCullough (Feb 5, 2017)

"Owning a crane takes all of the fun out of looking for a crane!"

I believe that quote is the sign of a true tool-aholic....... 

Lornie


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## kd4gij (Feb 10, 2017)

Nice score    and


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