Lifting heavy chucks is beyond me

Tim9 said:
Best and smartest thing I did was run a low cost Unistrut trolley in my shop. The struts and trolleys are cheap. Just a couple of days work to hang the struts. Sorry for the so-so pics
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What a great set up.

I am sure you are making some great stuff in that workshop.
I particularly like the use of your doors as handing space.

Mal
 
Mail, it’s worked well. But I did it as a necessity. I wish I had more space.
 
I'm getting much better at centering stock in the four jaw... simply because I don't want to lift that sucker off of the spindle. I already have a HF electric hoist above the mill for lifting the various fixtures. And I have an idea in my head for lifting the chucks. I just need to figure out the traveller and gantry. Ceiling is under 8 foot, so clearance is an issue.
 
Randy, check out the unistrut trolley system

The Unistrut brand is best. Home Depot and Lowe’s sell Chinese copies. They are not consistent. Bad quality control. I found out the hard way. I had a couple of bad ones I bought from Lowe’s and found out after I hung them caused me headaches.

if I had to do it again...I’d go to an electrical supply house and buy the real Unistrut brand.
Amazon sells the trolleys
Genuine Unistrut P2949-EG 2 Wheel Trolley Assembly for use with P1000, P1001, P5000, P5001, P5500, P5501 and All 1-5/8" or Taller Strut Channel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQ0LS1Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_C6xwFbVB810N3
 
Tim9 said:
Randy, check out the unistrut trolley system

The Unistrut brand is best. Home Depot and Lowe’s sell Chinese copies. They are not consistent. Bad quality control. I found out the hard way. I had a couple of bad ones I bought from Lowe’s and found out after I hung them caused me headaches.

if I had to do it again...I’d go to an electrical supply house and buy the real Unistrut brand.
Amazon sells the trolleys
Genuine Unistrut P2949-EG 2 Wheel Trolley Assembly for use with P1000, P1001, P5000, P5001, P5500, P5501 and All 1-5/8" or Taller Strut Channel https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KQ0LS1Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_C6xwFbVB810N3
Click to expand...
Tim, to confirm what you said, when I went to add my second trolley I purchased the strut from the local Home Depot and it was incompatible with the trolley rollers from McMaster Carr. I returned it and ordered the real thing. BTW Randy, my ceiling is right at 7 ft. My lathe is a 15x60. The Bridgeport barely fits with the motor sticking between the joists. I hope this provides some useful food for thought. I know I struggled for a while.
 
That's exactly the same issue I had Rick. I purchased six 12'-lengths from Lowes. Two were really crap. I used them in the center but had to do a lot of work to clean them up with an angle grinder. The trollies were binding. Its working okay, but I always have a little problem when I move it from one end of the shop to the other. It binds just a bit. But its okay for now. My advice... For a trolly system....GET THE REAL DEAL ...UNISTRUT which is made in USA. My ceiling is 7'-6" All in all...Every time I need to lift something...I love the Unistrut trolly system. AWSOME in my opinion .
By the way Rick, I see you used the proper hangers which are made for the job. I made my own. I kind of wish I would have bought the right ones but at the time I did my trolley I was also building the workshop and money was real tight. Oh well...it is what it is.

MAL....One more thing I just noticed. You have an eye-bolt to lift your chuck. Look at my first pic. I made that lift hook for my chucks. It lifts the chucks so they slide right up to the spindle. It might make your set up easier.
 
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RandyWilson said:
I'm getting much better at centering stock in the four jaw... simply because I don't want to lift that sucker off of the spindle. I already have a HF electric hoist above the mill for lifting the various fixtures. And I have an idea in my head for lifting the chucks. I just need to figure out the traveller and gantry. Ceiling is under 8 foot, so clearance is an issue.
Click to expand...

My ceiling height is only 6 foot 10 inches and the clearance under my gantry track 6 foot 6 inches.
I'm about 6 one, so lots of room as long as I stay away from high hats.

here is the carriage i made to move the lifter along in the channel.

Mal

MAL_7700.jpg
 
I was talking about replacing the eyebolt you are using. check out this pic. see how the hook balances the chuck upright so its already in line with the spindle.
Rick has a simular hook. just bend or weld some steel bar so it balances the chuck upright.
 

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Tim9 said:
I was talking about replacing the eyebolt you are using. check out this pic. see how the hook balances the chuck upright so its already in line with the spindle.
Rick has a simular hook. just bend or weld some steel bar so it balances the chuck upright.
Click to expand...
That's what I did and it works great. Another objective of my system is to have the cranking mechanism at/near the hook so that it is close at hand.
 
I've been debating on whether to try and spin the spindle into the suspended chuck, or whether to put bearings on the lift bracket so that I can spin the chuck onto the spindle. Old South Bend with a threaded spindle and no neutral shot of dropping the belt.
 
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