My Shop's Two Rolling Bridge Cranes...

[OldCarGuy]

My main home machine shop is 30' by 50'and every square inch fill with my toys. Making a lift truck and or cherry picker out of the question to pickup and move heavy objects. I enjoyed a lifetime of working with and designing all types of cranes in the work place. Plus one of my mentors had a huge machine shop attached to his retirement house in Florida. That had a light duty (few hundred pound capacity) Rolling Bridge Crane covering the machinery. That gave me the inspiration to add Cranes at home too.

The main Bridge Beam is 14” by 28' and the two 10” by 48' runway beams. There are six 4” by 4”wide flange I-Beam support columns.
Welding plates on ends of columns


Drilling holes in beams using my magnetic drill

Welding plates on both ends of columns

Backing beams into my Home Workshop

Making end truck from some steel I had

Wheels I salvaged from several hoist trolleys

Painted

Removed guard from my scissor truck and used to raise beams into place.

Braced to wall six places at columns.

Bridge beam mounted on end trucks waiting for hoist

New Coffing 4,000 pound capacity Chain Hoist with built in trolley that allows least amount of space between hoist and bridge beam. Leaving just less than 9' of hook height. Also note the two ReelCraft power cord reels with 10-3 cords.. Far neater than the festoon method as seem in the picture below that I had originally used. The Coffing replaced the three-phase Dayton. And do not have to run the RFC to use the hoist.

Picking up my 4,000 pound G&E Shaper off my trailer. The crane was used to install or rearrange all the shop's equipment

Picture of my Bridge Crane in another garage that I use to pull engines. Also 4,000 pound capacity.. I only runs from the front end of garage to the BendPak lift columns. I never upgraded the Festoon wiring..

Removing the two cylinder engine from the 1910 Buick frame..

 

[rabler]

Having a bridge crane to cover large parts of the shop is a game changer.

 

[CJ5Dave]

That is serious.

 

[sycle1]

Very Cool.
Yep! definitely on the to do list! maybe a little bit lighter duty, but yeah!

 

[Just for fun]

Nice Bridge Crane, well nice bridge cranes. And you also have a nice clean shop, looks great!

 

[RandyM]

WOW!

 

[rwm]

Fantastic! I want one!
I know nothing about these cranes. I see yours is tied into the walls of the building. How exactly is this accomplished? Are there any specific requirements of the building structure? Is this sufficient to prevent racking? Let's assume I am building a shop from scratch. What special features could I include to facilitate such a crane? I know there are a few other crane builder here!

 

[OldCarGuy]

A Bridge Crane pays of in spades and well worth the time, effort, and money put into them. My first major bridge crane in my home work shop was nearly 40 years ago. And this one has been 20 years now. The very biggest advantage of a good crane is safety. There was a day that I pulled engines in the back yard using a chain hoist and an old Oak Tree. Not a good idea! Luckily I always came out unscathed. I spent countless hours working alone. And the crane goes a long way as a third arm. A lift truck or cherry picker not so much. Easy to store and out of the way, while always a simple roll away.

Planning in advance is important.Determine what capacity will meet your needs. I had two 4,000 pound electric chain hoists in my stash. That was a major factor to work around. Mind you the more capacity takes stronger beams meaning more $$. Must have a clear ceiling and cannot have any power or air lines drops. Placing equipment on the outside walls is a necessity. I made provisions of conduit for electric and air lines under the floor for the machines in the center of my shop. The over running bridge design is stand alone and simply lagged to the walls for side sway stability. If an end truck or wheel fails, the bridge beam will stop when hits the runway beams. In any event, NEVER work under nor put hands under anything that's being lifted. Always block the load first... Use the common sense rule..

 

[Rex Walters]

I’m saving these photos for the next time my wife rolls her eyes at my excesses with the hobby. I’m drooling!

Those photos of installing the I-beams show an empty shop, though. How on earth did you accomplish THAT?!

Or were you fortunate enough to completely build the new shop before moving out of the old one?

I’m blessed to be building out a similarly sized shop, 30x60 but one end is a bit of a man cave for the pool table and guitars.

I still have major work remaining on the interior (ceiling + blow-in insulation, walls + batt insulation, movable wall-curtains, conduit and wiring).

Until that’s complete, I’m having to keep everything on wheels or cribbing to get a pallet jack under it. My life was improved immeasurably after acquiring a cheap little 1t HF gantry crane ($640 with a 25% off coupon) along with the cheap used pallet jack.

All of my stuff has to go somewhere until the work is complete, though, and my wife nixed using the dining room.

Any advice you might have regarding building out a larger home shop would be extremely welcome.

 

[OldCarGuy]

I’m saving these photos for the next time my wife rolls her eyes at my excesses with the hobby. I’m drooling!

Those photos of installing the I-beams show an empty shop, though. How on earth did you accomplish THAT?!

Or were you fortunate enough to completely build the new shop before moving out of the old one?

I’m blessed to be building out a similarly sized shop, 30x60 but one end is a bit of a man cave for the pool table and guitars.

I still have major work remaining on the interior (ceiling + blow-in insulation, walls + batt insulation, movable wall-curtains, conduit and wiring).

Until that’s complete, I’m having to keep everything on wheels or cribbing to get a pallet jack under it. My life was improved immeasurably after acquiring a cheap little 1t HF gantry crane ($640 with a 25% off coupon) along with the cheap used pallet jack.

All of my stuff has to go somewhere until the work is complete, though, and my wife nixed using the dining room.

Any advice you might have regarding building out a larger home shop would be extremely welcome.

Starting with a clean slate is the best way. Twenty years ago I down-sized my last home that was 6,600 square feet with about 3,000 garage/shops. And purchased ten acres with a 3,500' house with three car garage and 30' by 50' detached building. I wanted to build another stand alone 5,000' shop. The newly active planning commission nixed that idea. If I indicated it was for horses rather than horse-power. I could have built 10,000' without a permit! Instead over the next two years I built one two story 30' by 50' attached to the house. And two four-car garages facing each other, and two other additions for a total of 8,500' of working paradise. All heated and air-conditioned and each with their own electric load centers. I did most the work with help from some friends...

Overview.

A good friend poured a curvy front driveway and a straight one out the rear. That are 12' wide with a minimum 6” deep using 450 cubic yards of 4,500 PSI cement. The pavement between the buildings is enough that I can turn my Avalanche pulling a 22' trailer.