Unistrut Trolly

[verbotenwhisky]

I have successfully lifted 600 lb loads with a unistrut & trolley system. I mainly use it to replace joists, girders and lift materials in building renovations.
View attachment 506286
HF 1100 Lb electric hoist mounted to 2 double roller trollies, running in double decker strut channel, supported by B7 grade threaded rod. All but the hoist from McMaster Carr

View attachment 506287
The task was to replace all the joists I a 200 year old building, the engineer did not allow us to remove more than 3 joists at a time for fear of the wall buckling outwards. I came up with this system so we could do them one at a time.

View attachment 506288
This is a 450 lb Girder lift.

View attachment 506290
Its 28' long

View attachment 506291
Went in like a letter in the box!

Nice work.

 

[Dhal22]

I have 2 play areas, a bigger toy room at my warehouse and a basement shop. The basement toy room has a tv on a trolley wheel on unistrut. I can slide the tv in front of French doors and flip it around for back patio watching.

 

[Charles scozzari]

In the construction trades ( Local ! Elevator Constructer ) uni strut was known by Kindoff the manufacturers name. We used it to mount shaft limits as well as electric 1900 boxes but always in a vertical position. Electricians used it to mount panel boxes and more, again in there case vertically with some exceptions for panel boxes.

 

[Charles scozzari]

I have successfully lifted 600 lb loads with a unistrut & trolley system. I mainly use it to replace joists, girders and lift materials in building renovations.
View attachment 506286
HF 1100 Lb electric hoist mounted to 2 double roller trollies, running in double decker strut channel, supported by B7 grade threaded rod. All but the hoist from McMaster Carr

View attachment 506287
The task was to replace all the joists I a 200 year old building, the engineer did not allow us to remove more than 3 joists at a time for fear of the wall buckling outwards. I came up with this system so we could do them one at a time.

View attachment 506288
This is a 450 lb Girder lift.

View attachment 506290
Its 28' long

View attachment 506291
Went in like a letter in the box!

Really nice job.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

I am not telling you guys not to use Uni-Strut and I am not telling you that you are wrong, I am telling you the due to my experience with the stuff I am not willing to use it as a trolley beam for lifting heavy stuff.

 

[verbotenwhisky]

In the construction trades ( Local ! Elevator Constructer ) uni strut was known by Kindoff the manufacturers name. We used it to mount shaft limits as well as electric 1900 boxes but always in a vertical position. Electricians used it to mount panel boxes and more, again in there case vertically with some exceptions for panel boxes.

It is very stout in compression.

 

[pontiac428]

The barn door hardware is designed to support a large heavy wooden door out in the open which is why I felt comfortable with looking at it. Despite their loading I will not use the ball wheel type trolleys and track, it just looks like the track would spread open.

I think I understand the difference now after looking into it... Channel strut is for mounting things, but door track is load rated and meant for moving hanging weight. It might be semantics, we call tissues Kleenex but there's a difference between single ply cheap hotel junk and the stuff I buy to put in my bathroom. So from this point forward, I will only consider door track- which is available at load ratings up to 5,000 lbs- that's a whopping distinction!

Here's what I'm up against. Would it be a bad idea to try to fasten track to this type of joist system? It's clearly not meant for a hanging load. I could anchor to the posts somehow. This space is 12x12 feet square, joists on 12" centers, and I would like to cover 8 to 10 feet of travel:

 

[plongson]

I've was in heavy maintenance all my life that included running cranes and working under them. The first thing one learns as a rookie is NEVER GET UNDER A SUSPENDED LOAD...and...NEVER ASSUME OR TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT ANY PART OF THE RIGGING CANNOT FAIL. Your life is suspended above you...never take chances. and get the load down as soon as possible.

As for my setup (OP and first photo in this thread) The beam is laminated 2x6x16 (maybe 18+). The load capacity of the beam is unknown but WAY more than I'm gonna lift with a chicken **** chain fall. Weak point would be the lag bolts, but they were installed correctly and are 6" long.

Ya just gotta be careful...

 

[Charles scozzari]

Hi, I think I would use two columns and a horizontal spanner of the same material of 4x4x1/4" angle or 4x4x1/4" square tube mounted at the floor ( Hilti bolted ) on a bearing plate and tagged to the structure and the track mounted to the verticals placing the load on the foundation.

 

[rwdenney]

I have also been around bridge cranes and agree that one shouldn’t be under any suspended load no matter what the rating.

By the way, Unistrut has an edge that is fully rolled to parallel with the sides. That would have to unroll for the strut to spread. The hangers are through-bolted right above the strut to prevent them from opening up.

But their load rating is in the hundreds, not the thousands, and they must be properly used. I was mainly reacting to the 50-100-pound worry level, which is a small fraction of the (US) manufacturer’s rating.

Rick “noting some equipment mounts on Unistrut impose more stress than a trolley given the hardware used” Denney