Gantry Crane
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:08 pm
Finally getting around to building a small gantry crane for the shop and rail yard. I’ve been sourcing materials on and off since last year and now have most of the components.
Crane dimensions will be just over 8’ wide x 10’ tall, with 72” horizontal beams that the casters mount to. Also “3x3” square tubing for the uprights, and heavy gauge 2.5” x 2.5” tubing for a short vertical extension. It fits nicely inside the square tuning. My working load will usually be 1500# or less, and Max point loading probably never exceed 2000 pounds. The frame will be a modified T frame style with heavy gauge support beams welded to 6x6 I beams on the bottom and stout 6 bolt connection plates welded to the top of the vertical support posts. The cross beam on top will be bolted to the verticals for disassembly, as needed.
Primary use will be loading and unloading my locomotives onto work benches for winter maintenance, and the occasional lifting and repositioning of a lathe or mill.
One big question. which beam should I use for the overhead? I have two available. One is 5”h x 3”w x 9’ beam that previously saw duty in a front end alignment machine. I do not know it’s structural rating.
The other is 6”x6” high strength structural beam, rate at 65000#. Just about twice the rating of an A36 beam. For this light weight crane the 6x6 seems like overkill. If I don’t use it, I could save it and build a 2 ton gantry at a latter date.
Any engineers out there might be able to say if the 5x3 would be suitable for a 2000# point load? I tried running a a couple of on line calculators, but got stumped on some of the input criteria.
Not much to look at, but so far have cut and drilled most of the vertical supports and support beams. As mentioned the bottom of the angle supports in the picture will get welded to horizontal I beams.
Cutting the structural support members with the old power hack saw - awhomp, awhomp, awhomp, awhomp - music to my ears! Thanks
Glenn
Crane dimensions will be just over 8’ wide x 10’ tall, with 72” horizontal beams that the casters mount to. Also “3x3” square tubing for the uprights, and heavy gauge 2.5” x 2.5” tubing for a short vertical extension. It fits nicely inside the square tuning. My working load will usually be 1500# or less, and Max point loading probably never exceed 2000 pounds. The frame will be a modified T frame style with heavy gauge support beams welded to 6x6 I beams on the bottom and stout 6 bolt connection plates welded to the top of the vertical support posts. The cross beam on top will be bolted to the verticals for disassembly, as needed.
Primary use will be loading and unloading my locomotives onto work benches for winter maintenance, and the occasional lifting and repositioning of a lathe or mill.
One big question. which beam should I use for the overhead? I have two available. One is 5”h x 3”w x 9’ beam that previously saw duty in a front end alignment machine. I do not know it’s structural rating.
The other is 6”x6” high strength structural beam, rate at 65000#. Just about twice the rating of an A36 beam. For this light weight crane the 6x6 seems like overkill. If I don’t use it, I could save it and build a 2 ton gantry at a latter date.
Any engineers out there might be able to say if the 5x3 would be suitable for a 2000# point load? I tried running a a couple of on line calculators, but got stumped on some of the input criteria.
Not much to look at, but so far have cut and drilled most of the vertical supports and support beams. As mentioned the bottom of the angle supports in the picture will get welded to horizontal I beams.
Cutting the structural support members with the old power hack saw - awhomp, awhomp, awhomp, awhomp - music to my ears! Thanks
Glenn