Chainfall in the shop ideas

Your comments pls - In center of my shop I have a large iron I-beam that I am considering welding on a plate to mount a braced swinging I-beam arm to hold a 2-ton capacity trolley chainfall. The I-beam arm would be about 12' long so it could swing out to center of drive thru bay, stowed against the sidewall when not in use. This would be used to pull motors, change tires, field mods to implements i.e. removing 50 yr. old hog wire from brush cutter's stump jumper etc.

Are they going to have a sale there or sub-action it out?

If there going to have a sale there, please let me know.

T_Bone

JU

I had planned to use I-beam but will consider H-beam. I had already planned on dual 30 degree braces (top/btm) with 2 short internal 90 degree braces (horizontal inside the 30 degree braces). These would be anchored back to the upright.

I have considered full span bracing across the breadth of the shop using the trolley but wanting mobility so I don't have to bring rig/implement right into the dead center of the shop. Also full span bracing lengthwise is out of the question given the end wall materials.

Also, I meant to say I would be ATTACHING a 2 ton chain fall to the swing beam. While I seriously doubt I would ever put 2 ton of actual weight on it complancy can breed contempt - i.e. replacing pins on my MF 50C TLB boom or bucket. Over time one would get to comfortable with something an WAMO - GOTCHA!! If one is lucky not permanently.

So now it back to the drawing board. Til the next time. Thanks.

TomVA, T-Bone, bbot -
Went back to the drawing board and said - "What the heck am I doin?" Why reinvent the wheel? Use someone else's engineering sense. Well, I found the hoist. What do ya think?

Now I really need your help!! How do I convince wife that new home has to go on hold until I finish expanding shop for the hoist?

LOL and thanks for the insight.

It's that 100yd of concrete pillar base that eats the install time up tho.... :)

T_Bone

You have to run a substantial rod back to the top of the column from the end of the horizontal beam, 30 to 45 degree angle. In a home shop I don't know that you'll have enough headroom to do that. (Our shop had 30' headroom so you could.)

The rod has to pivot too on the same center as the swing arm. I've see some of these built off a heavy shaft and bearings that are bolted to the column to get the 'swing'. Everything will have to be well braced and anchored... one ton on the end of a 12 foot beam has a lot of advantage.

Tom hit this one the head...LOL

You would need a very strong column and then run a 30 degree kicker from the end of the 12ft horzontial back to the top of the column. You would need to set the swing arm pivot and kicker in bearings to move 2ton load.

Can it be done? sure can! but at what cost.

What maybe to consider is a H frame with a trollie H-beam as that would take less "big" iron to make.
Anotherwords two columns with a H-beam between them with trollie wheels on the H-beam.

I-beam= a beam where the beam flange widths are less than the web height. Look at the letter I an consider that a end view of a "I-beam"

H-beam= a beam where the flange width is equal to the web hieght thus forming an H. Turn the letter "H" on it's side to see the end view.

You could also truss the top of the H-beam to keep the beam weight per/foot down.

You need to go look at a few H-beam overhead shop hoist with a span of 12ft and look at the steel that is required. It will shock you on what it takes to build one!

T_Bone

I suggest saving yourself a lot of engineering, time and likely money as well and get yourself a gantry set-up. You can get them with steel casters or V-grooved wheels that run on a track made of inverted angle iron acnhored to the floor.

I built one myself from some leftovers I had laying around. 3" x 1/4" wall square tube set on 30 degree angles to the 8" 23 pound main cross beam. Used 6" steel swivel base casters with roller bearings rated for 3500 pound loading each. Chain drive trolley and 3 ton CM chain hoist. Top of main cross beam sits 13'-11 1/2" from the floor to clear the 14' overhead door. Overall width is 13'-6" allowing it to fit out the door as well. I used a pre-engineered gantry as my pattern.

I don't want to quote a price on a ganrty because they all differ with weight limits, designs and options. I did install a bare bones model for a customer that came with a 1500 pound 120volt cable hoist and V-groove wheels last year. Total cost was around $6500 which included 140' or so of angle iron track. A fixed hight gantry w/o hoist or trolly should fall somewhere around $1200 to $2000. These are engineered with the 5:1 safety factor considered and are the safest way to ensure you don't waffle yourself or someone else. Personally, I'm not fond of engine hoists at all, seen too many of them tip over and or collapse busting up people and equipment. Aside from a bridge crane, a gantry is the next best thing. A jib only swings in a defined area while a gantry can be moved in many directions.