Thread: Gantry build

Hi everyone hope you have had a good week and weekend.

I decided to make do with what I had already have (light A frames from the past)and weld a TEE to the existing A frame it looks a bit rough but should be okay for the Job.

Thanks for all the input into this build.

I will definitely referring back to the help that has been given in the future if I decide to make brand a brand New Gantry.

cheers.

Originally Posted by OxxAndBert

Some thoughts.

• with a 2 piece telescopic upright design like I used, you're limited as to min/max height you can use. You can get a higher maximum, but then the fully lowered height will be increased.
• the lifting gear itself chews up height pretty quickly. As does lifting something off a trailer - and even worse if its higher (like my landrover ute tray). Keep that in mind when you're deciding what height to make the gantry.
  Mine was made to be able to go through the door between the 2 parts of my shed, and extends up to 3.6m.

I'm really happy with the one I made, but for 1T it could be made much lighter.
The raise/lower mechanism is very simple and effective.
The only things that I would like to add would be a gear driven trolley, and some wind down supports for the ends of the legs (currently if I'm doing anything over about half its capacity I pack blocks of wood under the bottom beam so that if a caster fails its only going to drop <5mm)

Steve

Some really good information in your post mate. Do you mind me asking how much the telescoping column parts overlap when fully extended to 3.6m ?
I think you mentioned that you used 75 and 89 SHS with 5mm wall strength. Have you lifted anything heavier than 1t or is that what your chain block is rated for?

Cheers
Frank

Hi Frank - glad you found it useful.
There’s 400-500mm overlap at full extension.
The 400 is with the pin sitting UNDER the bottom of the upper piece. I’ve never used it that high, and definitely wouldn’t do it with a decent load on.
Come down to the first pin hole and it’s about 500mm overlap.
The lower member is 1600 long, so an adjustment range of roughly 1100mm.

Ive got the holes at 120 centers and never needed any finer adjustment than that.



Most I’ve lifted with it was my TOS mill at about 1.7T.

I’ve got 2 trolleys and chain blocks (1T and 2T) on it which has proved very useful.
Something you don’t think about unless you use them side by side - but a 2T block is MUCH slower to use than a 1T due to its lower gearing - meaning you have to pull about twice the amount of chain through to get the same distance lift.
Unless I need the lifting capacity of the 2T (or using both blocks together) then it’s always the 1T that gets the job as it’s faster.

Steve