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What Projects Are You Considering This Winter?

My winter project is to acquire a small lathe for the basement shop. Already moved the mill drill in last year and sold the 14x40 lathe i had. Would like to get a 10x28 or similar for hobby projects. My other lathe is a little to big to fit down the stairs, the 15x48 is around 2000lbs. I have a lot of odd ball stuff i want to make and don't like heading out to the farm shop for 10 minute jobs.
 
  1. Overhaul ‘54 Ford naa tractor
  2. Rebuild hydraulics on JD430
  3. Compound/cross slide rebuild on VonWyck lathe
  4. Shaper vise fix
  5. Cnc mill x axis pulley replacement
  6. Improve my TIG welding skills
  7. Hoard metal!



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I'm getting started on my newest crane project, a travelling gantry crane for my garage shop. First need to weld some 4X4X1/4 aluminum I beam together to make the rails. Pictures in anew thread soon... (as soon as my shop lighting is fixed...
 

Ok here it is. It's an Australian made machine - Hurcus - maybe 25 years old. Used an old Pentium computer with ISA slots (omg dating myself now). Rebuilt with a centroid cnc board and new servos, power supplies, motor controllers, etc. Tiny little 150mm edit 100mm chuck and it also has an automated tool changer - the tools rotate into position. No tail stock supplied. DC motor with a fancy driver up to 3000+rpm. New PC with ethernet to the Centroid board for control. The screen is a touch screen too.
 

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Get this finished and up and running, it is soooo close: Mostly alignment and electrical to be done. Work are is 6x17x17"
The Renishaw probe had rusted during its 30 year slumber, 3 days of effort and it is working again

Gerrit
 

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I have a very long bucket list of projects to do but currently at the top of the list I want to build a crane that can off load a 3000 lb vertical milling machine. I really want to get a milling machine and just passed up an outstanding deal because I didn't know how I could get it home. I already had one bad experience unloading something a lot lighter and don't want any more disasters. Was inspired by this one made of wood. Was wondering if using heavier 6X6 would make it strong enough?
https://www.popularmechanics.com/ho...antry-crane-to-move-your-heaviest-shop-tools/
 
I want to build a crane

I have seen wooden cranes on youtube, but I can't vouch for how strong they are. The thing that is concerning for me about your proposal is how you are joining the wood. O built a wooden cantilever crane on top of my garage using 4X4s and it proved to be weak on loads over 500 lbs. Knots and checks weaken wood considerably, and you have to really know your medium to make wood work....

Princess Auto sells a 2 ton gantry crane, if that helps, but I would be wary of it at 3000+ pounds.

My home built gantry crane was made from 4 X 4 X .166 steel tubing with 3/8 thick connector plates. I used 3/4 inch bolts to connect my crane together. with 5/8 bolts in the 'low stress' areas. The risers are .188 wall. For a look at my crane, it appears early in this thread:
https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/the-move-is-on-stairs-and-3-tons.1906/

BTW A Bridgeport #1 mill, the one with the 7X42 table and the 2HP head, weighs in at 2200 lb... I just moved an exact clone and weighed each component. My 9X49 'First' mill weighs in at 3800lb without the head, but is closer to a BP #2 with a heavier base.

I've seen several mills for sale in the Hamilton/Stoney Creek area. Another will come along when you are tooled for it, I'm sure. Too bad I'm so far away, or I'd be glad to help you out.
 
There is a guy down in Georgia that regularly uses a wooden gantry crane to move heavy diesel parts around. I’d say 500-1000 pounds. I’d be a little more worried about the 3000 pound range but anything can be built strong enough. Rough sawn oak from a small mill maybe?
 
I have seen wooden cranes on youtube, but I can't vouch for how strong they are. The thing that is concerning for me about your proposal is how you are joining the wood. O built a wooden cantilever crane on top of my garage using 4X4s and it proved to be weak on loads over 500 lbs. Knots and checks weaken wood considerably, and you have to really know your medium to make wood work....

Princess Auto sells a 2 ton gantry crane, if that helps, but I would be wary of it at 3000+ pounds.

My home built gantry crane was made from 4 X 4 X .166 steel tubing with 3/8 thick connector plates. I used 3/4 inch bolts to connect my crane together. with 5/8 bolts in the 'low stress' areas. The risers are .188 wall. For a look at my crane, it appears early in this thread:
https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/the-move-is-on-stairs-and-3-tons.1906/

BTW A Bridgeport #1 mill, the one with the 7X42 table and the 2HP head, weighs in at 2200 lb... I just moved an exact clone and weighed each component. My 9X49 'First' mill weighs in at 3800lb without the head, but is closer to a BP #2 with a heavier base.

I've seen several mills for sale in the Hamilton/Stoney Creek area. Another will come along when you are tooled for it, I'm sure. Too bad I'm so far away, or I'd be glad to help you out.
I was worrying about the very things you point out ie knots in wood Will have to take a close look at what you made. Was searching for it but couldn't find it before. I've been gradually collecting things to do such a job. Transport chain, load binders, 2 inch ratchet straps, 2 ton engine crane from PA (doesn't reach high enough). Was considering taking a rigging course but skeptical about how helpful it would be. A mentor nearby would sure be great but this forum perhaps is the next best thing. Very much appreciate the feedback.
https://osg.ca/variants/hoist-and-rigging-safety-training-online/
 
I was going to say that with the price of wood these days steel maybe cheaper,, but then I started looking at the price of steel. I don't know about out your way but the steel scrap yards around here don't do resale anymore so I do salvage yard shopping to help keep costs down. You might even find an old crane that is usable or at least fixable at a salvage yard.
 
My gantry cost just under 1000 dollars in materials and laser cutting; the Princess Auto 2 ton was 1200 dollars at the time, so I felt that it was worth it. It adjusts from 6' 2" to 11' 4", and has a yield strength of just under 20 tons, hence the 5 ton rating. It was modeled by my cousin the has a finite element analysis program - he builds cranes for a living...

In today's money it might be a lot more, but for what you're using it for, basing it on 3X3 tubing would work fine if you can get the heavy wall stuff (.166 or .188)
 
The biggest problems with “lifting devices” (ie cranes) is point loads. That’s how you break even the strongest ones. Always look for a way to distribute the load - even a small 6” or 12” dolly will improve your load lifting capability (or improve your safety factor X-fold, if you keep the max weight the same).

There are numerous catastrophic failures documented on the Internet...

8980330C-6533-45F2-9A4C-6EF225A4FDA5.jpeg


Here is the full article:

https://mechanicalelements.com/gantry-crane-failure-modes/

If you are going to build one from wood, consider using GlueLam or multi ply dimensional lumber for both your columns and header. Perhaps use a Beam Calculator like this: http://beamcalc.cwc.ca. There are also Column Calculators available. The longer (taller) an unsupported column, the lower it’s bearing capability. So, if you need lots of headroom (as in off loading a vertical mill from a trailer/truck), a crane that was good for 4000 lbs at 8ft extension, may only be good for 2000 lbs at 12ft.

If you plan on lifting 3000 lbs, build one that will handle 6000 lbs safely.

As has been stated, prices for wood / steel have gone up a lot. It may actually be cheaper to have a rigging company come in and off load your purchase...
 
I was worrying about the very things you point out ie knots in wood Will have to take a close look at what you made. Was searching for it but couldn't find it before. I've been gradually collecting things to do such a job. Transport chain, load binders, 2 inch ratchet straps, 2 ton engine crane from PA (doesn't reach high enough). Was considering taking a rigging course but skeptical about how helpful it would be. A mentor nearby would sure be great but this forum perhaps is the next best thing. Very much appreciate the feedback.
https://osg.ca/variants/hoist-and-rigging-safety-training-online/
Not sure if you meant transport chain as in that’s what you were planning to lift with or not. Usually transport chain is G70 whereas lifting chain is G100

You CAN use transport chain to lift with, as long as you know it’s not designed for it
 
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