[TheForge] Ahh, for a crane....

[RIES NIEMI]

About ten years ago, I got a wallace catalog, and copied the portable
gantry- built one out of 3" square tubing, real big casters, and a 1ton
chainfall. I made mine adjustable height, which has come in real handy over
the years, as I moved to different shops with different height ceilings.
At various points, it has lived in the shop, and moved all kinds of stuff.
It is the next best thing to a bridge crane, sort of a poormans bridge
crane. One other really neat thing about it is we use it for a giant welding
positioner/ parts spinner. We welded on a couple of pieces of 2 1/2" pipe at
the same height on each "A" frame and then made a series of different jig
holders out of the next size down of pipe. The most used one is about 3 feet
of pipe, with a foot of big 3x3x3/8" angle welded perpendicular at the end.
Put one in each end, and you can clamp a square tubing gate or fence section
frame to it, and the whole thing will revolve in space, roll around the
shop, and you can use the chainfall to load and unload the thing. Last year
we built some big columns the same way- we put a 10 foot long piece of 9"
pipe from a frame to a frame, and assembled our columns over the pipe, lots
of little pieces that we put together by upsetting the ends of the
connecting bars with a torch- very labor intensive, and so easy to just spin
the pipe so the next one was in the up, easy to get at position. At the end,
we lifted the pipe out of the spinners with the chainfall, slid the hollow
column off the pipe, and started the next one.

As far as power drops getting in the way of the bridge crane, this is an
unfortunate problem. I am planning on keeping most of my powered machinery
in my current shop, and using the new shop for as a flexible space for large
assembly and fabrication. If I need a particular machine over there, we will
move it over for the duration of the job, then move it back. Keep most of
the clutter in the old shop. Last year we built a 40 foot long, 12 foot
tall, 8 foot wide bridge in the shop, and we had to shove everthing into
corners, leaving no room to work or use tools- then we had to drag it out by
hooking it to the truck, and putting dollies under the other end.

Jobs like that have us daydreaming the layout and features of a big empty
room. With 1 foot squares of 1" plate, with tapped holes in em, set flush
with the concrete floor, on a grid. Tied together under the concrete with
rebar, so they are all grounded together. Any metal touching any one of em
is grounded, no annoying welding ground problems. Bolt down jigs or tools to
any of them, anywhere in the shop, then move em when you are done. In my
current shop, we have a whole lot of ground off bolts in the floor where we
have used concrete anchor bolts to fasten temporary jigs to the floor. Sort
of unattractive looking.

The perfect shop is always the next one....
but, like you say, it beats the alternative.