A few months ago I asked this group for ideas about gantry cranes. I was
considering building or buying one. If I built it I was looking at wood
and steel as alternatives. I got a lot of good responses from members of
the group that had both wood and steel. Some also directed me to web
sites that had some good plans. After giving consideration to all ideas,
I decided steel was the safest alternative. I then started checking the
availability of materials and costs. The first problem I ran into was
that the steel place I deal with didn't have stock pieces where one
square tube would slide neatly within the other. Stock sizes were either
too tight or sloppy loose. They could special order materials for me but
the "minimum" on special orders was a killer. Anyway, when I just
figured making it non adjustable the price of the steel alone was
rapidly approaching half of what it would be to buy one already made
from Harbor Freight. It would have taken quite a while to cut the steel,
weld it and paint it, so I bit the bullet and ordered one from
HF......it was on back order for more than a month.
Yesterday it arrived. It came in a very heavy crate that we had to open
and unload the individual pieces to get off the truck. It took a couple
hours to assemble and the biggest problem was tipping it upright after
we assembled it in the way the instructions told us. ( I any of you
should buy one, figure some way of putting the two vertical member and
the cross bar together, standing it up, temporarily bracing it and THEN
put the legs and wheels on)
It is VERY sturdy and after seeing it, I am glad I took the easy way
out. It's rated as a ton, but based on its "beefiness", I'd guess they
have a pretty good safety factor built in. I know I couldn't have built
one as good as this myself for the same money.
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