Electric workshop hoist

[brewdexta]

I'm looking to buy a hoist. It needs to be at least 500Kg, or 1000Kg doubled up. Also needs to lift at least 6m doubled up. Also it will be hung off a beam traveller. Preferably 240v but if the right one happened to be 3PH only then I may consider it.

There's loads of cheapo ones on fleabay for around the £200 mark and although it will be occasional use only my instinct tells me to avoid. Also these tend to be made to fit on scaffolding, although I guess I could make a hanger.

So I'm looking at good second hand kit, I've seen a few on fleabay such as Demag, Tractel Minifor etc however I have no experience of hoists.

I can search ebay as good as anyone so what I need is some advice from people who have bought and/or used hoists and can point me in the right direction

Cheers
Andy

 

[Gareth J]

I bought a cheapo winch with a rating of around 150kg to be fitted to a cattle crush (it was only around £50 and was an experiment to see if the principal worked). It's a really tough life for a winch and it was at the limits of its capabilities. While it didn't die, it lost a lot of ommpf so I replaced it with a bigger one ~300kg, again a cheapo one ~£140 it has been in place for a couple years now and is used several times a week, the motor barely grunts when it's lifting.

My advice if you're going to get a cheap one is don't expect it to pick up its rated load day in, day out for too long. Over-spec it and it will have a chance of lasting. pretty obvious I guess.

 

[brewdexta]

I bought a cheapo winch with a rating of around 150kg to be fitted to a cattle crush (it was only around £50 and was an experiment to see if the principal worked). It's a really tough life for a winch and it was at the limits of its capabilities. While it didn't die, it lost a lot of ommpf so I replaced it with a bigger one ~300kg, again a cheapo one ~£140 it has been in place for a couple years now and is used several times a week, the motor barely grunts when it's lifting.

My advice if you're going to get a cheap one is don't expect it to pick up its rated load day in, day out for too long. Over-spec it and it will have a chance of lasting. pretty obvious I guess.

Thanks Johnser, good to know the cheapo ones are an option. It will be occasional use and the max weight will be needed once in a while. At the price they are it may be better than a good quality second hand one that is 20 yrs old and had a tough life,

 

[dan.taylor.1]

Make sure you buy a HOIST not a WINCH, as the latter has no brake to hold a vertical load.

 

[brewdexta]

Good point

Title changed.

 

[zzr1200]

Depends on how much your willing to pay, why not consider an Air Powered Hoist, there's a 500KG one on Fleabay in Manchester atm.

I threw an Ingersoll Rand 1 ton version away about 4 months ago, but the air motor had seized after not being used for years, I ran it off a 14 cfm compressor and it would lift just over 1 ton...

 

[brewdexta]

Depends on how much your willing to pay, why not consider an Air Powered Hoist, there's a 500KG one on Fleabay in Manchester atm.

I threw a 1 ton version away about 4 months ago, but the air motor had seized after not being used for years, I run it off a 14 cfm compressor and it would lift just over 1 ton...

Thanks ZZR, very interesting, a bit short on chain but different, food for thought.

 

[dan.taylor.1]

There's an Ingersoll one on a local to me sell and seek Facebook page.

 

[zzr1200]

Thanks ZZR, very interesting, a bit short on chain but different, food for thought.

Lift chain purchased by the metre is cheap here

 

[brewdexta]

I've already got a 0.5 tonne manual chain hoist and a 2 tonne beam roller.

Thanks for all your comments guys, but I've decided to swing both ways

It was barking to spend loads of dosh on a big electric hoist just for the once in a year heavy lift and I didn't fancy bags of chain dangling around when moving stuff I just painted.

So I'm getting a smaller electric cable hoist for the day to day and a bigger 2 tonne manual chain hoist for the bigger lifts, both with 6m of lift so they can lift through the workshop hatch and into the barn below.

 

[winchman]

Make sure you buy a HOIST not a WINCH, as the latter has no brake to hold a vertical load.

Some winches have brakes, the big difference is a winch is rated for pulling a load and a Hoist is rated for lifting it so the factor of safety is different.
I tend to stay well away from a lot of the Ebay imported stuff as it often has no parts back up.
This company are the UK agent for Come Up one of the good quality imported winches they do a small range of hoists
http://www.winchsystems.co.uk/
Personally I would contact a few local lifting firms and see what they have second hand.
Demag and Tractel are well known

 

[blenkie1]

All the winches, or haulers we used to call them had brakes. Yale are a good make but nearly all 3 phase stuff

 

[Wedg1e]

I have two electric chain hoists; one's a single-phase Morris Chainmaster 1/2 Ton that was used to haul cows in a slaughterhouse mounted on an RSJ trolley and the other is a 3-phase King 500Kg travelling version. Both lifted my 650 Kg Colchester without any ominous noises. The King is dual-fall so it lifts and lowers slower than the single-fall Morris (more controllable).
Both types appear on the bay of evil in plentiful quantities; the King can be had for 70 quid or so. The Chainmaster looks to be an older design so they're usually cheaper; I paid less than twenty quid for mine