Dcal
Member
- Messages
- 3,864
- Location
- Antrim Northern Ireland
I have been thinking of building an A frame gantry for a while.
I have pretty chunky rafters in the garage and can attach a block and tackle to them for pulling an engine or the like but there are times when the ability to lift and move something heavier, or be able to use it outside would be really useful.
Also, I recently bought a DSG lathe that weighs at least 2.5t.
I can't get a Hi-hab into where it is located so I thought I might as well make the A frame so I can transport it to the lathe, assemble it, lift the lathe, manoeuvre a trailer under it, lower the lathe onto the trailer, take the A frame apart and then drag the whole lot home.
This at least gave me a bit of a specification to work to.
A plant trailer is 2.4m wide so with a bit of clearance the span between towers needs to be about 2.6m.
My garage has a door that is 3m wide with 3m head clearance so needs to be able to fit through that.
It all needs to go in a van or trailer, so the longest part should be less than 3m
It need to be able to lift about 3t
It needs to be man handleable by an old and decrepit person (i.e. me)
It needs to be assembled by a single person (at a pinch)
And last but by no means least it needs to be made largely from materials I have available.
I have some 100 x 100 x 5mm box looking for a project. I also have some 90mm odd CHS from a previous job
I also have some 100 x 100 x 10mm box, but that is just too heavy to be useful.
With the material I had, I ended with the uprights for the frame being 2.6m long and the base 2.2m wide.
I didn't have enough material (in one piece) left for the cross beam but I have a welder so I can make it out of bits.
I cut the mitres I could on my 6 x 4 bandsaw
I used my power hacksaw to cut some 200 x 75 channel to make unequal angle to join the top of the up rights.
A top plate with a few gussets and a few holes made the top splice plates
The angles ended up being 16 degrees and as there was no way I could cut those on the bandsaw, I used the grinder for theses which worked fine.
For the bottom connections I used 150 x 150 x 10mm plates and M10 bolts
I have pretty chunky rafters in the garage and can attach a block and tackle to them for pulling an engine or the like but there are times when the ability to lift and move something heavier, or be able to use it outside would be really useful.
Also, I recently bought a DSG lathe that weighs at least 2.5t.
I can't get a Hi-hab into where it is located so I thought I might as well make the A frame so I can transport it to the lathe, assemble it, lift the lathe, manoeuvre a trailer under it, lower the lathe onto the trailer, take the A frame apart and then drag the whole lot home.
This at least gave me a bit of a specification to work to.
A plant trailer is 2.4m wide so with a bit of clearance the span between towers needs to be about 2.6m.
My garage has a door that is 3m wide with 3m head clearance so needs to be able to fit through that.
It all needs to go in a van or trailer, so the longest part should be less than 3m
It need to be able to lift about 3t
It needs to be man handleable by an old and decrepit person (i.e. me)
It needs to be assembled by a single person (at a pinch)
And last but by no means least it needs to be made largely from materials I have available.
I have some 100 x 100 x 5mm box looking for a project. I also have some 90mm odd CHS from a previous job
I also have some 100 x 100 x 10mm box, but that is just too heavy to be useful.
With the material I had, I ended with the uprights for the frame being 2.6m long and the base 2.2m wide.
I didn't have enough material (in one piece) left for the cross beam but I have a welder so I can make it out of bits.
I cut the mitres I could on my 6 x 4 bandsaw
I used my power hacksaw to cut some 200 x 75 channel to make unequal angle to join the top of the up rights.
A top plate with a few gussets and a few holes made the top splice plates
The angles ended up being 16 degrees and as there was no way I could cut those on the bandsaw, I used the grinder for theses which worked fine.
For the bottom connections I used 150 x 150 x 10mm plates and M10 bolts