Shop Hoist Hangs From Double I-Beams

Shop Hoist Hangs From Double I-Beams FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 17-4-30 "In 1976, after my Dad and I had built a new shop, we were ready to install an overhead hoist. But we were concerned with how little lift height we were going to have using a single I-beam with a hoist hanging beneath it," says Rod Hubner, Garfield, Wash. "Then I spotted a picture in an old book of a hoist in a Chicago steel plant that was carried above two I-beams rather than be-low a single one. I liked the idea because I knew it would give us an extra 2 ft. of clearance in our shop. "We used two 10-in. I-beams with 3 by 5-in. angle iron endpieces holding them together. A pair of automotive hubs, spindles, and wheels were welded onto each end of the hoist. The wheels ride on 6-in. dia. well casing pipe mounted on the poles along the walls on brackets made out of heavy plate steel. We used clear plastic tubing filled with water as a `liquid level' to determine the correct positioning on all the walls. The hoist carrier frame on top of the I-beams is made out of 3 by 5-in. angle iron supported by spindles and hubs - no wheels - running in a 1 by 1-in. angle iron track that keeps it from sliding off the I-beams. "We spent about $1,000 to build the hoist, which was about one-third the cost of a commercial model that many of our neighbors were buying at the time. How any farmer can get along without an overhead hoist I'll never know. When I'm working by myself, it takes the place of a hired man." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Rod Hubner, Rt. 1, Box 79, Garfield, Wash. 99130 (ph 509 635-1523).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.