UniStrut or SuperStrut, how did you use it, Tractor Related?

[Trimley]

UniStrut and SuperStrut is very useful outside it's manufactured design and use.

An ingenious Erector Set!!

How have you used it (and other related components) to simplify tractoring.

Show me your ingenuity, please.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

you asked....

 

[DustyRusty]

It only counts if it is painted orange!

 

[Trimley]

View attachment 115101
you asked....

You inspired me to start the topic.

I'm planing (at minimum) to add two D-Rings and possibly a 2" receiver hitch.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

black was free, orange cost $15 a spray bomb !
You can donate paint if you want !

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Not tractor specific, but I made this "trolley lift" to heft things out/in my truck bed and to lift things into the loft I made when redesigning my garage ceiling when I installed my hoist.

It scoots back and forth by pulling 2 lines that are connected to it.

My grandkids have a blast with it!!!! (as you can see from the pics, its all tangle up from last weekend, I just noticed that when looking at the pics...LOL)

 

[GreensvilleJay]

love the joist trim detail !
yes, my hoist cable does that too. need to add a springy steel plate like Holmes wreckers have to have smooth layers of cable.
so...you needed the blue lift to get you up to the ladder, to get to the hoist snaffu ? nice......

 

[Runs With Scissors]

love the joist trim detail !
yes, my hoist cable does that too. need to add a springy steel plate like Holmes wreckers have to have smooth layers of cable.
so...you needed the blue lift to get you up to the ladder, to get to the hoist snaffu ? nice......

Thanks...hahah.....I am certainly no "finish carpenter" that's for sure, but it looks better than the sh!tty holes I cut out...hahahah.....

The winch/trolley was my "pre-tractor" life "lifting device", so it came in handy standing the hoist "upright".

Then again when I added the top pieces.

The ladder is a mix of "funny and sad"

My mom bought that 10 ft. folding ladder at a garage sale for 20 bucks and asked me if I wanted it.

Being the hoarder I am(that's the sad part), I simply could not refuse it.

However, as it turns out, I hated that damn thing...It was such a PITA to store/move/use I wrestled with the idea of chopping it up and throwing it away or selling it (but both actions violate the "prime directive" of being a hoarder)

Then it dawned on me, since I needed a way to get into the loft, why not use it as a "stairway to heaven" for the loft.

Long story short, I welded up a "hinge plate/platform" and it now resides permanently above the hoist, out of the way until I lower it to get into loft using that other HF "winch" in the lower left of that 2nd pic.

 

[trial and error]

Not tractor specific, but I made this "trolley lift" to heft things out/in my truck bed and to lift things into the loft I made when redesigning my garage ceiling when I installed my hoist.

It scoots back and forth by pulling 2 lines that are connected to it.

My grandkids have a blast with it!!!! (as you can see from the pics, its all tangle up from last weekend, I just noticed that when looking at the pics...LOL)

View attachment 115192

View attachment 115193

Also not really tractor related but it will be used for the tractor.I just got done with the second 10' section of my trolly/hoist track , now I can run clear from one end of the garage to the other in one bay 20 feet total I only used a single track system but have lifted the entire front of the b7100 when "fabbing" up the loader last spring as well as removing the loader and putting it in the trailer when doing the clutch
I'll have to snap some pictures when I get back home. I X bridged the collar ties to the rafters every couple/4 feet and it is solid I love the thing

 

[D2Cat]

I got a golf cart lid and made a canopy for my neighbor's hay raking tractor. Didn't need to drill any holes in the golf cart top or the tractor. Only use a short piece of unistrut on each side.

 

[William1]

Not tractor specific, but I made this "trolley lift" to heft things out/in my truck bed and to lift things into the loft I made when redesigning my garage ceiling when I installed my hoist.

It scoots back and forth by pulling 2 lines that are connected to it.

My grandkids have a blast with it!!!! (as you can see from the pics, its all tangle up from last weekend, I just noticed that when looking at the pics...LOL)

View attachment 115192

View attachment 115193

How much weight can that handle? I'm making a building and the contractor suggested that over a steel beam. Info on the parts you used? Track, trolley?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

friend built his first CNC machine for wood , out of unistrut. It's 5 feet by 9 feet, hangs on wall. Repeatably accurate to 1/10th of a thou ( go over same spot with pencil 5x, it's still ONE line). Cut all his own code so it's faster to go from picture to product.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

curious....

Unistrut Trolley System Offers Support to Varying Load Capacities

Unistrut Trolleys provide a better approach to overhead movement for medium, and heavy-duty loads up to six hundred (600) pounds. Unistrut Trolleys are available in five (5) different Trolley styles (see illustration for style information) with two (2) types of wheel material: stainless steel...

unistrutohio.com

4 wheely, 600# each.. x 4 corners = 2400#, more than the hoist !

dang I could gain 8" of height and that would be NICE,but ceiling joists are parallel so no support.

My 4x8 beam(23') was free( installation included),goes from side to side, not lengthways.

The ideal install is beam sitting on TOP of side wall top plates,with 4- 2x4 studs for support,I used 2 'basement' posts.

 

[pokey1416]

Not on the tractor but everything on the wall is mounted to strut.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

How much weight can that handle? I'm making a building and the contractor suggested that over a steel beam. Info on the parts you used? Track, trolley?

I do not know its upper limit. It's a home-brewed thing so there has been no "scientific testing" done.

I am guessing 600-800 lbs but that is pure speculation on my part. I did lift a snowmobile up into my truck, so I would rate it at "1 Sled"

I got everything from Tractor Supply and HF...

The "track holders" were 90 degrees off of what I needed, so I cut them and welded them to those short sections of angle iron (AKA old bed frame I had in my scrap pile...lol)

The winch is a Harbor Freight model, I think its a 1500 lbs (cant really remember that far back though)

The trolley holding the winch was/is 1 inch square tubingI had in the scrape pile. 3/16 wall If I recall. It was quite easy/fun to build.

Each "leg" of the trolley is independently adjustable so I could make sure it rode level. (although I am not sure thats a big deal or not)

I can post some closer photos when my truck is off the hoist later today/tomorrow if you'd like?



Aside: I love tractor supply, there is just so much cools sh!t there and there is something very appealing about buying hardware by the pound. I could spend hours there just walking around making things in my head.....

 

[Trimley]

TS must be a Regional thing. Ours has a little of everything, and a lot of nothing. I've found most I was wanting needed to be ordered, shipping was free (Included) if you waited for their next stocking shipment. Since Covid, the shelves have even less.

That particular store is probably their furthest away, and nearest to falling in the ocean on the West Coast.

 

[ken erickson]

While being familiar with UniStrut , my commercial Detroit Armor indoor range used a ton of uniStrut to hang the ceiling armor plates, I used a line of Unibilt over-head conveyor parts to make my seat lift. They sell a trolly that maxes out at 750 pounds and also lists working weights for the c-channel track.

buy-unibilt

 

[trial and error]

As promised earlier, pictures of the electric hoist trolley and unistrut track system. The trolleys are from Amazon and mounted to the H.F. hoist I received for Christmas last year. The unistrut mounting brackets are homemamde from recycled 2x4" 3/16 wall steel tube that I cut a notch into for the trolley to slide through then drilled a hole to mount the truss lock screws into the doubled up 2x4's and lastly just above where the unistrut passes through there is a hole drilled crosswise that allows a 1/4" bolt to pass through and keep the "fingers'" of the strut hangers from spreading. All of the hangers I made cost slightly more then just one true strut hanger (those things where stupid expensive for what they where and I'm "cheap")
The wooden collar ties that the doubled up 2x4' rest on where then cross braced up to the rafters with more truss locks at every joint creating a "non" engineered truss system that will rip my roof down.

 

[William1]

I do not know its upper limit. It's a home-brewed thing so there has been no "scientific testing" done.

I am guess 600-800 lbs but that is pure speculation on my part. I did lift a snowmobile up into my truck, so I would rate it at "1 Sled"

I got everything from Tractor Supply and HF...

The "track holders" were 90 degrees off of what I needed, so I cut them and welded them to those short sections of angle iron (AKA old bed frame I had in my scrap pile...lol)

The winch is a Harbor Freight model, I think its a 1500 lbs (cant really remember that far back though)

The trolley holding the winch was/is 1 inch square tubingI had in the scrape pile. 3/16 wall If I recall. It was quite easy/fun to build.

Each "leg" of the trolley is independently adjustable so I could make sure it rode level. (although I am not sure thats a big deal or not)

I can post some closer photos when my truck is off the hoist later today/tomorrow if you'd like?



Aside: I love tractor supply, there is just so much cools sh!t there and there is something very appealing about buying hardware by the pound. I could spend hours there just walking around making things in my head.....

If you do not mind, more pictures and info would be handy.
I was going to go with a steel I-Beam though it would probably be expensive and over kill. I really hope to never lift anything that weighs over 500 pounds up to the second floor of my outbuilding that I am just starting.
So the (off) center joist supporting the purlins will/might a laminated beam, 40' long with perhaps UniStrut fthe length then on the floor with joists 12" on center, will be a steel beam 40' long. This laminated beam will have the tracks and a hoist to save me from carrying stuff up the stairs. So far the heaviest item will be a wet tile saw. My builder suggested using the tracking for a garage door but I think I want to go with something stiffer, like UniStrut. Clear as mud?
I did some looking about and trolleys abound for UniStrut. But I am always looking for information and ideas.

 

[chim]

At work we had one building with a huge and very heavy wood door. It had a box track that worked fine. This popped up on a search. This manufacturer has up to 1000# capacity.

Exterior Barn Door Rails | National Hardware

Shop Exterior Barn Door Tracks, including Round Rails and Box Rails. With two Safe Working Loads, you can find the correct hardware for your weight guidelines.

www.national-hardware.com