The engineering of: the crane, rail system and sled were taken from the structural principles of a Howe Truss, and modern roller coaster design.  This gives the project strength and ease of movement which was on of the other leading requirements that needed to be solved.

Since one of the main goals was to maximize shop floor space: we moved many of the items that would typically be on a shop floor to the overhead rail system to that we could "kill two birds with one stone"  This gave us the opportunity to get more efficiency out of the items moved to the overhead rail system by putting tool rigs over the work being performed. We also picked up more valuable shop floor space along the way.  Once we got the overhead rail system built in the CAD sytem and into the overall shop floor plan, we realized that the equipment and shelving units that were lined up along the walls of the shop cut into the purposed travel of the  crane running along the overhead rail system.  Therefore we had two choices.  (One), we could reduce the width of the crain or , (Two): we could reduce the hight of the sheving units to allow the crain to pass overhead.  We decided to reduce the width of the crain travel which actually worked out better than expected and was the opposite of what was expected, but is a great example of how 

This is how you:

proudly make it here... in the usa!

At the end-of-the-day: We delivered a project that met our goals & objectives, was fun to work on and will have great utility for years to come.  By having to work with space constrictions we found that simplicity can drive breakthroughs in efficiency much like the old adage: "less is more" 

Installation of crane onto overhead rail system

Close up of crane onto overhead rail system

CAD rendering of crane on overhead rail sytem

Actual photo of crane on overhead rail sytem

Installation of crane onto overhead rail system

Photo of actual hoist on sled

CAD rendering of hoist on sled

CAD Drawing of final revision to crane & hoist

Then we: Did a some research to see what other people had done with the same goals and objectives?  We found that there were overhead cranes and systems that were designed to work on overhead rail systems but they typically ran on "I" beams and were not intended to have other tooling rigs and lighting apparatuses running on the same rails.

After some research and understanding of what others had done we: took the the list of "Goals & Objectives: and started sketching out rough thoughts on a pieces of paper to get a sence of where we were going. Then we put the space that this was going in into a CAD System so that we could see through simulation how this particular crane was to be used.  

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We began by defining: A list of requirements and trying to understand how this particular crane was to be used.  One of the main goals was to figure out a way to maximize shop floor space.  We went through several conceptual 3D CAD models before we landed on what became the final product; mainly because we realized that the effective travel width of the crane was most efficient when it was smaller not bigger?  This was the opposite of what was expected, but is a great example of how persistence in engineering and requirements analysis work well together and along side of 3D CAD systems to help work out and visualize these issues so that you can work through them.

How do you: build an overhead material handling crane where reliability & engineering are critical..?  

  Use ensightfull  engineering & solid craftsmanship

Our first formal step: define goals & Objectives

why?:because your life may depend on it!

Craines & Overhead Material Handling Equipment