Questions About Constructing a Light Duty Gantry

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All, I have no fabrication or construction experience.  I have no real experience welding except in my own hobby shop.My question is could I construct a light-duty gantry (capability <=1ton) crane out of discarded well drill stems?  These would be water well drill stems from the East Coast/Georgia.  Thoughts?I really have no idea what I am doing.Two Shop Cats (not Bobcats...real cats)Miller DialArc 250 AC/DCScratch-Start TIG SetupMIG 175Plasma CutterO/A
Reply:Pipe is good in compression, but very poor in bending. Pipe for legs might work if braced well and properly designed, but you'd need a fairly well designed truss to pick up loads. Also a truss on average by design isn't really set up for moveable loads. It would be fine if you lifted from a fixed point, say the center where the bracing of the truss met, but unlike a beam, you couldn't hang a weight from just anywhere.Invest in a good tall wide flange for your beam. Taller beams carry more weight per pound than shorter ones. I did a comparison not long ago for some one else that showed the difference between similar weight 8" and 14" beams. The 14" beam carried almost 35% more load for the same weight and distance..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan