Used Gantry Cranes for Sale — 73

The Structure of a Gantry Crane

A gantry crane has a similar structure to a gate. A gantry crane is characterised by its flexibility. It is made out of a  basic frame, a cross beam and a trolley. The particularity of a portable gantry crane is that its frame can be driven along at least one axis. There are also mobile gantry cranes, like container trucks.

Their basic frame contains four legs. These four mobile supports are connected by a cross beam. The supports and the cross beam are usually made out of steel profiles. The alternative is to use large box girders for the cross beam. With large gantry cranes, two of the supports are fixed and the other supports are connected by a slide bearing to the cross beam. Thereby, any changes in length due to fluctuating temperature are balanced out. A trolley is integrated onto the cross beam, which drives the component used to carry loads. The trolley contains a spool and a motor, to which the lifting cable, rope or chain is attached.

Characteristics of a Gantry Crane

A gantry crane’s 4-legged structure makes it particularly suited to move heavy loads over long distances. Revolving tower cranes can move loads within their working area. Thereby, they are dependent on the addition weight from the goods they are carrying. Revolving tower cranes are restricted in terms of how high they can lift very heavy loads, and this needs to be taken into account by the operator. However, these cranes always have their  centre of gravity in between their supporting legs. There is hardly any danger of the crane tipping over due to a load being wrongly lifted or stopped. However, this is only the case when the crane is correctly operated! Some of these cranes can support more than 40t!

The disadvantage of a portal crane is that it requires  a lot of space and it has a very elaborate construction. It requires around four times as many machine elements as a tower crane. If a track-based system is also used, then the installation of a gantry crane becomes very demanding. A standard hoist is used for very demanding tasks, for example, when storing finished concrete workpieces, steel coils and slabs outdoors.

Types of Gantry Cranes

The smallest and simplest portal crane is used in automobile workshops. They are  manually operated and are used to safely lift engines. Even with such small dimensions, they are known for their stability. There are hardly any medium-sized gantry type of cranes. For lifting operations in indoor industrial settings, bridge cranes and overhead crane are used instead of portal cranes. Gantry cranes are mainly used outdoors. They can have enormous dimensions; heights of up to 30 metres are not rare. A special type of gantry crane is a loading truck for high sea containers. These trucks are fully mobile and can reach every point within a workspace, even if it is several thousand square metres large. Other special constructions include combined designs, where a tower crane is mounted into the carriage of a gantry crane. These types of cranes are called level luffing cranes and are mainly used to load ships.

Working with a Gantry Crane

Gantry cranes are manually operated using  remote control or with an integrated driver’s cab. Small gantry cranes that are used for workshops do not require any specific kind of qualification; basic training is sufficient. However, larger loading cranes can only be used by operators with a certificate. The TÜV offers this necessary training. The bigger the crane, the more delayed and cumbersome its reactions are to the controls. There would be a very high risk of danger for both humans and the machine, if a gantry crane, which carries incredibly heavy loads, were to be operated by any untrained or unskilled workers.  Particularly tricky loads are those that shake or vibrate when being moved. This occurs due when the acceleration and force goes beyond the loads own weight. If this occurs when the maximum weight is being carried, then the crane can be pushed over capacity. During training, a crane driver would learn how to react in such a situation and how to bring the load under control.

Used Gantry Cranes for Sale at Second Hand Market

Affordable gantry cranes for sale are not easy to find without having proper equipment dealer connections where you need to ring a lot of telephone numbers for the same. At TradeMachines, we try to make your life easy by collecting all the used gantry cranes for sale together from a vast and wide selection of auction houses, second hand market dealers and manufacturers under a single roof in which are available on our used travaling cranes category on our platform where you will be able to choose or bid and win a used gantry crane  or even a used overhead crane for sale within few clicks online. 

Maintenance of Used Gantry Cranes

Machine operated gantry cranes have to follow the machine guidelines. These, and the specific norms for cranes, regularly review the lifting units. When buying a used gantry crane, it is important to undertake a thorough inspection of the machine. Used gantry cranes are highly stressed constructions that have many points of wear and tear. These do not only include the moveable components, but also the whole structure of the used crane needs to be regularly checked for any weakness. Even though the movement of a gantry crane only runs in three axes, the adjustment of loads impacts the whole structure. This means that they require a lot of regular checks and maintenance.

Suppliers of Gantry Cranes

Gantry cranes are special constructions that can be produced in accordance with customer requirements. Used large gantry cranes are available from HARBOR FREIGHT, MANNESMANN, DEMAG, WENKER and AUMUND. Smaller ones for workshops are supplied by ABUS, VETTER and JUNGHEINRICH.