How to crane pick a bridge mill

vmipacman · May 12, 2020

I have a small bridge mill I need to rig into my shop. It’s a Kao Ming kmc-2000sd. Travels are 57”x 80” approx. weight is ~40k lbs. The manual shows using 2x 110mm diameter bars through the casting. Are they solid? Does anyone have any alternatives or used something different slinging through the holes and using cribbing the keep the slings off the sheetmetal? Ps. It must be rigged in with a crane. I can go with the bars but they are $1600 new and seems there may be another way? Anyone have any pictures of overhead rigging this type of machine?

vmipacman · May 12, 2020

The bars go through the holes in the casting pictured here. They look like they are about 5" in diameter and one set in the front, one set in the back. The bar is meant to pass through.

Milland · May 13, 2020

Given the loads on the bars, and how far out the loads are from the contact with the hole, I'd go with 4.5" solid bars and some robust clamping collars to ensure no slipping of the slings/wire rope or chains. Ask your local scrap yards if they have suitable bars you could buy, or your crane operator for suggestions.

Remember, if you try using tubes you're putting a buckling load through them where they contact the hole edges. I'd suggest having one of them give when lifting would ruin your day...

matt_isserstedt · May 13, 2020

I don't understand the question. It seems like the rigging plan from the OEM is right there. The bars seem like they are extra long but I don't think the splash guarding/enclosure is pictured in the rigging plan.

Seems to me like investing $1600 to self-move a 40k# machine isn't that big of a deal. Call up some riggers if you don't believe me.

I feel like there are other ways it could be moved but that's probably the safest and most reliable assuming you have a 20t crane or a couple of 10t bridges that can run on the same runway.

vmipacman · May 13, 2020

I guess my question is whether you see a different way of rigging with slings and using some sort of cribbing to keep the slings off the sheet metal.

I mostly agree that $1600 is a necessary cost... Unless someone has a different idea that doesn't use bars.

I did some stress calculations and it does seem that solid bars are needed. It doesn't look like the manufacturer was overly conservative as I had first thought. Was thinking 4.3" solids was overkill but it turns out that with 1018 bars, and rigging spread out as shown, S.F. is not much over 1.

matt_isserstedt · May 13, 2020

Its not like a forklift can't handle it, but getting it on the foundation/pads is another issue that the overhead rigging doesn't have.

Each round bar could be supported with its own spreader, simple I-beam sized for the loads, and lifted with 2 forklifts working carefully in tandem. But, do you have room in the facility for the machine plus 2 tanks on each end?

Alternatives exist but there are tradeoffs...

Frederick Harvie · May 13, 2020

check around with other local shops and suppliers maybe someone has a bar that has gotten wet and is rusty that might be cheaper or if you are lucky someone else has done a similar job and has bars that you can borrow or rent . for example Mazaks have similar sized holes in the base casting that are sometimes used for rigging. For sure make sturdy locking collars to keep bar from sliding on the casting and to keep slings in place

DDoug · May 13, 2020

Ask your rigger, they have probably done this in the past, might have
some bars laying around just for this.

This configuration is not uncommon.

Mud · May 13, 2020

My first thought is a scrapyard for the bars, since they must be solids, and the alloy doesn't matter. I have local yards that resell material like that for about half or less of new cost.

Garwood · May 13, 2020

That move screams Landoll to me. No crane, no forklift. Piece of cake if it's under max height on a 40" deck.

One of my 40k lb machines had a twin that I didn't have room for. I moved mine for $600. The other buyer had nearly $15k in crane services and trucking to do the same exact move.

motion guru · May 13, 2020

We recently moved a machine about double that size and used similar 4.5 inch bars rigged in a similar fashion for the table base castings. If you were closer, you could come borrow them!

vmipacman · May 13, 2020

Guru,
Could you share some pics of that move? Reason I ask is that from simple stress calcs, seems the 4.5" bars are pretty close to a 1 SF. Seems crazy though when you look at a 4.5" bar...

Landoll?! hmm. i'll look into that.

Garwood · May 13, 2020

vmipacman said:
Landoll?! hmm. i'll look into that.

Sliding axle trailer. very low load angle. 20K hydraulic winch. I beam frame exposed on top- Run your skates right up it. Apitong deck with 6" I-beams on 6" centers.

You can also slide axles full forward and sling a 53' Landoll into places you could never get a semi. You can even lock the trailer axles, release truck brakes and use the trailer hydraulics to force the trailer under the machine you're moving.

I've done some crazy shit with them. Run axles full forward, back trailer over huge ditch, crank deck down and lift back of truck clear up in the air, run axles back to the rear and drop the truck back down. With a 40K lb machine on the deck!

Bill D · May 13, 2020

I agree, I would ask a scrap yard if they will rent any bars they have. Would big ships have propeller shafts that would work? Know anyone with a lathe big enough to turn down one if you find a cheap one a little too large of a diameter.
Bil lD

Phil in Montana · May 13, 2020

If you drop the machine or kill someone the shafts will look cheap, just shop around for 4 1/4 shafting and call it a day....Phil

Bill D · May 14, 2020

Is the axle from a railcar long enough? I know the inside of the rails are four feet eight and one half inches.
Bil lD

DDoug · May 14, 2020

Bill D said:
Is the axle from a railcar long enough? I know the inside of the rails are four feet eight and one half inches.
Bil lD

Are they 110mm dia. or slightly under ?.... :crazy:

Chip Chester · May 14, 2020

Can you pick it up a little more and set it on I beams instead? Cheaper/more readily available used/rented. You'll have to secure them well to the base, as they won't be as constrained as the proper approach, but you can use the holes to do that.

By the time you're done, though, sourcing the proper steel isn't that much of an additional expense (but it's not my money). Around here, a yard will 'rent' stuff, too. Pre-negotiated out and back prices, condition on return, etc.

Is the OP not asking a local rigger because he's not using them?

john.k · May 14, 2020

Drill rod the right size would be a go....its very heavy wall ,and high strength ,and generally someone in th drilling industry will have scrap rods for cheap .

m16ty · May 20, 2020

Garwood said:
Sliding axle trailer. very low load angle. 20K hydraulic winch. I beam frame exposed on top- Run your skates right up it. Apitong deck with 6" I-beams on 6" centers.

You can also slide axles full forward and sling a 53' Landoll into places you could never get a semi. You can even lock the trailer axles, release truck brakes and use the trailer hydraulics to force the trailer under the machine you're moving.

I've done some crazy shit with them. Run axles full forward, back trailer over huge ditch, crank deck down and lift back of truck clear up in the air, run axles back to the rear and drop the truck back down. With a 40K lb machine on the deck!

Yep, I've got 2. I'm not that rough on them though. I've seen at my local dealer where people rip the rollers out from under them, bend the cylinders, and roll beam flanges, from getting too rough with them with the axles ran forward. We've got a 440 and a 440a. There are some upgrades to the 440a to prevent some of this. Also, both of our trailers have 4" crossmembers, on 17.5 rubber.

How to crane pick a bridge mill

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