Crane manufacturer and lifting equipment specialist DT Engineering NW has built a Goliath crane on top of an overhead electric travelling crane in a car manufacturer’s press shop.
This enables essential repair and maintenance work to be carried out on the flywheels that form part of the press.
DT Engineering NW, which is based in the North West of England, had occasionally worked with German business Schuler, that manufactures and maintains car press machines, including those used by the car manufacturer.
Tom Coyle, managing director at DT Engineering NW, said the four flywheels that form part of the car press needed to be removed for maintenance and the only access point for these was at the top of the machine.
He said: “The main concerns were the timelines given by our suppliers. We needed a 15t wire electric hoist with height of lift of 15m, and fast. So we got on with stripping the press and we had to position the Street Crane-manufactured overhead crane to give us space to pull out the fly wheels, which are around 3m wide diameter and weighed 13t. With clearance out of the access hatch only 3 or 4mm, being precise was key.”
DT Engineering NW organised the necessary CAD drawings and continued conversations with the eventual supplier of the 15t hoist from Stahl.
“Stahl were excellent. They were able to deliver the hoist to that timescale, but we had to shorten the delay on our side so the best solution was to organise our own transport from the factory in Germany to the facility here,” said Coyle.
Coyle added that there was an inevitable raft of safety concerns to keep in mind.
He said: “By building a Goliath crane on top of a crane, it was necessary to degrease and clean down the existing Street electric overhead travelling (EOT) crane. We also had our team walking along bridge beams so we installed safety lines and disabled the Street EOT from an electrical standpoint.
“We also had to pass the crab of the Street machine to one side to maximise our working area so it’s safe to say it was an intense period before the start date. As we work with bespoke kit, we also had to manufacture the setup in our workshop, live load test and then install on site knowing that it would work. This install period lasted approximately two-and-a-half days, which we were happy with.”
The successful project took place in August with the Goliath decommissioned at the end of the same month.
DT Engineering NW employs 21 staff and utilises more than 30 years of experience in the manufacture, service and maintenance of mechanical handling
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