Construction Machine Blog

The crane is a necessary piece of equipment to the modern construction field. A crane tends to cost a large sum of money and its maintenance is also very expensive. Although there are many professional companies have been set up to offer crane maintenance service, their charge is a little bit high. Thus if the crane owner is able to repair the crane by himself, he can surely save a lot of money. As a matter of fact, very body can offer cranes a good maintenance as long as he is familiar with the machine and has some basic knowledge of maintenance.

Crane Maintenance

When a crane gets broken down, the first step we should do, of course, is not to fix it instantly, but to check each part of the equipment to see where the problem lies. It is something a doctor should have a diagnosis on his patient to find out the cause of the disease before he can take any actions. As for the diagnosis of the crane, the following are some details we should pay special attention when inspecting a crane.  

The typical structure of a crane

• Lower hoist to unload rope sheaves.
• Unwind all wire rope from the hoist drum to expose all parts of a rope, making sure that the rope does not rewind in the reverse direction.
• Inspect sheaves, sockets, dead-ends, thimble joints, and all wire rope hardware.
• During rope changes, check the sheaves for worn bearings, broken flanges, proper groove size, smoothness, and contour.
• Inspect all parts of the cable, cleaning wire rope only as required to complete an inspection. Excessive removal of lubrication will lead to damage.
• Re-lubricate rope to prevent corrosion, wear, friction, and drying out of the core.
• Check for ropes that may have been operated dry (unlubricated). Replace dry ropes. There may be hidden damage that is not detected by visual inspection.
• Compare the rope length and diameter with the original dimensions. Lengthening accompanied by diameter reduction is often an indication of interior core defects.
• Visually examine the crane structure for deformed, cracked or corroded members in the structure and boom. Check for loose bolts or rivets. Check for excessive wear on brake and clutch system parts.
• Check for deterioration or leakage in air or hydraulic systems.
• Check all control mechanisms for poor adjustment or excessive wear.
• Check accuracy of marking on the load/radius indicator over full range.

After having found out the problem, we should take some repairing steps like the following:

• Take a crane to a location where repairs will least interfere with other cranes.
• Ensure that all controllers are placed in the “off” position, and the main switches are open and locked.
• Place on the switch a standard warning tag stating “DO NOT START.” The tag must be filled out and signed
• Place rail stops or make other safety provisions when another crane operates on the same runway.
• Use fall protection equipment.
• Do not carry anything in your hands when going up and down ladders. Items that are too large to go into pockets or belts should be lifted to or lowered from the crane by a rope.
• Prevent loose parts or tools from falling to the floor.
• The area below the crane must be cleared and a barrier erected to prevent injury from a falling object.
• Replace all guards and other safety devices before leaving a crane.
• Remove all stops, tools, loose parts and other material and dispose of them before completing the repair job.
• Enter all service inspections and repairs in a crane log book or file.

Although remembering all the above instructions is not a tough task, you should have a lot of practice before you become a master of crane maintenance. Practice makes perfect. When you have been able repair a broken-down crane by yourself, you will get repaid by saving a large sum of expense.

Tags: crane, maintenance

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 3:02 am and is filed under crane. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.