Guides
Decision-making and comparison guides.
Long-form pieces from the eme engineering team — how to choose, compare, and specify aluminum lifting equipment.
- Rigging an A-Frame Mobile Gantry Crane: Safety, Setup, and Best Practices A practical guide to rigging an A-frame mobile aluminum gantry crane safely — pre-use inspection, ground conditions, sling angles, center of gravity, shock loading, and the standards your equipment should reference. →
- A-Frame Lifting Device Selection: Capacity, Span, and Height How to size an A-frame lifting device: rated capacity with margin, clear span across the work, lift height against your ceiling and doorway — and when a portable A-frame beats a jib crane or a forklift. →
- Aluminum vs. Steel Gantry Cranes: What to Know Before You Choose Aluminum gantry cranes weigh far less than steel at equivalent capacity, deploy without a crane truck, and resist corrosion. Steel has higher capacity ceilings. Here's how to choose. →
- Understanding ASME and OSHA Lifting Standards: A Buyer's Guide ASME B30, ASME BTH-1, and OSHA all govern lifting equipment — but they do different jobs, and not every standard applies to every product. Here is how the framework fits together for gantry cranes, davit cranes, and lifting beams. →
- Should You Buy or Rent a Portable Gantry Crane? Rent when the need is short, one-off, or still undefined. Buy when the crane earns its keep on the calendar — or has to be on hand for unplanned work. A decision framework for portable aluminum gantry cranes. →
- Choosing the Right Capacity for Your Lift How to pick the right gantry crane capacity — rated load vs. actual lift weight, rigging overhead, safety margin, and capacity-by-application for 1-ton through 10-ton portable aluminum gantries. →
- Gantry Cranes for Data Center Infrastructure Data halls have no overhead crane steel, raised floors with hard point-load limits, and no tolerance for downtime. How portable aluminum gantry cranes lift UPS batteries, cooling units, piping, and switchgear in a live facility. →
- Gantry Crane vs. Forklift: Which One for the Lift? A forklift carries a load from underneath; a crane suspends it from above. That difference decides which jobs each can actually do — and why 'we already have a forklift' isn't always the answer. →
- Gantry Crane vs. Jib Crane: Which Fits the Work? A gantry crane straddles the work on freestanding legs and moves to the job; a jib crane sweeps a fixed circle around an anchored pivot. Where each wins, where each loses, and how to decide. →
- Bridge Crane vs Gantry Crane: Cost, Flexibility, When to Use Each Bridge crane vs gantry crane: one hangs from your building, the other brings its own legs to the floor. Cost, flexibility, and when each is the right choice. →
- Gantry Crane vs. Davit Crane: When to Use Each A gantry crane uses a two-leg A-frame supporting a travelling hoist; a davit crane uses a single mast or arm mounted to a base socket. Each wins in different applications. Here's how to choose. →
- How to Choose a Portable Gantry Crane: A Buyer's Guide A practical buyer's guide to choosing a portable gantry crane — capacity, setup method, mobility, certifications, material choice, and how to separate real manufacturers from the pro-sumer tier. →
- North American vs. European Lifting Equipment Standards: What Buyers Should Know North American lifting equipment standards (ASME, OSHA, CSA) and European standards (EN, CE, LOLER) are not interchangeable. A crane designed to one set may not satisfy the other. Here's what that means for buyers. →
- Movable Gantry Crane: How Loaded Travel Actually Works A movable gantry crane picks the load once, rolls it where it needs to be, and sets it down — no re-rigging. How loaded travel works, what it requires, and when not to do it. →
- Shop Gantry Crane: Which Size Fits a Shop or Garage Bay Shop gantry crane sizing: what a 1/2 to 2 ton portable gantry does in a garage bay — engine pulls, machine positioning, loading — and when a budget steel crane is enough. →
- Types of Gantry Cranes: Full, Semi, Fixed, Adjustable, Portable Types of gantry cranes compared: full vs. semi, fixed vs. adjustable height, single vs. double girder, steel vs. aluminum — and which gantry crane type fits which work. →
- Wastewater Pump Lifting: Portable Cranes for Submersible Pump Pulls Submersible pumps have to come up for service — out of a wet well, through a floor hatch, onto a truck. How portable aluminum gantry and davit cranes handle pump pulls at treatment plants and lift stations, and how to plan one. →