Heavy duty linear slides | The best way to move a one ton gantry crane

Whether it be one of our reliable linear motion tracks or our popular ball bearing slides, at Accuride we do not shy away from using our own products to improve our everyday lives.

That is why, when we needed to make it easier to move the mobile gantry crane in our model shop, our engineering team were quick to install our 0116 heavy duty linear slide.

Strong enough to support over 1000kg!

The heavy-duty linear slide has recently undergone further tests and now has an improved average load rating of up to 600kg – just under double the weight we previously stated it could support - making it one of the strongest products we sell.

However, when flat mounted and used with multiple carriages the impressive heavy-duty linear rail system is capable of supporting over 1000kg.

This is because the load rating of the linear motion track system will be dependent on the way it is mounted and the amount of carriages used. If you would like more information on this, please refer to the product datasheet or contact us directly to discuss your application’s weight requirements.

Making life easier at Accuride

This makes our 0116 linear motion track system the perfect solution to help make the testing process much easier for our engineering team.

Each of our slides are tested to ensure they can withstand the demands of the applications they are used in. To do this the ball bearing slides or linear tracks are placed 450mm apart with the load placed in the center between them. The test rig will then run through cycles and our engineers will carry out any relevant checks.

As some of our heavy-duty products can support up to 600kg our engineering team use a portable lifting gantry to safely lift and move the weight onto the test rig.

The portable gantry system was originally supported by castor wheels however to make the gantry crane much easier to move our engineers replaced the wheels with our 0116 linear track.

The mobile gantry crane weighs about 200kg and so it was important that the linear track could support both this and the 1000kg weight the crane could be lifting.

To safely support a daunting 1200kg our engineering team have used a total of eight carriages and two tracks.

Improved safety and stability

Castor wheels, commonly used for shopping trolleys and hospital beds, are often hard to control and do not move smoothly or in a straight line. This meant the portable lifting gantry previously needed two people to move it, however by using the linear track it now only requires one person.

The use of the our 0116 heavy-duty linear slide also greatly reduces the effort needed to move the lifting gantry, as seen in the video below, which shows Rob from our engineering team moving the gantry crane whilst it holds a 1000kg weight. For this, the push force is 200N, which is equivalent to the amount of effort needed to move a 20kg weight.

https://youtube.com/shorts/L9LCixLpjdM?feature=share

Safety was also an important consideration when they chose to use the heavy-duty linear rail system.

The heavy-duty floor mounted slides also make the gantry crane much safer to use, as it is much closer to the floor and therefore less likely to topple over due to the much smaller size of the track compared to the larger castor wheels.

Do you have a heavy-duty application you need to move with little effort? Contact our team today to find out how our versatile heavy-duty 0116 linear motion guide could be used in your application or browse our full range of linear guide rails.