Aluminium gantries are universal assembly aids and are therefore perfect for use in confined spaces. When combined with chain hoists, even very heavy loads can be lifted and moved with ease.

The Barkas B 1000 is a classic van built between 1961 and 1991 at the VEB Barkas-Werke Karl-Marx-Stadt. SCHOLPP had the honour of transporting one of these historic vehicles exhibits to the ground floor of a new museum building in Frankenberg, Saxony. Using a forklift truck, chain hoists and an aluminium gantry, the 1.2-tonne van was first carefully erected, turned through 180 degrees, and then pulled vertically upwards through a small opening in the ceiling. Finally, the assembly experts from SCHOLPP placed the colourfully painted gem in the Frankenberg vehicle museum as desired. ‘As we only had a few millimetres of leeway, we had to be absolutely precise,’ recalls Matthias Liebsch of the job, in which the aluminium brackets played an important role.

Convenient and compact

Aluminium gantries are often also referred to as lightweight or assembly gantries. These modular systems from SCHOLPP consist of an end beam, two side uprights and a diagonal rod, which ensures stability and safety against deflection. They are correspondingly easy to dismantle and assemble. Another advantage is the low weight of the individual components. The heaviest component is the 6-metre-long end beam, which weighs a maximum of 120 kilograms. ‘Thanks to the lightweight construction, the components are easy to handle and can be carried by two employees and set up on any floor,’ says Matthias Liebsch.

The height of the endcarriages can be variably adjusted to a maximum of 3.8 metres using pins on the side stands. Standard lightweight gantries can move loads of up to three tonnes. The custom-made products from SCHOLPP, however, can lift up to 6 tonnes due to their design and the use of special alloys. ‘This is particularly useful when installing escalators or moving staircases,’ says Matthias Liebsch. ‘The advantage here is that we can easily set up a temporary crane runway on practically every floor required without any major technical support.’

One shopping centre, two floors

The aluminium gantries are explicitly designed for use in extremely confined and difficult spaces and are an ideal alternative to a mobile crane. If, for example, heavy loads need to be transported from one floor to the next in a shopping centre, the space that a mobile crane would require is usually not available. The situation is much simpler with two aluminium gantries: One of the gantries is placed on the top floor and slowly pulls the end of the escalator upwards using a chain hoist. The second aluminium gantry, in turn, guides the escalator thanks to its rollers on the side stands until it is in the correct position. ‘You have to know what you’re doing,’ emphasises Matthias Liebsch. ‘That’s why only trained personnel should work with aluminium gantries.’

Technology for the cleanroom

Thanks to the base material, SCHOLPP can even use the gantries in cleanrooms – e.g. in the food industry, semiconductor industry and in the medical sector. This is why SCHOLPP has been regularly using its aluminium gantries for more than 15 years.

The universal gantries not only help to overcome large differences in height. They are also very well suited to lifting machines from the base of the crate after delivery before they are carefully placed on a trolley or set down directly. Thanks to the rollers under the side stands, aluminium gantries themselves can be used as trolleys for transporting machines within a hall, for example. However, the transport distance to the destination is only a few machine lengths.

As in the Barkas example, aluminium gantries are at the heart of many installations and will certainly be used by SCHOLPP in the future – especially in shopping centres, railway stations, airports and other buildings where escalators or moving staircases need to be moved professionally so that they can soon really ‘roll’.