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LED projected floor markings have become very popular in many “world-class” environments. This can be a simple as PPE projections, stop signs, interactive walkways, or impressive projectors for cranes. For anyone that’s just starting out in an environment with gantry cranes, they can seem quite daunting. They can operate quickly and quietly with a significant heavy burden hanging from its hook. The idea of having a projected floor marking to warn potential pedestrians and operators working in the area is a dream for most health and safety managers. If you’re operating gantry cranes in your factory and you want to protect your operators working in the area using an innovative projected solution, then Clarity LED projected floor markings may be the answer for you. At Clarity, we have installed hundreds of LED projected floor markings and not every job goes so smoothly. If you’re thinking of getting LED projected floor markings for your gantry crane, here are the top three problems we’ve seen with this product, to prevent you from having to go through the same pain as other customers. This article covers why some projected solutions don’t work and how you can overcome some minor issues.
1) Large Burdens
The biggest problem we see with LED projected floor markings for cranes, is where the burden is simply too big. The projectors are normally mounted on the crab to give a circular perimeter floor marking. This is normally 1m-2m wide and longer than the burden being lifted. Some customers however, are lifting large items which are way too big for an LED projected floor marking and will simply cause the light of the LED to shine onto the burden, rather than onto the floor, effectively casting a shadow where the light would be. There is no real solution to this problem, other than potentially using two projectors one each side of the crab and casting two horseshoe shaped floor markings. If you are considering projectors for your crane, one of the first questions we will ask you, is what the largest burden you lift is, to see if this is going to cause a problem for a single LED projector.
2) Lifting Height
Similar to the problem of a large burden, the next most common problem is the height to which the burden is lifted. If you are regularly lifting your burdens so high that they are within a short distance of the crab, then you may be at risk of casting a shadow on the floor. It may be possible, as per the previous problem, where you could mount two projectors either side of the crab, however in some cases we may have to walk away from the job.
The type of LED projector used for a floor marking for a crane is key to the success of the installation. If your factory is extremely well lit, and the cranes crab is over 8m high, then it may not be possible to project an LED light onto the areas required. While it is possible to get up to a 300W projector, it may make more sense to use lasers to project the floor marking.
3) Installation
Installation is always a concern when installing a crane mounted LED projector. This is the only type of projector that we don’t get involved with installing due to the heights involved and our insurance would not cover it. If you’re looking to get a crane mounted projector installed, we would liaise with your crane maintenance company to get a cost from them to fit the projectors into place. There are several other factors, they will need to know about such as the available electricity supply feed, availability of cables, et cetera.
How much do these crane projectors typically cost?
We can’t write an article about the top five problems with crane projectors without some reference to pricing and cost. Typical crane projectors can vary between £3000 and £6000, depending on the power of the projector and number of projectors required. On top of this, there is also the installation cost. If you have an adequate engineering team or electrician on site, it is feasible to install the crane projectors yourself as they will be supplied with just a fused spur required from the crab.
Despite these challenges, LED crane projectors continue to be a popular choice for a variety of applications and with the very latest technology, we can overcome some of these problems. If you are ready to reach out to us, please contact us here for an accurate price, or if you want to find out more about LED projected solutions, please click on the website page here.