Welcome to the Hoist Guy’s Blog, where our resident hoist guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his buying tips for purchasing explosion proof hoists, trolley and bridge cranes. Does your specification call for an electric-powered explosion proof hoist, trolley or overhead crane? Understanding some key points about hazardous locations, explosion proof hoists and spark resistant components will help you to get the right electrically powered lifting equipment for the job. Not All Hazardous Locations Are Equal First, you must know how your work area is classified. In the US, hazardous locations are defi ..read more

Welcome to the Hoist Guy’s Blog, where our resident hoist guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his experience customizing overhead lifting systems and discusses the pros and cons of locating bridge crane controls at the floor level. Crane Control Location Options When purchasing a new bridge crane overhead lifting system for your facility, it’s common practice to mount the control enclosure on the bridge. This is most economical in the short-term and the default design of most overhead traveling cranes. However, you should consider floor-mounted controls for practical benefits and long-term savings ..read more

Welcome to the Hoist Guy’s Blog! Where our resident Hoist Guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his experience in the overhead material handling industry to discuss the different components in a recent pharmaceutical clean room lifting application. A Specialty Lifting System for a Clean Room Application A clean environment already requires specialized lifting equipment, however the additional requirements of our customer’s request for quote immediately started as a challenge that would tax all our technical knowledge. The customer’s cleanroom had an overall ceiling height of 120” and production equip ..read more

Welcome to the Hoist Guy’s Blog! Where our resident Hoist Guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his experience in the overhead material handling industry to discuss gantry cranes and their common applications. What is a Gantry Crane? A gantry crane is a type of overhead crane that is supported by freestanding legs, rather than being tied into a buildings support structure like a bridge crane. The legs of a gantry cranes support the bridge, trolley and hoist. Smaller gantry cranes typically travel along the ground on wheels or casters. Larger gantry cranes can ride on rails or a track that’s been embe ..read more

Welcome to The Hoist Guy's Blog, where our resident hoist guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his industry knowledge and experience. Today we’ll share some upgrade tips that can improve safety and extend the life of your hoists. Maximize Workplace Safety with 5 Hoist & Crane Improvements What are the Top 5 improvements to your hoists and overhead cranes that make a big safety impact? Read this post for simple solutions that extend the life of your lifting equipment and keep operators happy! 1)  Overload Device Whether your hoist is manual, electric or air powered, an overload device ..read more

Welcome to The Hoist Guy's Blog, where our resident Hoist Guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his knowledge and experience of many years in the overhead material handling industry, including some of the top signs that your bridge crane needs modernization (that we find in the field with regrettable frequency). When do I need to modernize my bridge crane? While overhead bridge cranes often last 20+ years, and tight budgets mean using equipment for as long as possible, you should absolutely modernize your bridge crane when it shows any sign from the list below. There are, however, many reas ..read more

Welcome to The Hoist Guy's Blog, where our resident Hoist Guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his knowledge and experience of many years in the overhead material handling industry, including some key considerations when remotely mounting a hoist control enclosure. Can you remove hoist-mounted controls and remotely mount the same controls? We recently sold a CM Lodestar to our customer for a “gray area”, adjacent to a clean room, including a festooning system for a thirteen-foot monorail. Documentation for the customer’s approval included a hoist outline diagram, a wiring diagram and a general ..read more

Welcome to The Hoist Guy's Blog, where our resident Hoist Guy, Andrew T. Litecky, shares his knowledge and experience of many years in the overhead material handling industry. What are the main questions to ask when upgrading the capacity of a hoist on a crane beam? Read this case study to learn how we met the challenge. Will the beam support a higher capacity hoist? What higher capacity hoist suits the application? Can the new hoist navigate any obstructions on the crane? The Case: This project began as a request for a retrofit. We were contacted by a large food processing company in r ..read more

Welcome to The Hoist Guy's Blog, where our resident Hoist Guy Andrew T. Litecky shares another of his #HoistGuyLists! When you need an industrial hoist, why not just call the nearest catalog warehouse chain? Read on for why you should call your industrial hoist distributor, Shupper-Brickle Equipment. #5 Old-Fashioned Customer Service – Our sales engineers combine hoist industry experience and friendly attention to detail to find the equipment you need. Call us for old-fashioned customer service! #4 Hoist Features Made Easy– No clicking through multiple screens of options! T ..read more

Welcome to The Hoist Guy's Blog, where our resident Hoist Guy Andrew T. Litecky shares his knowledge and experience of many years in the overhead material handling industry. How are overhead cranes powered? Electric overhead cranes, also known as bridge cranes, are typically powered by conductor bar, festooning or a cable reel.  There are pros and cons of each type of electrification. In certain situations, overhead cranes are powered manually by push or hand geared options or with air power. For overhead cranes powered by electricity, a device such as conductor bar, a&n ..read more