Mediaco selects gantry for major machine move

Mediaco lifts the 13 metre long bed using its Enerpac SL200 telescopic hydraulic lifting system. Photo: Enerpac

Extracting a 13 metre long machine tool from a factory in France was made more of a challenge by it being installed in a confined space.

Specialist contractor Mediaco Heavy Lift did have an advantage in that it had previously installed the machine. The company used four legs of a telescopic hydraulic lifting system for the job in La Buffiere, France. The 200 tonne capacity Enerpac SL200 towers were set up in gantry configuration to lift the machine tool bed and its turntable, loading them onto a flatbed truck.

The skid track was removed to allow entry of the truck to carry the bed. Photo: Enerpac

First to be lifted was the bed section, weighing 46 tonnes and measuring 13 metres long, 2.2 metres wide and 2.7 metres high. It was moved to the loading point. With it suspended in the air its slide rails underneath were separated so the truck could reverse in for the gantry to lower the lather onto the truck bed.

The ring or turntable of the machine was 5.9 metres in diameter. Photo: Enerpac

Next came the 41 tonne turntable. Following the same process this unit, with a diameter of 5.9 metres and 0.7 metres high, was then loaded onto a truck.

Jean-Baptiste Rault, Mediaco Heavy Lift site manager, was responsible for the project, assisted by operator Tom Grissault. “The Enerpac SL200 is ideal for this type of project thanks to the gantry’s small footprint,” Rault explained. “It offers us a highly efficient alternative for projects where the use of a crane is not practical.”

To operate the gantry Mediaco made use of the SL200’s Enerpac Intellilift wireless controls, fitted as standard. Each leg of the system also has self-contained hydraulics. It means there are no connecting hoses between the legs and therefore no trip hazards. Set up is also easier.

The bed of the machine tool lowered onto the truck using four legs of the Enerpac SL200 telescopic hydraulic lifting system set up in two pairs in gantry configuration with two header beams and a longitudinal central beam. Photo: Enerpac