Mechanical Crane Scales

Electronic Crane Scales by Eilon Engineering

Eilon Engineering has extensive expertise in creating and building industry-leading digital crane scales. For over 45 years, organizations like Boeing, NASA, Disney and many others have relied on Eilon Engineering for their digital crane scale needs. Their Ron line of crane scales have been used in industrial applications such as petroleum, wind turbines, loading operations at ports, and many others.

Every Ron crane scale is built for the demands of heavy industry. They are available in a variety of maximum loads, yet compact sizes to provide the most lifting capacity with the lowest headroom loss in the industry.. Eilon Engineering tests their heavy duty crane scales to rugged fatigue and overload standards (200% proof load), making them industry leaders among crane scale manufacturers.

Ron 2000H

The Ron 2000 is available with a maximum mass up to 30 tons (Hook Type Model) and 300 tons (Shackle Type Model), and displays the mass on a handheld remote as well. The Ron 2000 is incredibly compact, with the smallest headroom loss in the industry.

Ron 2125H

The Ron 2125 is a wired crane scale available with a maximum load of 0.5 tons to 30 tons (Hook Type Model) and 300 tons (Shackle Type Model), depending on the specific model. It has an easy-to-use indicator with a large display that can be read in all lighting conditions and operated with gloved hands. The Ron 2125’s 1”/25mm display is attachable up to 12.5t

Ron 2150H

The Ron 2150 is the larger version of the Ron 2125, as it has a 2 inch / 50mm display instead of the 1 inch /25mm display found on the Ron 2125. It is available with maximum loads from 0.5 tons to 30 tons (Hook Type Model) and 300 tons (Shackle Type Model). The Ron 2150’s 2”/50mm display is attachable up to 300 tons.

Ron 2501H

The Ron 2501 is a wireless crane scale that can handle loads from 0.5 tons to 30 tons (Hook Type Model) and 0.5 tons to 300 tons (Shackle Type Model) and displays data on the handheld indicator.

Ron 3025

The Ron 3025 comes with a 1” / 25mm integrated display. It can handle up to 12.5 tons and can be operated with an optional cage for added protection.

Ron 3050

The Ron 3050 uses a 2” / 50mm integrated display instead of a 1”/25mm display used on the Ron 3025. It can handle larger loads, with a maximum load of 15 tons. The Ron 3050 is also available with a protective cage for rugged industrial environments, like scrap metal handling.

How is a remote display better than a fixed, mechanical display?

A remote display can be read from anywhere in the factory. This means an operator can monitor a loading operation from a safe distance away. Scale errors due to glare, parallax, and other such problems are not present in a remote display reading a load cell.

Isn’t there something called digitization error with digital scales?

Yes. It has to do with how an analog quantity (weight) , which can be an infinite number of values, is converted into a finite number of digits. However, mechanical crane scales suffer a similar problem, as there can only be so many “tick” marks and there is a resolution limitation, which looks a lot like a digitization error.

What other problems can occur with a mechanical crane scale?

An overload can cause the spring to be irreparably damaged, causing it to stretch and always read incorrectly. Furthermore, the damaged spring is more prone to fail.

Are there any advantages to a mechanical scale?

Mechanical crane scales do not require batteries. However, with Ron dynamometers, battery life can be up to 4000 hours, so battery changes are infrequent anyhow.

Industrial operations that require crane loading and unloading of materials should use a crane scale to ensure safety and consistency in loading. A crane scale measures the mass of the crane’s load meaning operators can be sure that overloads will be detected .. It also makes it easier to track multiple crane loads and get a more accurate picture of how much material had been loaded or unloaded.

Many industrial crane scales are available on the market, but there are some distinct advantages with using digital crane scales instead of mechanical crane scales. While mechanical crane scales are cheaper, you get what you pay for, with reduced accuracy, larger sizes and weakened durability.

A high quality overhead crane scale can pay for itself quickly in terms of safety and quality assurance. To determine which crane scale is right for your facility, contact Eilon Engineering today.

The Advantages of Digital Crane Scales

Mechanical crane scales are often offered at a lower price than digital crane scales. However, there are several major disadvantages that come with using a Mechanical crane scale. The most important advantage with digital crane scales is their ability to be viewed from a distance away, using a handheld remote or wireless digital display. Besides this, other advantages include the higher accuracy and smaller size offered with digital crane scales.

Accuracy

A typical mechanical crane scale consists of a spring attached to an armature and needle that moves across the surface of a display. The larger the load, the farther the spring is stretched, and the farther the needle moves, registering a higher weight. This worked great, for hundreds of years.

However, there are several measurement errors that can appear with this type of arrangement. First, a scale overload can stretch the spring into plastic deformation. This means the spring is stretched permanently, causing it to read inaccurately and affecting its fatigue (cycling) performance. It will eventually fail catastrophically.

Second, a mechanical scale must be placed in such a way so that the linkage that controls the needle is near the scale spring itself. This means the needle will need to be near the scale, and cannot be monitored remotely. Furthermore, the needle cannot drag on the surface of the scale, and so there will always be a parallax error, or error in measurement depending on where the scale is read from. The needle will appear in a slightly different place. Also, the meter may be hard to read, as it will be a distance away from the operator, and subject to glare, poor lighting and so on.

With a digital scale, the weight is displayed with large LCD digits, the backlight makes it suitable for reading in any lighting conditions. With the options for remote, wireless or a BlueTooth crane scale interface, the operator can be located a long way from the scale and still read the weight. There is no parallax effect, either.

Size Constraints

Besides the advantages of a clear, easy-to-read digital display, the size of a mechanical scale will determine how much resolution (the smallest change in mass that can be accurately measured), as well as the readability of the display. Mechanical scales take up a significantly larger space to be readable at a distance and must also be large to have suitable resolution for accurate measurements. All of this increases the headroom loss and makes for much more cumbersome measurements and crane operations.

With digital scales, such as the ones offered by Eilon Engineering, the resolution is built into the electronics, not into a physical linkage and moving needle. Furthermore, the digital display can be located on the crane scale, or, depending on the model, displayed remotely Both of these factors contribute to a compact package that minimizes headspace loss.