• Mar 09, 2026
• Case Studies

10t LD Model Traditional Bridge Crane With MD Hoist

Discover the 10t LD Model Traditional Bridge Crane equipped with an MD Hoist, designed for optimal efficiency in machinery manufacturing plants. Enhance your operations today.

A machinery manufacturing plant recently upgraded its lifting equipment to handle heavier loads in a compact workshop. Overhead cranes are critical in manufacturing for lifting large parts safely and efficiently. In this crane installation case study, we examine how a Yuantai LD model single-girder overhead bridge crane with an MD electric hoist met the customer's needs. The upgrade addressed the plant's space constraints and increased load requirements, resulting in faster assembly and improved safety.

Customer Background and Requirements

The customer is a machinery manufacturer that assembles large machine frames, molds, and sub-assemblies. Their existing overhead lifting system was limited to 5 tons, which proved inadequate for newer, heavier components. Key requirements emerged:

• Load Capacity: Handle up to 10 tons, doubling the previous limit.
• Span and Lifting Height: Cover a 9m span across the workspace with 6m lifting height.
• Building Height Constraint: Shop ceilings were low, so the crane needed a low headroom design.
• Controls: Include both pendant and remote radio control for operator flexibility.
• Electrical Supply: Operate on the factory's 380V/50Hz three-phase power.
• Duty Class: Rated A3 (FEM 1Am) for moderate, continuous usage, typical of assembly work.

Before the new crane, heavy parts often required manual handling or forklift transfers. This led to production delays and safety risks. OSHA and industry guidelines stress that mechanized lifting is essential to prevent injuries and inefficiencies in heavy manufacturing. The facility needed a compact overhead lifting solution that fit the building height while lifting 10t loads reliably.

Customer Challenges and Our Solutions

The customer's workshop currently faces two limitations. The first is having a limited budget and needing to choose a cost-effective option that meets their needs while maintaining crane performance. The second limitation is that the customer's daily work involves precision lifting, and the lifting solution needs to provide fine control to avoid load swaying that can lead to inaccurate positioning. In addition to this, the customer wants a low failure rate and a long life for the equipment, reducing the impact of downtime for maintenance on production. Combining the above requirements, we offer our customers single girder LD bridge cranes. Our LD series cranes have very mature production technology, low acquisition cost, simple structure, there will be fewer complex parts to fail, and easier maintenance, low repair costs. And after detailed communication, the LD single beam structure is sufficient to meet the daily material handling needs. We have equipped this crane with a wire rope hoist that has a two-speed function, with a slow-speed mode that provides fine control.

Yuantai 10t LD Single-Girder Crane with MD Electric Hoist

Yuantai Crane offered a 10t LD single-girder bridge crane with an MD electric wire rope hoist. The LD series is a conventional Chinese design for single-girder EOT (electric overhead traveling) cranes. It is known for mature technology, simple structure, and long service life, making it cost-effective for light to moderate-duty use. And cranes in this configuration are much less expensive and cost little compared to other models. The MD hoist is a dual-speed electric wire rope hoist that can switch between normal and low lifting speeds, allowing precise load positioning. The key reasons for this choice include:

1. Structural Design of the LD Single Girder Crane

The crane uses the LD type single girder bridge structure, which is widely used in manufacturing workshops because of its efficiency and simplicity. The main girder is fabricated as a welded box beam that provides excellent strength while keeping the overall crane weight relatively low. A lighter structure reduces wheel pressure on the runway beams and helps protect the building structure. The crane was designed with a 9-meter span and 6-meter lifting height, which fits the customer's workshop layout and provides full coverage of their machining area. This design allows operators to move heavy machine parts directly between production stations without relying on forklifts, improving both efficiency and workplace safety.

2. Hoisting System with MD Wire Rope Hoist

For the lifting mechanism, we selected the MD electric wire rope hoist, which is known for its durability and stable performance in industrial environments. The MD hoist uses a dual-speed lifting system, providing a faster speed for normal lifting and a slower speed for precise positioning. This feature is very useful when handling large mechanical parts that must be placed accurately onto machining tables or assembly fixtures. The hoist structure is compact, which helps maximize the available lifting height inside a workshop with limited vertical clearance. In addition, the hoist includes important safety features such as overload protection and upper and lower limit switches, which protect both the equipment and the operator during daily operation.

3. Duty Class and Operational Performance

This crane system was designed to meet A3 duty classification, which is suitable for moderate lifting operations commonly found in machinery manufacturing workshops. The MD hoist itself supports A3–A4 duty cycles, providing reliable performance for frequent daily lifting tasks. The crane traveling system uses stable motors and reducers that ensure smooth bridge movement along the runway beams. Operators can move loads across the workshop with controlled acceleration and braking, which reduces load swing and improves positioning accuracy.

4. Cost-Effective and Flexible Configuration

For this project, the customer wanted a practical lifting solution without the higher cost of a heavy-duty double girder crane. The LD single girder design provided exactly that balance. It offers strong lifting capability while keeping manufacturing, installation, and maintenance costs lower. The crane design also allows flexible configuration options, including different drive systems, control methods, and electrical arrangements. Because the crane integrates easily with the customer's existing power supply and workshop layout, installation was straightforward and did not disrupt ongoing production activities.

Product Requirements

The crane was engineered to meet these specific criteria:

• Capacity: 10tons (10t overhead crane)
• Span: 9meters (coverage across workshop)
• Lifting Height: 6meters maximum hook travel
• Power Supply: 380V, 50Hz, 3-phase (standard industrial power)
• Controls: Pendant control station and wireless remote for operator safety
• Duty Class: A3 (FEM 1Am) – suitable for frequent, moderate lifts
• Headroom: Low-profile design to fit limited building height

These specs ensured the crane could handle the heaviest planned loads without exceeding safety limits, while remaining within the shop's dimensional constraints.

LD Single Girder Overhead Cranes

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MD Double Speed Electric Wire Rope Hoists

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Crane Features and Design

1. Structural Design

The LD crane's main beam is a welded U-shaped steel box-beam (usually Q235B carbon steel) that balances strength with low weight. The end girders are made of rectangular welded steel tubes (Q235B or optional Q345B). This box-beam and welded construction yields a rigid structure that is also relatively light. The total dead weight of the crane is small, which helps reduce track loading. Specialized crane wheels are used on the single girder; these are light and strong for smooth travel and good load distribution.

2. MD Electric Wire Rope Hoist

The chosen hoist is an MD-model wire rope hoist rated for 10t. MD hoists are a classic design for single girder cranes. They offer two lifting speeds: a normal speed for quick raising/lowering and a low speed for precise positioning. At low speed, the hoist allows careful placement of heavy workpieces, essential during assembly. The hoist is equipped with a heavy-duty steel wire rope and grooved drum, ensuring smooth layering of rope and long service life. In practice, this MD hoist meets A3 duty (light-medium service) and is more versatile than a single-speed CD hoist for assembly tasks.

3. Safety Devices

The crane includes multiple safety features. Overload protection limits ensure the hoist will not lift beyond its rated 10t. Upper and lower limit switches (hoist limit switches) prevent the hook block from over-traveling into the hoist or trolley frame. End-travel limit switches on the bridge stop the crane at the rail ends, preventing collisions. Anti-collision bumpers are installed on the end trucks. An independent overload limiter signals if a load is too heavy. Such devices are standard on LD cranes. These measures protect the machine and operators, reducing downtime.

4. Electrical and Control

The crane's electrical equipment is separated into two enclosures: one for the bridge/travel mechanism and one for the hoist (lifting) mechanism. This helps isolate electrical components for easier maintenance. Indoor-rated enclosures (e.g. NEMA 12) are dust-tight, protecting the controls and motors from debris. Power is supplied via festooned cables for the hoist trolley and a conductor bar (sliding rail) for bridge travel, ensuring smooth power delivery. Operators control the crane with a handheld pendant or an optional wireless remote transmitter, allowing them to stand clear of moving loads. Pendant controls and remote radio controls are common safety features that let operators maintain a safe distance and visibility while running the crane.

5. Maintenance

The LD crane's simple construction also means straightforward maintenance. Critical wear parts like wheel bearings are lubricated via accessible oil plugs and grease points. Because the main beam is welded steel, it has no large rivets or flanges, reducing inspection points. Users are instructed to regularly check bolt connections and the condition of wheels and brakes. In this case, proper maintenance procedures were communicated to the customer upon handover.

Installation and Commissioning

After the crane arrived at the customer's facility, the installation team began by carefully unloading and positioning each component according to the planned layout. The end trucks were mounted on the existing runway rails, and technicians checked the rail alignment to make sure the crane could travel smoothly along the workshop. The main girder was then lifted into position and securely connected across the span. Once the bridge structure was in place, installers tested the bridge travel and trolley movement to confirm that both systems moved evenly without vibration or misalignment. After these checks, the MD wire rope hoist was mounted beneath the main beam and installed onto the trolley assembly. The team then carried out commissioning procedures to ensure safe and stable operation. They performed several no-load trial runs to verify the movement of the bridge, trolley, and hoisting mechanism. During these tests, technicians adjusted limit switches, checked braking performance, and confirmed that the travel paths were accurate. The load limiter was also calibrated precisely for the crane's 10-ton lifting capacity so that the system would respond correctly if an overload occurred. Finally, a full safety inspection was completed. The team confirmed that the crane stopped properly at all travel limits and that the emergency stop system responded immediately. These steps ensured that the crane was ready for reliable daily operation in the customer's workshop.

Operational Performance and Benefits

Since commissioning, the 10t LD crane has significantly improved the plant's operations:

• Increased Lifting Capacity: The new crane reliably lifts heavy assemblies up to 10t without strain. Tasks that previously required multiple lifts or forklifts can now be done in a single hoisting move, cutting cycle time. This directly increases throughput on the assembly line.
• Improved Efficiency: Operations like moving machine frames, molds, and equipment parts have become faster. Overhead cranes are known to make assembly and material handling much more efficient. Workers no longer have to reposition loads manually or wait for secondary equipment. For example, the crane now moves heavy mold parts between stations in one lift, which greatly increases the speed of the process.
• Enhanced Safety: The risk of manual lifting injuries has dropped. Operators can now lift and transport heavy items safely from the floor to overhead without strain. By mechanizing the lifting, the plant adheres to best practices for industrial safety. In previous systems, manually handling 5+ ton parts exposed staff to pinch and back injuries; the new crane eliminates such direct contact. Features like the overload limiter and limit switches add protection.
• Versatility in Task Handling: The single-girder crane and MD hoist provide smooth control, handling a wide variety of objects. This includes awkward shapes like cast machine frames, large gearboxes, and assembled subsystems. The dual-speed hoist aids in slowly aligning parts during installation, which was hard to do manually. The workshop also uses the crane for routine tasks like lifting tool boxes, maintenance equipment, or even empty pallets. Its flexibility supports almost any heavy lift in the facility.

In sum, the customer reports faster load handling and better workflow. Delays from waiting on heavy lifts have largely disappeared. By having the right crane for the job, the plant avoids overtime and bottlenecks.