Portable Jib Crane: What It Is, When to Use It, and Key Benefits

Intro: Reasons you may need a portable jib crane

— Are your forklifts constantly getting pulled away from production just to handle small routine lifts? Do you need a lifting solution, but your concrete slab won’t support a permanent crane? Or maybe layout changes often enough that bolting something to the floor just doesn’t make sense.

If any of that sounds familiar, there’s a solution many shops don’t realize is an option: the portable jib crane. In this video, we’ll break down what a portable jib crane is, when it makes sense, when it doesn’t, and the real-world advantages and limitations you should consider.

My name is Ben. This is “The Lifting and Rigging Channel”, and today we are at Spanco’s headquarters in Morgantown, PA. Tim Bambrick is joining us. Today we’re gonna be talking about some different Spanco crane systems. What we’re first talking about is a portable jib crane.

What is a portable jib crane?

So, Tim, what is a jib crane? And then, more specifically, what is a portable jib crane?

— So, you have your boom, which is above, and also your mast, which the boom attaches to. Very common in the industry. The jib crane is technically considered to be a very cost-effective solution for overhead material handling.

Well, in this case, we have a portable jib crane behind us, and what makes it portable is the fact that, since the counterweight is full of concrete, you can pick it up with a forklift and move it throughout your plant.

What problems does a portable jib crane solve?

— So, what problems is this solving, having a jib crane that’s portable?

— So, in factories where you don’t have the ability to attach to a wall or actually go into the ground. If I’m leasing a building, right, and I don’t wanna make a huge investment in that building where I gotta put a traditional dig-and-pour foundation, this type of product allows me to set it up and use it without doing any modifications to the building.

How does a portable jib crane stay stable and avoid tipping?

— So, a lot of people probably haven’t heard of a portable jib crane. What are some things that people misunderstand about this product?

— How is it attached? They think somehow this is attached to the ground because you’re not used to the fact that this thing can be moved.

— If I had just heard about this solution, I’d be afraid if I’m lifting something at the end here and it’s pretty heavy, like, it’s gonna tip over, right?

— Yeah, simple physics, if you’re picking something up, you need weight to hold it back down. So, that base is the counteracting force of that hoist picking up that piece of material.

What are the capacity, height, and span limits on Spanco Portable Jib Cranes?

— And then, what are the rated capacities? Like, how high can these go up to?

— Half-ton capacity. On these units we go up to a 12-foot height under the boom, which, again, is that part going across. And then a 16-foot span, which is the full reach.

What applications are best for a portable jib crane?

— What are some applications that would be a best fit for a portable jib crane?

— Number one, I would say a factory floor that’s always changing, a factory floor that has equipment that’s constantly moving through it.

If you have a, you know, a CNC there one day, then maybe a couple years later you have an end mill, you may have to move that crane to different locations to make it work. Where, if you have a traditional crane that has a foundation, you’re pretty much handcuffed to that spot.

So, this crane gives much more versatility for overhead material handling.

— And why would you consider a portable jib versus, like, a portable gantry or something like that?

— The floor space. With a gantry, you’ll have two legs on each side, which, if you have a forklift aisle or some other obstruction, this only has one spot where it’s rooted to.

Forklift requirements for moving a portable jib crane?

— What about considerations that you need for your forklift? Can any forklift pick this up, or do you need some specialized equipment to do that?

— Yes, great question. First of all, portable bases come in different sizes. Like we mentioned, we go up to a half-ton capacity, but we have some other ones, like, this one is 250 pounds.

So, the portable base size is different, meaning you need a different forklift. I would definitely make sure when you’re ordering one of these, you have a forklift on-site that can handle up to 8,000 pounds.

Cost comparison: portable vs wall-mounted and freestanding jib cranes

— So, from a cost standpoint, how does a portable solution compare to a freestanding solution or a wall-mounted solution?

— Wall mount, the product itself may be less expensive than portable. However, you’ll have to get your building verified by a professional engineer to make sure that crane can handle it. If it doesn’t, you may have to reinforce that building.

For a freestanding crane, you’ll have a foundation. We do offer ones that are foundationless; however, you’ll still have to make sure you get the right anchor bolts and things like that. But for a true freestanding one, you’re gonna have to have a dig-and-pour foundation, which can cost up to thousands of dollars.

Enclosed track vs articulating portable jib cranes

— So, you’ve got two different designs of jib cranes. Can you tell me about what’s different between the two and how do you know which one is right for your application?

— Right, Spanco has two different types. We have the enclosed track style, which you see in the background, and then we also have an articulating jib crane for a portable base option.

The difference is, one, deflection, and deflection means how much it’s gonna bounce, the articulating is a little bit stiffer. Another factor is this has a fixed boom, meaning that it does not bend, whereas the articulating, it’ll actually bend in the middle.

So, it gives you more articulation when you’re using it, which is very popular for a CNC loading area where you have to actually be very precise, you can’t have much bounce, and you’re loading, let’s say, a very expensive tool and die set. That’s where you would really see an articulating jib crane being used over, I would say, an enclosed track, fixed-boom style.

— So, real precise movements you’re gonna be using articulating. Let’s say, general lifting, this will work fine.

— Exactly.

— And how does the price compare between those two models?

— Your articulating is gonna be a premium over the enclosed track, fixed-boom style.

How does a portable jib crane improve productivity?

— So, how does a portable jib crane impact productivity? How does it improve a shop?

— Repetitive movement, where you’re constantly doing the same movement back and forth, back and forth. So, that’s where a jib crane is really gonna be ideal.

How Spanco uses portable jib cranes in real shop applications

— So, how exactly do you use these two cranes? So, you’ve got two portable jibs in your shop, they’re part of your production process. What do you use them for?

— So, the one across from us, actually, is a very important one to us because we actually load the CNC machine with it.

So, we’re picking up the same size tube, moving it over to the same amount of area, and putting it into the same machine over and over again. And it’s pretty heavy. So, that’s something that we have to, you know, consider our worker, make sure they don’t get strained throughout their workday.

— And how did you decide that the best solution for these two work cells was a portable solution?

— These two work cells are always changing. We may be doing CNC, or we may be doing some type of, like, very custom fabrication, and we may have different jigs coming in here, different types of tooling.

So, the fact that we can move that jib around the floor is very important to us. Same thing with the CNC machine. We’re always putting different pieces of equipment through the CNC machine; depending what that piece looks like, we may have to move that jib around accordingly.

What makes Spanco portable jib cranes different?

— So, if anyone hops online and they start shopping for portable jib cranes, you’re gonna see a ton of different options. What makes Spanco different than some of the other options on the market?

— Made in USA. Also, our portable bases are actually filled with concrete. They already come that way. Some others, you have to fill the concrete on-site.

So, again, you may pay a little bit more for the freight, but again, you’re not messing with it as the product gets there.

— That’s one big takeaway. You have to assume if you’re pouring the concrete, you’re doing it correctly. What about customization options?

What customization options are available for portable jib cranes?

Are there any customization options that you can give?

— A very common one is custom paint. People will send us an RAL number, and we’ll paint it whatever color you want. Different types of heights; obviously, if they want a special height, we’ll do that.

Different festooning options, if they want air versus, you know, electric, things like that. But very simple product. The unique thing about our portable jib crane is that it’s a plug and play. You can pop it wherever you want on your shop floor. Very easy.

— Boom, you got a jib crane.

— Boom, instant.

— So how do you to get one?

— We work through a whole dealer network, and Mazzella is one of ’em. So, you can contact Mazzella; they’ll be happy to quote you a Spanco portable jib crane.

— Thanks, Tim.

— Yeah, thank you.

Is a portable jib crane the right solution for your facility?

— Hopefully, this video gave you the information you need to decide if a portable jib crane is the right solution for you.

If you need help determining what the best lifting solution is for your facility, reach out to Mazzella. Our crane specialists can walk you through all of your options and help you make that decision. Contact us today, link below.

If you found this video useful, informative, entertaining, or you just feel like being friendly, hit that like button so we can get this information out to everyone who needs it. Remember, safe rigging is smart rigging. My name is Ben. Stay safe out there.