One of the places where there is a virtually constant use of heavy lifting equipment like cranes is the construction business. In every construction project, machines capable of heavy lifting like cranes are used on a daily basis to lift heavy raw materials and other machine parts, and to transport them to their right places in the project environment. Effectively, these machines serve a very important purpose, and to imagine a building project without efficient cranes is almost impossible. If you have worked in any capacity at a construction project, you are likely to know all about the different ways that cranes are used in the industry, and the crucial work that they do on a daily basis. If you have had experience in construction, especially in planning, development or management positions, you are also likely to know that in such an environment, to achieve the best results and performance from your cranes, they need to be perfectly stabilized. This is where crane pads or outrigger pads from cranes come in, and the ability to select the right kind of outrigger pads for cranes can really make or break your project.
The first thing to know about crane pads is that they come in different forms. There are different shapes and sizes, and above all material choices for you to consider, and these are also supposed to vary from project to project, depending on the finer points of your exact use case scenario. Accordingly, you are likely to have to choose from these options and come up with the right choice of crane pad for your project and your machines to work as you expect. To ensure this, you need to look at crane pads and their characteristic properties, and come to an informed decision about the kind that you can use for your projects. To start things off, one of the first things that you need to take a closer look at, apart from the obvious things like size and shape, is the choice of material.
One of the most popular choice of material when it comes to crane pads is steel. Steel crane pads are ubiquitous and are extensively used for a number of different applications in the construction business and elsewhere. Obviously, one thing that this material has going for it is the durability and toughness that it exhibits. Steel crane pads are extremely tough, and therefore they can provide superior stability to cranes and provide them with much more set base to work off of. Especially with heavier cranes that require much better foothold, this choice of material does indeed make sense. However, steel crane pads, especially those of larger sizes, tend to be extremely heavy and it might be difficult to move them around. This can also cause delays in project times and increase your expenses. The popular alternative is wooden crane pads, which also find extensive use, especially in smaller or lighter workload projects. These are better for faster project completion, owing to their light weight. These can be easily moved from place to place without expending much energy, but unlike its steel counterpart, offers much less in the way of durability and stability. Wood chips easily, and can be affected quickly from exposure to the elements, and therefore has its own set of downsides as choice of material.
If you are looking for the best of both worlds in terms of crane pads, you can also take a look at the ones that use plastic as the material of choice. Many companies have had success creating crane pads from engineered thermoplastics, which is a dense and solid material that is extremely stable and durable, while also being light in weight. This combination makes them a great choice of material for crane pads, and with recent production trends, easily available too. If you are looking for crane pads that can deliver solid performance on a daily basis, give you the convenience of being able to move them around easily wherever you want, and stand the test of time as well, this might easily be one of the smartest choices that you can make during a project.