Welded Rail Fixing Clips
Welded rail clips can be fixed from the steel surface supporting the rail. This makes access requirements much easier during construction and when a crane is operational but being maintained.
Due to the compact design of some types the clips can be used with cranes fitted with guide rollers. All clips are adjustable but by amounts consistent with structural engineering design practice. It is normally a requirement to ensure the centre line of the rail passes within the thickness of the crane runway beam web.
Rail clips suited for heavy duty use
The largest Gantrail clips can take a force of 300 kN from the rail into just one clip. This is because it is possible to lay down a large amount of weld metal around the base of the clip. However, the novel design of the clip ensures that it is still fully adjustable for 20 mm of horizontal movement of the rail.
Gantrail have welded base clips to fit all rail sizes including some that are no longer routinely made but are still found in some older applications. The size of the clip for any rail is in proportion with the rail it is designed to fix.
Gantrail have carried out extensive testing on clips to ensure that they will perform reliably and result in a long service life. This includes load tests on every model with external third party witness of tests and fatigue tests in third party laboratories.
Size for size welded clips give a stronger installation but bolted clips are often more convenient.
- Find or estimate the horizontal force to be carried by the clip. It is assumed that all of the load from one wheel will occur at one clip. If the load is not known it may be assumed to be 15% of the vertical wheel load.
- Choose the style of clip you require – bolted or welded. These are identified with their respective strengths in the table below.
- Find the dimensions of the foot of the rail to be used. See Crane Rails.
- Check that the selected clip will fit the installation. The table gives the dimension that must be added to the foot width of the rail to give the minimum support width.
- Check that the other clip dimensions will suit the application by referring to the Gantrail data sheet for the clip. These only show a limited number of rail sections and Gantrail can advise on other sections.