Use an Industrial Scaleįor smaller and lighter loads, you may be able to use an industrial floor scale commonly found in production areas or the shipping and receiving department of a facility. If the load was shipped or transported to your facility or job site, there should be some type of weight information included on the shipping paperwork you received. Review Bill of Lading or Shipping Documentation Product prints or engineered drawings of the load may indicate the final assembled weight. Refer to Engineered Prints or Design Plans In many instances, your overhead crane was probably designed with a duty cycle and capacity specifically for that repetitive lifting application, so the weight of the load was accounted for when the crane was built. If it’s a load that you regularly lift and move through your facility-like a steel coil or a bundle of pipes or lumber-then you will already know the weight of the load. Look for any visual indications of load weight prior to selecting the appropriate lifting and rigging equipment.

The load may be marked with the weight by the manufacturer or may have been previously calculated and marked. Look at the Load to See if the Weight is Marked There are many different ways you can easily identify the weight of a load without doing any type of calculations or using specially-engineered load cells or dynamometers. Simple Methods to Determine the Weight of a Load There are a variety of different methods you can use to determine the weight of the load, which we will cover in more depth.

Shackles, hoist rings, and other hardware.

The total weight of the load must account for every piece of lifting gear involved in the lift, including the hook and everything else below:

Type of lifting slings, rigging hardware, and/or below-the-hook devices being used.

Equipment/type of crane being used for the lift.

This should be determined in the early planning stages of a lift, as everything else about the overhead lift will need to account for the weight of the load, including: One of the very first things you should do prior to lifting a load determines the total weight of the load.

The calculations cover load factors, sling angles, and height and length ratios. This article provides an overview of the methods used to determine the weight of a load and two methods for determining rigging and load calculations.

Using Load Cells or Dynamometers to Determine Load Weight.

Step 2: Determine the Material You’ll Be Lifting.

Step 1: Determine the Volume of the Load.

Refer to the Manufacturer’s Specifications or Catalog Data.

Review Bill of Lading or Shipping Documentation.

Refer to Engineered Prints or Design Plans.

Look at the Load to See if the Weight is Marked.

Simple Methods to Determine the Weight of a Load.

Crane lift plan calculations