Go-to lifter in a tight spot – the GML 800+ counterbalance floor crane

The GML 800+ counterbalance floor crane is like a lifting company’s best mate.

You know the type. The pal you can really trust to be by your side, putting in a big shift, when you’re in the tightest spot.

Okay, here at Hird we don’t get too friendly with our mini cranes and vacuum lifters. Or expect a slap on the back from a glazing robot every time we send it out on a job.

But we’re just trying to get across just how much our lifting hire customers like the GML 800+ counterbalance floor crane. How impressed they are with it.

And how much they have come to rely on it to do a great job in the most challenging lifting environments.

Go-to counterbalance floor crane

It’s why we’ve made it the Product (is that pal?) of the month for March.

The mini floor crane, made by German lifting company Wienold, has only been available in the UK through Hird for six months.

Yet, in that time it has become a go-to crane for many glass lifting and curtain wall installation jobs across the UK.

We saw there was a demand for a highly-compact, simple to use counterbalance floor crane that combined an impressive lifting capacity with the ability to lift the load to greater height than ever before.

Compact crane world beater

So, we went to Wienold with our ideas about the key performance features of such a machine, and they did the rest – creating a floor crane that we think is a world beater.

Put simply, the GML 800+ takes up very little floor space, is very easy and safe to operate, yet can lift 800kg up to 7.9m. Higher-still with the right lifting attachment.

The next most capable counterbalance floor crane can only manage 500kg, lifting that load up to 4 metres.

Demand for the machine has grown quickly because our glass installation and facilities maintenance clients can suddenly do things they never could before.

Achieving the previously impossible

Hird Director John Wilding said: “Some glass panels are in such confined spaces that there is not enough room to accommodate even the smallest spider crane.

“That means glass installation teams have to install crash decks and fixed lifting systems to lift our and replace just one panel.

“Along comes the GML 800+ counterbalance floor crane, and suddenly they can wheel it into place, remove the panel and fit the new glass, all in a short space of time.

“Many glass installation jobs that previously were among the toughest and most expensive to do, are suddenly among the easiest.

“Our clients are finding new ways to use these counterbalance floor cranes on a monthly basis. They are very impressed, to say the least.”

Electric version cuts manual handling

Hird has exclusive end-user rights in the UK to the GML 800+ DC version of the floor crane.

This is the most popular GML 800+ model because its battery-powered electric lifting system reduced manual handling close to zero.

The counterbalance floor crane has been used on many prestige glass installation projects in the last 12 months, including the £620m American Embassy in Nine Elms, Battersea, South London.

The floor crane’s flexibility and lifting capability can be extended by fitting it with a range of lifting attachments, including:

• Extendable forks
• A crane boom
• An electric telescoping boom

The GML 800+ can also be fitted with another amazing piece of lifting kit from Hird: the Kappel glass manipulator.

This glass vacuum lifter has also been co-designed by our team here at Hird, and will lift a 500kg sheet of glass or non-porous sheet 7.9m into an overhead position.

As well as the DC version, we can supply a manual version of the counterbalance floor crane. An AC mains-electrics version will be out soon, too.

For more information about the GML 800+ counterbalance floor crane, get in touch today. They are available across the UK via our three regional operating hubs.