Straightpoint unveil Europe’s only 350t load cell tester

5 October 2010

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Straightpoint claim that their latest product, the result of £330,000 of research, is the only one of its kind in Europe capable of calibrating load cells to up to 350t of compression/tension.

The machine was revealed at a ribbon cutting at Straightpoint’s new Dakota Park offices in Havant, with the deputy mayor and deputy mayoress of Havant opening proceedings, alongside Straightpoint managing director David Ayling.

Prior to the move to Straightpoint’s Havant premises, bespoke alterations to the building’s design had to be made to accommodate the 6m high, 17t machine.

Straightpoint Managing Director, David Ayling, commented: “Just to put the power of this machine into perspective, our new testing machine would easily be able to lift either the main A frame of the London Eye or up to 235 family cars, as either are within the maximum 350 tonnes capacity of our testing & calibrating machine.”

Load cells, which have various applications in heavy industry including testing crane lift capacities, must be precisely calibrated to ensure that safe working loads are adhered to.

To ensure precision during the calibration process, the machine has ‘reference load cells’ integrated into its design which have been calibrated against a master load cell held by national measurements authority the National Physical Institute.

Underlining the health and safety implications of the machine, Mr. Ayling said, “Without testing a load cell, the consequences could be catastrophic. For example, a crane lifting a container heavier than its maximum load that hasn’t been tested using a properly calibrated load cell would be disastrous, potentially causing crane collapse and untold damage to operators of the machine as well as the machinery and container contents.

“Just by using a properly calibrated and tested load cell, the operator would be able to accurately gauge the maximum weight and carry out the lifting safely.”