The planners on this page are free to download. Unzip the archive and copy the enclosed folder to a suitable directory on your hard drive. Open the folder and click on the capacity calculator executable file contained.

Important note regarding the use of GKD Capacity Calculator Planning Tools

When planning lifts with GKD equipped machines it is important to enter the machine orientation data correctly to ensure that the correct rated capacity is produced. The following note details the correct procedure.

1. Enter the radius of the lift and the height range.

2. Decide what slew angle the lift will occur at. (This is important to allow planner to work out which way the machine is on the track)

3. Select the cant direction of the lift.

Down Cant - If the side of the track on which the lift will be carried out is the lower edge of the track then this is termed down cant.

Up Cant - If the side of the track on which the lift will be carried out is the higher edge then this is up cant.

4. Select the gradient.

This is a critical selection and may be misinterpreted. The gradient selection is dependent on the slew angles. If a machine is on a positive gradient (uphill and measured relative to the pivot or floating end of the machine) then the lift direction gradient will be +ve (up)in the arc angles from 270º through 0º to 90º of slew. The Lift direction gradient will be down for angles from 90º through 180º to 270º.
 


Therefore the selection of gradient direction will change at 90º and 270º 
 


If a lift is calculated at 135º slew angle and the lift is over lower edge of the track with the track falling away then the planner will use a +gradient. If the slew angle is changed to 45º without a corresponding change in the gradient then the planning software will use -gradient and produce different arcs of safe operation.

The planner will prompt for Cant and Gradient at the special angles of 90º, 180º, 270º and 0º as it is not possible to determine the machine orientation automatically.