Spider Crane Attachments Guide: How One Machine Handles Six Different Jobs

Ask most contractors what a spider crane is for, and they'll describe a lift. Ask what it's actually worth on a jobsite, and the real answer is that the crane itself is just the chassis — reach, rotation, stability, and power. What that chassis becomes on any given day depends entirely on what's bolted to the end of the boom.

Swap in a vacuum suction cup and it's a glazing machine. Swap in a lifting basket and it's a personnel platform for facade work. Swap in a grab and it's handling demolition debris that would otherwise need a small excavator. That's the pitch behind a customizable spider crane: one CE-certified base machine, and up to six different attachments that turn it into six different tools depending on the job in front of you.

This guide walks through all six — suction cup, basket, clamp, grab, fork, and hydraulic fly arm — what each one actually replaces, and what to check before you add one to your order. If your main interest is glazing specifically, our Best Spider Crane for Glass Installation guide goes deeper on tonnage selection for that use case.

How One Chassis Takes Six Different Tools

Every attachment in this guide mounts to the same lift point on the same base machine. The crane's own systems — 360° hydraulic slew, four auto-leveling outriggers, wireless remote control, and the load moment indicator that prevents overloading — stay exactly the same no matter which tool is on the end of the boom. In practice, that means you're really only evaluating the base crane and its tonnage once. After that, choosing an attachment is a question about the next job, not a question about the machine.

That said, not every attachment is a drop-in fit for every tonnage or every load. The sections below cover what each one does well — and the tonnage and certification section further down covers what to confirm before you order.

Vacuum Suction Cup — Glass, Panels & Smooth Surfaces

Replaces: a separate vacuum lifter rental and the extra crew a manual glass install needs.

This is the attachment most glazing contractors buy a spider crane for in the first place. Risenmega's suction cup lifters cover roughly 200–1,000kg of lifting capacity, with cup sizes from 400mm up to 800mm depending on panel size, mounted on a rotating platform so the operator can tilt and turn the pane into its final position rather than muscling it by hand. It's the right choice for glass, aluminum composite panels, solar modules, and smooth natural stone — anything with a flat, clean, non-porous face for the cups to seal against. For a full breakdown of tonnage selection and load charts for glazing work specifically, see our dedicated glass installation guide.

Lifting Basket — Working at Height Without a Boom Lift

Replaces: a boom lift, specifically in the gaps a boom lift can't reach.

Fitted with a basket, a spider crane reaches working heights from around 12 up to 25 meters and can carry one to two people, which is why it gets used for facade inspection, painting, tree trimming, and general maintenance in spots an articulated boom lift can't get positioned for — tight courtyards, indoor atriums, or sites with no clear ground path. It's worth being precise about what this is, though: lifting personnel with a crane-suspended platform is a distinct, more heavily regulated category than a standard aerial work platform. In the US it falls under OSHA 1926.1431 and ASME B30.23, and is generally intended for situations where conventional access — a boom lift, scaffold, or ladder — genuinely isn't practical, not as a routine substitute. Confirm the specific personnel-rated certification and configuration for your jurisdiction with the Risenmega team before specifying this attachment for personnel use.

Clamps — Steel, Stone & Loads That Can't Be Vacuum-Lifted

Replaces: an extra rigging crew running slings and chains around an awkward load.

Vacuum cups need a flat, sealed, non-porous surface — which rules out a lot of construction materials. Clamp attachments cover that gap. Rated from roughly 300kg up to 1,000kg-plus, they're built for steel beams, stone slabs, and prefabricated elements with rough or irregular surfaces that a suction cup simply can't grip. Because the clamp mechanically grips rather than seals, there's no need for a clean or airtight surface, which makes it the more practical choice for structural steel work, heavy facade panels, and outdoor infrastructure sites where materials arrive dusty, wet, or textured.

Grab — Demolition Debris, Scrap & Site Clearance

Replaces: a small excavator with a grapple, or a crew clearing debris by hand.

A hydraulic grab with multiple independently-moving tines is built for exactly the kind of load an excavator grapple normally handles — broken concrete, timber, scrap steel, and general demolition or renovation waste that's too irregular to sling or clamp. The advantage on a spider crane is access: renovation and interior demolition projects inside occupied buildings often can't get a full-size excavator to the debris, but a spider crane that already folds through a standard doorway can. It's a genuinely practical substitute wherever site clearance work overlaps with the same tight-access constraints that justified the spider crane in the first place.

Fork — Turning the Crane Into a Rooftop Forklift

Replaces: a forklift, specifically anywhere a forklift can't physically get to.

A fork attachment hangs a set of forklift-style tines from the crane's hook, letting it pick up a standard pallet from ground level and set it down on a roof, an upper floor, or through a window opening — delivery routes no wheeled forklift can drive. It's a well-established below-the-hook device in general material handling (typically engineered to ASME B30.20 standards for below-the-hook lifting devices) and shows up constantly in roofing, HVAC replacement, and any job where palletized supplies need to go up rather than across. For a spider crane already on site for lifting, adding a fork means one delivery to the roof instead of a separate forklift booking — or a crew hand-carrying materials up a stairwell.

Hydraulic Fly Arm & Searcher Hook — Reaching Around Obstacles

Replaces: needing a second, longer-reach crane, or repositioning the whole machine mid-job.

This is really two related tools. A searcher hook lets the operator reach past an obstruction — an overhang, an arch, a piece of existing structure — to land a load somewhere the main boom can't get a straight line to. A fly jib extension does the same job for pure reach, adding extra length to get into a corner of a site the standard boom falls short of. Both exist for the same reason: repositioning a spider crane on a tight site costs time and clearance, so extending or redirecting the reach from a single setup point is usually faster and safer than moving the whole machine.

Which Tonnage Works With Which Attachment?

Not every attachment is confirmed across the entire 1–12 ton range. The vacuum suction cup line is built for the 2–12 ton models specifically. The basket attachment's 12–25m working-height range lines up most naturally with the 5 ton and larger machines, which is where that boom length lives on Risenmega's own spec sheet. Clamp, grab, and fork capacities depend on the specific load you're planning to lift more than they depend on a fixed tonnage cutoff — a heavier beam or debris load simply calls for a heavier machine underneath it.

Certifications & Safety Notes by Attachment

The base crane's CE certification covers the machine itself, but several attachments sit under their own standards on top of that — worth knowing before you spec a configuration:

One Chassis, Six Machines: The Cost Case

For a contractor who only occasionally needs a boom lift, a grapple, or a forklift in a hard-to-access spot, owning five or six separate specialized machines to cover those occasional jobs rarely pencils out — each one sits idle most of the year, needs its own maintenance schedule, and takes up yard space. A single spider crane chassis with a rotating set of attachments collapses that into one engine, one hydraulic system, one set of tracks to maintain, and one machine for operators to actually become proficient on.

It also simplifies procurement: because Risenmega can consolidate multiple attachments into the same container as the base crane, ordering your primary attachment plus one or two secondary ones up front is typically more freight-efficient than sourcing them separately later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I switch attachments on the same spider crane, or do I need a separate machine for each job?

Switching attachments, not machines, is the whole point of the platform. The crane's lift point and hydraulic takeoffs are designed to accept different tools, so moving between jobs generally means changing what's on the end of the boom. Confirm the exact interface and any hose or fitting requirements for your chosen attachments when you place your order.

Do all six attachments fit every tonnage, from 1 ton to 12 ton?

No. The vacuum suction cup line is confirmed for the 2–12 ton range specifically. Others are matched to tonnage based on the load weight and reach you actually need — a heavier clamp or grab load calls for a heavier machine underneath it. Share your target loads and preferred tonnage when you request a quote and compatibility will be confirmed before you order.

Is a spider crane with a basket attachment the same as renting a boom lift?

Not quite, and the difference matters for compliance. A boom lift is purpose-built and certified for personnel access. A crane-suspended personnel basket is a separate, more tightly regulated category — governed in the US by OSHA 1926.1431 and ASME B30.23 — generally intended for situations where a boom lift or scaffold genuinely can't reach the work. Confirm the specific certification and local requirements before specifying it for personnel use.

Can the grab attachment handle demolition debris and scrap metal?

Yes. A hydraulic grab with independently-moving tines is designed for irregular, unpredictable material — broken concrete, timber, scrap steel, general site waste — and is a common substitute for a small excavator with a grapple on renovation or occupied-building projects where a full excavator can't get access.

How much does it cost to add extra attachments to a spider crane order?

It varies by attachment and configuration. The vacuum suction cup line starts from around $1,100 depending on cup size; basket, clamp, grab, fork, and fly arm pricing depends on capacity and the tonnage you're pairing it with. Since multiple attachments can ship in the same container as the base crane, ordering more than one at once is usually the most freight-efficient approach.

Can I order more than one attachment with a single spider crane purchase?

Yes, and most buyers do. A common approach is ordering the crane with its primary attachment — the suction cup for a glazing contractor, for example — and adding one or two secondary attachments, such as a fork or basket, either in the same shipment or as a follow-up order once the base machine is on site.

Related reading: Best Spider Crane for Glass Installation · The Ultimate Guide to Glass Curtain Wall Installation Equipment · Spider Crane Guide 2025