The rotary step stacking method (also known as fixed-point stacking) is similar to the rotary continuous stacking method. The operation of the crane is the same, both of which step back further when the cantilever rotates to the innermost or outermost side. The difference is that the rotary operation is not continuous, but when the material pile reaches a certain height, the rotation takes one angle each time, until the boom rotates to the inner or outer boundary of the pile, and the crane takes another step back. If mixing effect is required, layered rotary step stacking (also known as fish scale stacking) can be used.


The continuous stacking method is more uniform in stacking materials, especially suitable for mixing situations, but the mechanism operates continuously and consumes more energy than the step-by-step stacking method. The rotary stacking method is more energy-efficient than the gantry stacking method because the motor power of the rotary mechanism is much smaller than that of the gantry mechanism. The material stacked by the rotary stacking method is arc-shaped, especially suitable for the use of rotary bucket wheel (stacking) reclaimers for material retrieval. The efficiency of material retrieval does not decrease at the starting and ending points of each pile.