Hi!
I bet there's a timer on a crane machine near you right? Well depending on how long it gives you, this will help you.
15 sec.- you see this on many plush crane machines. Well, when you know you only have 15 seconds, you should choose what you are going to try to get before you play. When you put in your coins you should take about 5-7 seconds to align the claw with what you are getting, take 3-5 seconds to check, and take the rest of the time to make sure again and press the button.
30 sec.- this time is for the bigger crane machines. It is a very generous amount of time and for this, you should take 5 seconds to find what you want, 10 seconds to align the claw, 10 seconds to check, and 5 seconds to release the claw.
45 sec.- this is pretty much the most time you can get. Take 5-7 seconds to find what you want, 10 seconds to align the claw, 10 seconds to check, and take the rest of the time to see if you want anything different and align/check it.
Hope this helps!