I'm in the process of modifying a couple of forklifts to a higher weight rating. I'm now at the point of working on design and getting budget numbers as I'm doing extensive mods. I'm doing most of the design work myself and then get my engineer to approve the design or make modifications where necessary.
Where I'm at now is counterweight material. One lift is going to need around 6,500 lb of additional counterweight and the other a whopping 20,000 lb as I'm removing the existing counterweight and replacing it all with removable slab weights. I want it to look more professional than just hanging a chunk of iron off the back. I also want to keep the sections at 5,000 lb or less so a 5K lift could remove or replace the weights.
Option 1- Building a box the shape I need and filling it with punch slugs. This is probably the lowest cost option as I can get punch slugs for scrap price but is the least weight per volume.
Option 2- Buying plate steel and welding it together in the shape I want. Probably most expensive option but would be super simple to put together and would look the most "factory".
Option 3- Building a box and filling it with lead. This would be the most weight per volume. It would also be cheaper than plate steel if I could buy the lead at scrap price, but I'd have to deal with melting the lead to fit into the box. I don't know if I could source enough scrap lead in the quantities I'm needing either.
Does anybody know of anywhere you could purchase "blemished" steel plate cheap? It wouldn't matter if it wasn't structurally sound as I just need it for dead weight.
This is going to be around a $100,000 project. I know that sounds like a lot but when you price Versa-lifts at $300,000, it doesn't sound all that bad. I'll post more on the other modifications I'm making when I get the design figured out.
Where I'm at now is counterweight material. One lift is going to need around 6,500 lb of additional counterweight and the other a whopping 20,000 lb as I'm removing the existing counterweight and replacing it all with removable slab weights. I want it to look more professional than just hanging a chunk of iron off the back. I also want to keep the sections at 5,000 lb or less so a 5K lift could remove or replace the weights.
Option 1- Building a box the shape I need and filling it with punch slugs. This is probably the lowest cost option as I can get punch slugs for scrap price but is the least weight per volume.
Option 2- Buying plate steel and welding it together in the shape I want. Probably most expensive option but would be super simple to put together and would look the most "factory".
Option 3- Building a box and filling it with lead. This would be the most weight per volume. It would also be cheaper than plate steel if I could buy the lead at scrap price, but I'd have to deal with melting the lead to fit into the box. I don't know if I could source enough scrap lead in the quantities I'm needing either.
Does anybody know of anywhere you could purchase "blemished" steel plate cheap? It wouldn't matter if it wasn't structurally sound as I just need it for dead weight.
This is going to be around a $100,000 project. I know that sounds like a lot but when you price Versa-lifts at $300,000, it doesn't sound all that bad. I'll post more on the other modifications I'm making when I get the design figured out.