M.B. Naegle
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2011
- Location
- Conroe, TX USA
We have a set of import skates, the off-brand ones with urethan rollers built better than the channel iron ones. They do OK, but IMO it's less about the skate and more about how you use it. When we put a machine on the floor we do a lot of thinking about how it's going to sit so we don't have to move it later (none of this" lets try it and see"). We move a lot of equipment throughout the week (3-4 tons is usually the biggest we see), but our own machine shop is about the only place we might use skates once every 5 years because the rest of the shop has enough room to get forklifts around or the machines are just passing through and stay on heavy skids. The skates only get used after we've tried or considered the fork lifts, pallet jacks, pinch bars, etc. so their paint is still fairly decent.
Some basic rules of use go a long way IMO: keep the floor clean, most jobs only need 3 well placed skates, move in small increments taking pauses to reposition and pivot skates, etc. Most of the time I've found that if it's hard to push, it's because a skate is angled wrong, not something blocking it. One guy can push 4 tons easily with good skates that are positioned correctly.
Some basic rules of use go a long way IMO: keep the floor clean, most jobs only need 3 well placed skates, move in small increments taking pauses to reposition and pivot skates, etc. Most of the time I've found that if it's hard to push, it's because a skate is angled wrong, not something blocking it. One guy can push 4 tons easily with good skates that are positioned correctly.
