Handling deckel heads

I have a deckel clone with a vertical head, slotting head and the high speed head. The standard vertical head is too heavy and awkward for me to handle as I managed to drop it the other day. Part of the problem is that there is no flat surface to temporarily park it on while lifting, the other is the total absence of lifting eyes or even points where an eye could could be fixed. What do you chaps do? or suggest?
Frank

I got myself a 500lb platform lift that straddles the base of the machine for about $70 at an auction. It was almost new but took 2 hours to get all the chips out of the tires.

Don't actually use it at the moment though because there isn't room.

They're "supposed" to start digging for a new abode in a few weeks that should have room for it.

Chris P

Most of my heads have tapped holes on top were I can fix an lifting eye to.
My deckel is on a pedestal with a hoist on a swivel arm attached.
It's not just the heads, the tables and indexers are back breakers too.
It's almost impossible for a man alone to switch these utilities without a hoist or something like that.
I hope the head and your toes are not damaged the other day and I wish you good luck in fabricating a lifting / hoisting device.

I have tailored rope slings for each attachment on my Aciera f4, as there are no lifting eyes. For the tables I made a rope "spider" with tabs that fit in the outer ends of the T-slots. I have a 125 kg mini electric chainhoist on a track overhead. I converted the hoist to two-speed with a 500w light dimmer to obtain a really slow crawl in low "gear".

Ole

Most of the larger Deckel heads have a lifting eye. Actually, the idea was that you would put a 2 part bar through the hole and then drop a pin in. Two people, one on each side, would then lift the head on/off the machine. The eye is positioned just aft of the CG so the head is very slightly front down.

Ross (AlfaGTA) setup a pretty nice crane. He posted the link here previously so you may want to search for it. Basically it is all mounted to the ceiling (there is also a central post version) with articulating arms. That way you can cover the entire area within a circle. I think it requires something like 16" of vertical space for the crane. If you have the height, something like that might be a nice way to go.

Alan

Hi Yoyo,

yoyo said:

Most of my heads have tapped holes on top were I can fix an lifting eye to.

Click to expand...

I'm undecided about the best location for a lifting eye on the high-speed head. Could you please post a photo of yours?

Cheers,
Bruce

After a close inspection it seems the holes have miraculously disappeared
There is no hole on de shaperhead (just a grease nipple) and on the highspeedhead there is no room for a lifting point, because the motor is on top of it.
On the boringhead though there is a lifting point. I'm afraid I 'm not able to take a picture of it now but I'm sure you can find a pic of it on the internet.

I think the best location for a lifting point would be the point where the head is in balance.

Hi Yoyo,

Thanks for your reply! I've already added the lift point to my Slotting Head (photo below) and will shortly do the same to the Angle Head. The only problematic head is (as you say!) the high-speed head, because the motor and mount are in the way. I see two options:

-1- a lift point on the motor support assembly
-2- a rectangular support bracket (like a picture frame with no glass in it) that goes AROUND the motor support assembly and attaches directly to the head.

In case 1, I think the motor support assembly is not very strong, and is only attached to the high speed head just about the spindle housing. I need to study that attachment point and the motor support assembly to see if they are strong enough to support a 50kg load with a safety factor of a few.

In case 2, I need to see if there is enough space. I'd have to weld up a frame and then machine it for the lift eye and for the attachment point to the head.

Cheers,
Bruce