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Since my heart attack... Looking for a lift table

rbrandes

Aluminum
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Location
Panama City Beach, Florida
Hello All!

I can no longer lift anything heavy and I am thinking of an adjustable height cart for putting vises etc. in and out of my VF-2.

I would like a lift table with some kind of extension that would reach into the Haas so I can slide the work holders on and off the machine table.

If there are other options I am open for suggestions.

If anyone asks (not that they would) the big one hit me Feb 27. March 3 had bi-pass surgery. I am doing fine and getting better every day and am looking forward to getting back in the harness.

Regards, Ray
 
Die carts come to mind right away, but you'd need the capability to roll the legs of the cart under the VMC, which I doubt you have. By the time you jockey around a die cart or some kind of modified engine hoist, you might as well have picked the vise up to begin with. I'll be watching this thread because I'm sort of looking to solve the same problem myself. I've seen the pallets that you setup outside the VMC and roll it's slightly cantilevered table over to the door to slide work in and out, but those tables are heavier to maneuver than the vise is.
 
Hi Ray,

Glad you're doing well.

You might do a search for "adjustable height die cart" witch is what we use to move heavy things around the shop. None of ours have the extension like you're after but they may be out there. Most of ours have a foot brake maybe rig up some sort of a ramp to slide the vise in/out the machine? Good luck...

Brent

Edit: I didn't see the post above before posting mine.
 
Ray,

I don't have any ideas for you but I'm sure happy you are on the mend. We work like dogs all our lives and don't take care of ourselves along the way. Now at this point in your life make sure you put as much work into taking care of you as you put into taking care of others. People depend on us and and wait for us to come home each day, we can't help if we are not healthy.


Make Chips Boys !

Ron
 
I kow you said cart,but...
I have a air driven hoist over head, hangs on some track Rated at 1000#s.
the hoist itself is rated at 500#s,it picks everthing I have wanted.
I am ageing an loosing strength every day I guess,that 8" kurt has grown heavy.
Hoist and track were all bought used.
I also have carts/tables on wheels to set things on an move things around.
Glad to hear you getting better,thought I would share.
Gw
 
I just bought a Presto Lifts PL36 hydraulic lift table. It's very nice, wish I would have bought it years ago. It's the only cantilevered lift table I found.

Presto Lifts - Hydraulic Cantilever Tables

I bought it from mcmaster.

McMaster-Carr

I think I'm going to start looking at a stacker too. The wheels are lower profile and the lift range is higher. They can also have forks with a removable platform.

Presto Lifts - Manual Lift / Manual Drive

This one is my favorite so far but a little pricey.

Presto Lifts - CW Series Counterweight Stackers

Good luck!
 
I kow you said cart,but...
I have a air driven hoist over head, hangs on some track Rated at 1000#s.
the hoist itself is rated at 500#s,it picks everthing I have wanted.
I am ageing an loosing strength every day I guess,that 8" kurt has grown heavy.
Hoist and track were all bought used.
I also have carts/tables on wheels to set things on an move things around.
Glad to hear you getting better,thought I would share.
Gw

Ditto on the OVERHEAD hoist...
THEY ALLOW you to CLEAN the bottom of the vice or dividing head before setting it on the machine...
 
About the time I was starting to have some real issues with my back pain, we stocked our shop with two tools that really saved a bunch of misery.

One was a smooth topped hydraulic lift cart, similar to the cantilever one shown in the link above, and the other was a crane by Skyhook Sky Hook Ergonomic Lifting Equipment, Industrial Lifting Device that we stacked a bunch of scrap and unused stuff on, for weight.

About the only thing I would have liked to have on the Skyhook unit would have been a piece of I or H beam with a rolling gantry style lift on it. Would have been handy for when you need to go in a door to reach the table. It would need a bunch of weight as a counterweight though. Maybe a fixed anchor point inside the enclosure would work as well. Wheel the crane up, set the far end on the fixed point through the door, and be able to hoist and slide the equipment in and out. Thoughts out loud, sorta, Dunno if it's been done or not...

The two units were lifesavers though. You could set the height of the table to match the mill table or the storage shelf, and slide a R/T or Vise on and off the table easily. It allowed some of the lightweight techs to be able to do the work without needing assistance too.

Cheers
Trev
 
Hello All!

I can no longer lift anything heavy and I am thinking of an adjustable height cart for putting vises etc. in and out of my VF-2.

I would like a lift table with some kind of extension that would reach into the Haas so I can slide the work holders on and off the machine table.

If there are other options I am open for suggestions.

If anyone asks (not that they would) the big one hit me Feb 27. March 3 had bi-pass surgery. I am doing fine and getting better every day and am looking forward to getting back in the harness.

Regards, Ray

Sorry to hear about the heart attack, glad your recovering quickly. Maybe a walk behind reach forklift such as a Raymond RRS would be your answer. We have a dealer in Florida I can get you in touch with if you're interested.
 
I'll third the overhead hoist, must easier than maneuvering a lift cart or similar.

The other thing you might do is to have the front side of the mill table tapped with a few 3/8-16 holes, then use a piece of angle iron and an aluminum plate to make a "diving board" extension to bring the table height closer to the front doors. This gives you a better place to lay parts and tooling prior to loading, and only has to be a foot or so wide.

If you leave the height of the plate a little low, you can throw scrap sheets of thin delrin or similar plastic on top to act as bearing sheets that you can toss when they get chips embedded.

Just make sure to make the plate short enough that you'll never hit the door assembly.
 
I have a Sky Hook on a cart and a Presto lift table at work that I use.
They both work Okay but you are doing most of the maneuvering from the back of the equipment.......the Sky Hook works a little better because the hoist swivels once you get the cart in position, but you need to have enough counterweight which makes it harder to move.

You might look around this website for some ideas;

Alum-a-lift | Ergonomic Material Handling Lifts

I have one Alum-a-lift and two Presto lifts at home, the Presto lifts, one is a Counterweight stacker and the other is a Battery stackers seen here;

Presto Lifts - Manual Drive / Power Lift

By far the best one to use is the Alum-a-lift, smooth, light weight and adjustable speed control for lifting or lowering the load.

Do some searching and could probably find a nice used unit and make a boom or other attachment to make it work for you.

Here's few options;

HGR Industrial Surplus - We Buy & Sell Everything!

One other thing to look at are patient lifts, basically a light duty engine hoist but capable of lifting several hundred pounds.

Kevin
 
The patient lifts mentioned above are commonly made by, and called, Hoyer Lifts. They are usually made from chrome 2" tubing, and have lift capacities of 250-300 pounds or so. (Keep in mind this is lifting a human, so there's a safety factor involved.) They are easy to move around (on casters), break down for storage/transport, and the legs can be narrowed/widened to get around/under things. I got one for $50 off craigslist.

If you can be disciplined about the loads you lift, a handful of Unistrut parts will get you to about 400 pounds in an overhead setup, with engineering certs if needed. I use a Unistrut setup with a 1-ton HF chain fall to deal with the 12" rotary table on my mill. Otherwise, it's a gutbuster. It's set up so the other end is over the lathe headstock, so it can lend a hand with chuck mount/dismount. If you have employees, this may not be a solution for you.

Chip
 
+1 on an HF lift cart, I have the 1000# lift cart, it's more than adequate for getting vises on/off the machine, and goes high enough to be a usefull table to stack parts/tools on when running the mill.
 
I have a similar problem and there is no way that I can lift an entire pallet with three kurt 6" vises and move them on and off the vmc.
I built an o'head rail with a 1000# chain fall hoist on it that extends over the upper trap door of the enclosure, and I can lift off the load and place it on the die cart every easily.

Lee (the saw guy)
 
The die carts are good for dragging stuff when you can't get them from overhead or (like with dies) getting things to a comfortable height to work on them. They are NO MATCH for a good overhead solution for ease of use, load control or any other reason. For the money you can get a reasonable rolling gantry and a very good one without breaking the bank. It's a hell of a lot easier to pull one end of a load using a gantry than pushing a cart (on the heart too).

Hoists & Cranes | Cranes-Gantry | Vestil Aluminum Gantry Crane AHA-2-1-1 Adjustable Height 2, Lb. Capacity | 241351 - GlobalIndustrial.com

Good luck & hope the mending goes well,
Matt
 








 
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