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Magnetic Lifting Unit

Ox

Diamond
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Location
Northwest Ohio
I have several large burnouts to lighten up, and I told the guy that [off the cuff] I wasn't sure how I'd handle them as they don't lend themselves well to any way that I would generally handle them. He said that he had a magnet that could handle them.

They are 1850# burnouts! :eek:


Yeah, I've seen them advertised for years.
Walked past many booths at the shows that were trying to sell them, but they always scared me, and so far I haven't needed them...

Well, I get over there to pick up some blanks and he had the magnet there and he knew that it picked it fine from the mill-rolled surface but to toss it in the lathe - I need to pick it from the burn-out side. We wondered how it would hold there?

Unit was rated at 1000kg, and we picked 1880# from the burn-out side, AND he bounced the forks to see if she'd hold.
And she did! :eek:

To say the least - I am amazed! :bowdown:


I have several of these blocks to turn into chips, and I don't need to keep this guy's mag as he may want it at his shop...
So I looked into buying one for ourselves.

The one that he has is Earth Chain brand and is made in Taiwan.

I checked to see what McMaster had, and they carry Industrial Magnetics brand, but the 2500# unit that they have is imported from China. However Industrial Magnetics does have a USA line, but it only goes to 1200#, and is about 2wice the bucks.


Before I buy sumpthing, I would like to see what else [if anything] might be available - Made in USA/Canada that someone might recommend?

PowerLift_PNL0250.jpg



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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
they have different capacities for flat and round. if surface uneven AND if surface not thick capacity is less often much less. usually I get a bigger one for heavier stuff. they come in different sizes and capacities. little ones you can pick up. bigger ones are too heavy for a person to normally pickup
 
Eriez..made down the street ( well the headquarters is)
Eriez - SafeHold Permanent Lifting Magnets

By the way 1800lb is pretty small, put 20 of them in a grid to pick up all the burnouts at one time (after the skeleton is cut off and removed)

BTW even though the mag will pick up the piece, carefull when you get it near the intended chuck/vice....might squash your fingers.

There is an attraction going on....:toetap:
 
I have found several different companies selling these, but all seem to be made in Asia.
(Eriez included)

I'm guessing that the permanent magnet thing is partially to blame for that?



No skeleton left from these burnouts. They are rectangle.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
One reason they do a good job picking up your burnout is it is a solid piece with lots of iron, thin wall tube or sheet wont have as much iron for the magnet to "grip".
My old Jancy mag drill is rated for 1200 lbs pull off, but only if stuck to 1" plate or thicker, it's easy to pull it off of 1/4" plate when drilling.
 
EarthChain is better than the no names, by far. It is denser?. Our earthchains are all half tons, and one cute 600# (super handy) and they are able to lift almost the same as the 1000kg Chinese ones if the surface is not perfect (steel shop perfect, flat and blasted).
Never use four on a plate, one will always have lite load and release - then all fail. Three is best. Point relatively same direction, pipe (thin wall to weight) will not pick up at all with magnets pointing opposite hand.
Once you get magnets you will forget the dark ages of rigging everything just to position or stack.
 
Never use four on a plate, one will always have lite load and release - then all fail. Three is best.

I understand why not 4 skates, but I don't git the 4 mags?

Are you saying that one has a light load and another one has a heavy load - and THAT fails?

You must not be using looped straps for this to be an issue?

Not that I am planning to buy 4 mags any time soon, but ....



Absolutely thank you for the Earth Chain comparison!


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
About 9 years ago I was lifting a 3x4x144 piece of 17-4 on to a saw with a mag unit well within limit. Long story short, it let go with a bang...luckily I didn't get hurt but got the blood flowing.
 
A quick search doesn't produce anything with much info on this, other than to say that 17-4 and 17-7 are not quite the same magnetic value, but I didn't find any scale of comparrison to say - A36.

Only that 17-4 "is magnetic", but it doesn't say "how" magnetic.

I know that 416 is lightly magnetic, so I know that it's not a yes or no thing with all having the same pull value.


???


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
A quick search doesn't produce anything with much info on this, other than to say that 17-4 and 17-7 are not quite the same magnetic value, but I didn't find any scale of comparrison to say - A36.

Only that 17-4 "is magnetic", but it doesn't say "how" magnetic.

I know that 416 is lightly magnetic, so I know that it's not a yes or no thing with all having the same pull value.


???


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

I don't know either :)

It was what they used for it. I don't know why this one decided to come off, nor do I remember the specific circumstances. I do know that bar was heavy lol
 
I understand why not 4 skates, but I don't git the 4 mags?

Are you saying that one has a light load and another one has a heavy load - and THAT fails?

You must not be using looped straps for this to be an issue?

Not that I am planning to buy 4 mags any time soon, but ....



Absolutely thank you for the Earth Chain comparison!


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

my bad, one gets overloaded and fails (dyslexic brain moment) , the rest follow fast with the shock load. chains and hooks, sometimes looped, depends on which crane(some have long chains so you have to loop for clearance). even with spreader bar 4 magnets fail, when three have no issue, sans spreaders too.

Beams, pipes, tubes, flats, channels use one or two, pointing same direction.
 
Our Shop lives on these lift magnets, we have had several different brands. For the most part they all function with no issue.

I as you wish more of these were made in the USA, but they are not.

One USA brand I know of for sure is Industrial Permanent Magnetic Lifters | Eagle Lift | AWS

I have used this brand of over 10 years. Our only problem with these is the guys beat up the handle pretty bad over time. It is not as good of a design as some of the others, you need to pull the handle out to release it. Here is an older video of this magnet in action.

YouTube

For larger size magnets I have some electro perm magnets- this lifts up to 6600 lbs. My video was so good the company used it for their promo, I am still waiting on the royalty checks.

Bat Grip | Tecnomagnete

As of recent my managers like the Earth Chain Products, they seem to hold up pretty good to the everyday abuse in the shop.

Lifting Magnet of Earth-Chain Lifting Magnets Manufacturer

As you can see from the beginning of this video we use these to handle our plate work daily.

YouTube

I may be wrong- but I think a reason most of these magnets are made in China is the availability of the material needed for the permanent magnet, but this is not confirmed.
 
I may be wrong- but I think a reason most of these magnets are made in China is the availability of the material needed for the permanent magnet, but this is not confirmed.

I am under this impression as well.


Too bad that I didn't find the USA model sooner.
I have spoken for an Earth Chain unit that I found used, and a chum is s'posed to pick it up for me in Denver Town today or Tuesday.

Thank you for the input!


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
We have a lot of these too. By far the best ones I've used are the Eclipse Ultralift Plus. They have a safety mechanism that locks the magnet in the engaged position when there is load on the lifting eye. Just about all others I've seen rely on the handle and the over-centre force of the magnet to keep it engaged.

We have also had two minor injuries over the years from cheaper 2Te units where the guys underestimated the spring force of the handle and got whacked by it when they disengaged the magnet. The Eclipse mechanism requires much less force on the handle to engage and release the magnet which mitigates this kind of problem.

The Eclipse magnets also come with a test shim that you put between the load and the magnet to test if it's a safe lift. If the magnet takes the weight of the load with the shim, then it's safe to remove the shim and lift.
 
I have some name brand magnets and some bought on Amazon. All look to be from the same factory/design. Nothing as heavy as you need but they sure come in handy.
 
We have a lot of these too. By far the best ones I've used are the Eclipse Ultralift Plus. They have a safety mechanism that locks the magnet in the engaged position when there is load on the lifting eye. Just about all others I've seen rely on the handle and the over-centre force of the magnet to keep it engaged.

We have also had two minor injuries over the years from cheaper 2Te units where the guys underestimated the spring force of the handle and got whacked by it when they disengaged the magnet. The Eclipse mechanism requires much less force on the handle to engage and release the magnet which mitigates this kind of problem.

The Eclipse magnets also come with a test shim that you put between the load and the magnet to test if it's a safe lift. If the magnet takes the weight of the load with the shim, then it's safe to remove the shim and lift.

I know exactly what you mean about getting a crack off the handles !

Regards Tyrone.
 








 
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