Repeatative lifting heavy parts. Lifting aids?

I need a lifting aid solution for our VMC. It will be used for loading and unloading production parts...and also for set-up...lifting vices and fixtures..etc.

I've struggled with this in the past as it just seems to be cumbersome and slow to use a hoist or crane.

Our parts might weight upto about 50 lbs....and I no longer want our employees lifting this much repetatively.


My thought is that maybe a small jib crane will do the job:




Thoughts? What do you use?

Thanks!

-R

We use a small jib crane like you pictured. We've got several of them throughout the shop. Where I last worked they had a gantry crane built into the building that could move a part (400lb forgings) to any location inside the machine shop. It was a nice set-up. Parts came to the machine shop via forklift and then were picked up and moved to the various machines via the crane.

Gorbel makes a hoist (to put on their cranes or I think you can buy it alone)
called the "g-force" IIRC, a VFD driven hoist, with a speed/directional control
built into the handle.

Lift the handle, up it goes. Pull down on the handle, down it comes.

I agree with the jib crane. Swinging and trolleying manually would be faster than a gear drive in some cases. If 50lbs is all you're looking for, you could do it with a chainfall hoist. The lower the weight rating, the faster the ratio would be for a hand powered unit.

Vince

digger doug said:

Gorbel makes a hoist (to put on their cranes or I think you can buy it alone)
called the "g-force" IIRC, a VFD driven hoist, with a speed/directional control
built into the handle.

Lift the handle, up it goes. Pull down on the handle, down it comes.

Click to expand...

I saw the Gorbel booth at IMTS last yr.
Looks nice to me.
Have not compared to others, but it sure looked real handy for an app like you are talking about.

I forget the schpeal - but it may work as a Zero G unit in one mode, and a hoist in another mode?
Best of both worlds?





------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

You might try an air cylinder powered hoist. Custom Bimba style cylinders are available with strokes up to six feet, IIRC, which is more length of lift than you need if you want the operator to be able to keep their hand on the part so it doesn't swing free.

I built such an installation for our paint dept a number of years ago, to lift the lid off a seven gallon pressure pot, a lid which includes an air motor for the mixing impeller, so must weigh fifty or sixty pounds. I used a 1.25" diameter air cylinder mounted on a nearby wall, a cable goes up from the piston rod, over a couple pulleys mounted to the roof steel 16' above, then down to a hook where the pot normally lives. A manual three way valve is mounted in easy reach on the outside of the spray booth.

A 1.25" diameter cylinder with a .5" diameter piston rod has an effective piston area of 1 square inch, so operating on 100 PSI air it effectively limits the load it will pick to 100 pounds; different diameters and pressures will give different results. This effectively limits the amount of strain that the cable and pulleys see. There is a flow control valve on the outlet from each end of the cylinder to limit max. speed, and the three way valve is adequate to give fine control. The hook hangs directly over the pot position, to open the pot after the pressure is bled and lid unclamped the painter just manipulates the three way valve to raise the lid, swings it to the side, and lowers it onto a rack provided for that purpose. With about 13' of cable above the lid, it can easily be pushed a couple feet to the side.

This style hoist is fast, practically silent, and maintenance free.

At those sort of loads the price / performance ratio of a simple electric scaffold hoist is hard to beat altho' you do have to bring your own pillar and, as standard, position on the jib is fixed. Less than elegant but if it works! Can be found for £70 or even less in the UK. My experience of chain fall drives and hand winches is that they always end up in hard to use or donk the machine places.

Clive

we just bought a gorbel unit...fancy for sure but a lot of money to spend on a lift with a 165lb cap.

use to work at a mold shope where they had an A-frame hoist on wheels

rfrink said:

I need a lifting aid solution for our VMC. It will be used for loading and unloading production parts...and also for set-up...lifting vices and fixtures..etc.

I've struggled with this in the past as it just seems to be cumbersome and slow to use a hoist or crane.

Our parts might weight upto about 50 lbs....and I no longer want our employees lifting this much repetatively.


My thought is that maybe a small jib crane will do the job:

Thoughts? What do you use?

Thanks!

-R

Click to expand...

The design of that hoist is not ideal: parallelograms are not stiff, like triangles.

That blue thing is a piece of chit.It turned blue from the light flashing in the sale isle. A 4" I beam and a 45 dedree brace would be a hell of a lot stronger and roll back and forth smoother(less dust buildup).

You people ever used a Gorbel crane? Crane design has changed a bit since the 1800s.

The gorbel track rolls much easier and smoother than any other beam. The parallelogram is strong enough to lift the rated load without bouncing.

There are many OSHA and other regulations you need to follow to roll your own on a crane. It's not something you should screw around with if you aren't qualified.

Jib cranes are better than a bridge for loading parts IMO. Swinging the jib around is a lot easier than lugging a long bridge back and forth. They are also cheaper and easier to move.

PM me if you need help with under hook lifting devices. I've done a bit of that...

allloutmx said:

we just bought a gorbel unit...fancy for sure but a lot of money to spend on a lift with a 165lb cap. View attachment 76601

use to work at a mold shope where they had an A-frame hoist on wheels

Click to expand...

Yee Ha. That thing is pretty cool.

I see some other cool stuff. Looks like some HMCs in that shop.

have you considered a walky stack (Big Joe) fitted with a lifting jib. it will allow you to canterlever over lathe beds and benches and has a very small footprint

rfrink said:

I need a lifting aid solution for our VMC. It will be used for loading and unloading production parts...and also for set-up...lifting vices and fixtures..etc.

I've struggled with this in the past as it just seems to be cumbersome and slow to use a hoist or crane.

Our parts might weight upto about 50 lbs....and I no longer want our employees lifting this much repetatively.


My thought is that maybe a small jib crane will do the job:

Thoughts? What do you use?

Thanks!

-R

Click to expand...

I have a couple customers that use these. They are not at heavy duty as a "I beam" jib, but work quite nicely. The nice thing that I noticed when using them was the lightness of the jib, in a good way. Way less inertia to move the jib and then get it to stop again. I remember thinking that it was nicer than a "typical" jib crane for precise work.

ewlsey said:

Yee Ha. That thing is pretty cool.

I see some other cool stuff. Looks like some HMCs in that shop.

Click to expand...

we have some pretty decent stuff. the two hermles are behind me.

I agree with digger doug's suggestion of a Gorbel. I consulted for a salt works for years and saw this device used to lift heavy 50 lbs compressed salt blocks in production. The operator manipulated a block from anywhere on a conveyor belt to constructing tiers of blocks on a pallet. Thus he had to set every block down at a different location and a different orientation swiftly. Over the years in a terrible salt environment the Gorbel never faltered. The operator himself at most lifted 2 pounds, the machine sensing whether he wanted to lift up or down.

Best wishes --- Allen

What about one of those counterbalanced lifts, can't think of the proper name right now, but similar to a patient lift in hospitals? They're on eGay all the time for decent prices. I think if it can lift an incapacitated obese person, it should handle fixtures & vises with ease.

Good stuff! Thank you all for posting!

For this investment, We want a purchased product rather than anything made or designed in house.

The Grobel G force stuff looks very nice!! They have a video comparing it to a traditional hoist and that sold me! The tradition hoist in the video clearly showed my initial reservations about speed and clumbsiness. I called Gorbel this morning and I'm waiting for a regional salesman to get in touch with me.

Holding my breath...I'm guessing that this stuff is pricey!!

I have a small shop and space is tight. I have a fork lift but a couple machines are just too tight to maneuver between. Bought one of these units and it has worked out quite well....Sky Hook Ergonomic Lifting Equipment, Industrial Lifting I like the fact that I can move it to any machine and move it out of my way when not in use.

IMHO for moving stuff onto and off machines the key thing is good winch control. You need to be able to inch up and down and also swing smoothly in the case of a jib.