lifting full sheets or plate idea's

having a 4' x 8' table build well under way has me thinking material handling solutions for moving full sheets.

i think the best way to move this type of work around is a overhead crane but that is expensive but if a solution to make a system like this more affordable is out there? one area to cut some costs would be the way you attach to the sheet with the lift hook. looking at commercial solutions is not an option for me just because of the cost to purchase them.

i have seen several types of methods and some have limitations and won't work for all materials. i seen a build of a electromagnetic lift built from microwave transformers that was pretty impressive but if you need to lift aluminum this won't work. i have worked in shops that just used lifting straps and clamps but this can be a pain on something flat. they have a suction cup type lift at work but it is expensive once again.

then i started thinking about vacuum hold down and idea's started bouncing around in my head this is where i usually get myself into trouble seems like it could work well and not break the bank in the process.

so i figured this might be a useful topic to combined the talent here to spit ball ideas for a common problem. no matter what this type of system is going to have some considerable cost to it but if costs were reasonable it could be helpful to some.

Quickest and cheapest method is a fork lift.

Crane generally are slow but can be cheap depending on what your largest thickness of sheet you are cutting. I have seen gantry cranes on castors can be had cheaply, www.machineryhouse.com.au/C188

very old electric logistic fork lift is the one we use also
bst to get it up
in the length is a Magnet and rope a good idee

if you got a low roof a lift at low cost 250kg is also a good thing

yeah that type of frame for a crane was my first thoughts. fork trucks are ok if you have the room for one but that's not the case right now. i've see people take a motorcycle lift and add a table top to them to get material table height and slid it off but that seems like a work out and i'm getting to old for that

so most likely that style of frame with an electric hoist can be had on the cheap and is probably good for my needs. the part that can cost as much as the frame and hoist is the magic going on at the end of the hoist.

as for weight for me i think a 1,000 lbs is going to cover my needs. seems like a well made vacuum plate with enough surface area could be made for a few hundred dollars.and made in a size range that fits nice on the end of a hoist.

if it would work it would be a good solution to start with i think?

What are you going to do with the skeletons? Vaccum or magnet wont work well on a skeleton.

those you just hook onto with a plain hook. might pick up a cheap hand plasma just to cut up to move around to a scrap pile. thinking small time at the moment.

if it gets to a point where i out grow the home shop and would build something bigger i have room for that too but that's only something that would happen if things would take off.

Yeah a second hand plasma is what you would need for cutting the skeletons. In small enough pieces you can move them by hand.

there are quite a few cheap china machines in the 200 to 300 range brand new. that would work for this well i think. all scarp is something i will deal with for a while i have several scrap yards in the area so that's not a problem.

machinedude wrote:

those you just hook onto with a plain hook. might pick up a cheap hand plasma just to cut up to move around to a scrap pile. thinking small time at the moment.

Don't forget that Plasmac can now sever a sheet so you probably don't need another plasma cutter.

I use an electric forklift.

that's good to know since it is a nice feature for cutting anything useful left on a sheet.

i'm thinking i might not have that option all the time since this table is multi tasking different processes. plasma might actually be last on the list. but on it for sure since it's hard to blank out the bulk of the material with anything else as quickly. so a cheap plasma hand torch machine would be good to have for me. i can think of other things it would be nice for besides just skeleton removal.

i'm thinking milling is going to find it's way on this table quickly. at least in a testing situation.to start with to see how solid the whole machine is.my build is far more rigid than a light weight build for strictly plasma. so if i can utilize that for other things it will happen.

the table should hold +/- .005 with other process other than plasma easy i think and that could be dialed in closer i believe in set up.

limited space and limited power supply will be a factor for me at first so things should get interesting for solutions to pull it off

actually my mind has drifted to towards the router and mill side of things and have been thinking about a zoned vacuum table solution for holding sheet and plate. was thinking a removable water table could set on top for plasma eventually.

first step is to finish the table i'm just thinking a head for now.