BELOW THE HOOK
example, with capacities of 25t and more. “For large loads and small ones, either way we try to collaborate with end users’ engineers to figure out what the best design is; again you try to get the details right.”
Getting it right Of course there are many different ways that a lifting device can attach to a load. A lip or a hole may be present to give a fixing; it may be possible to lift from underneath. “Sometimes there is no suitable lifting point. Then vacuum lifting can be very useful – but not for finished painted parts. When it is unfinished though, when you want to move steel sheet from a stack onto a table, then you could well use it.” Lifting clamps are another option for flat sheets. Magnets are possible – but only, he says, if the surface is clean and dry. “We use those in our own facilities to move heavier plates into a machining centre. So there are lots of options below the hook, and despite what I said about customising you don’t necessarily have to make a special lifting device for everything. It depends on what it is, where
you are picking it up from, and where you are moving it to.“ You can change the plane or the orientation
– rotate a sheet from horizontal to vertical for instance. “We have vacuum units that can do that, and they are useful for glass installation, or for granite slabs for countertops.” Weight is not really an issue for vacuum lifting, as long as you can put in enough suction pads. “You put in lots of calculations from an engineering perspective. Depending on how big and how wide it is, you may have to use more pads to cover the surface area. The thickness of the material matters as well, because you can get deflection where the sheet starts bending down and peeling away from the suction caps. The design of your flexible, rubber suction seals can be crucial there.” The vacuum for Caldwell lifters comes from a power pack unit that is built on to each device; calculations give the pump capacities that are needed to lift safely within the standards. The Caldwell catalogue shows a huge variety of ways in which an object can be picked up. It is the odd-shaped loads that are,
A selection of lifting points from Cromox.
predictably, the most challenging, where the centre of gravity sits off to one side. “One side of a spreader beam carries more the load if it is an odd shape, so making sure that you can lift it level and stable is one of the main requirements that we look at. We get accused of asking a lot of questions of our customers, but the reason we ask a lot of questions is because if we don’t get all the information it is really expensive to fix it after the fact. So it is really about communication and consultation. Is the device designed for the load, or the load for the device? It can work both ways he says. “Sometimes the client has already created the product and we have to work around them to figure out how to lift it. If they get us onside earlier in the conversation we can say, ‘Hey, have you thought about how you’re going to lift this transformer from your facility onto the truck and then from on the truck to the job site?’ So they can modify the design by adding lifting rings or lugs to it. Some of these guys just think about how they get it out of their facility, not thinking of where it’s going to go after that. Lifting points that you could put on to safely manoeuvre it after it has left the factory can make all the difference.” Hazardous environments can be coped with. Heat becomes an issue in steel mills, aluminium mills, titanium mills. Heat shields on the lifters can protect the motors and the gears above the load; specialised lubrication may be needed. “Automation and digitalisation are becoming big as well, and that perspective is bringing in many more safety features. Clients want electronic indicators that turn green to show that the load is properly and safely engaged. A lot of robotics are happening these days in manufacturing facilities, so we are starting to work with that.” Below the hook devices pay back their investment very quickly, he says. “It is about efficiency and productivity gains at the end of the day. The customised device may cost you a little bit more, but in the long term it is going to be safer and more effective and more productive.” And there are some solutions that he is quite
proud of. “We are working with a titanium mill right now that is manufacturing ingots, and on the top of each ingot there is a knob like the doorknob to your front or back door. We have created a lifting device that comes down and grabs this knob and picks it up and moves it, and all this is happening 30 feet up in the air. Our engineers have come up with a pretty unique design for that, with automation and indexing mechanisms and so on. “We have done stuff for SpaceX. And we have been involved with a dinosaur fossil, a large one, that is still embedded in its rock. We
30 | December 2025 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
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