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Overhead track system for slabs

Started by Joey Grimes, May 21, 2018, 08:19:43 PM

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Joey Grimes

We are getting close to starting our new shed for our slabing mill and I'm already thinking about a overhead track to lift the heavy slabs 200-600 lbs off the log and roll on some type of carrage and lower onto the stack .We've been manhandling them but I know ive got to come up with a better safer way .Any pictures anyone has like what I've described would be appreciated. 
94 woodmizer lt40 HD kabota 5200 ford 4000 94 international 4700 flatbed and lots of woodworking tools.

Alligator

I bought some of these off Ebay 5 or 6 years ago. Someone was liquidating an industrial laundry. I made an overhead hoist in my shop.

Overhead Trolly
Esterer Sash Gang is a  Money Machine

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Joey I wrote a thread about an over head track system for slabs.

These non-believers are so far behind times....they just don't get it.  :D

It'll work once you figure it out.  :)
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Alligator

Just a note on building, make sure you get plenty of height, for your trolley to to hang below. My barn was built long before I thought about a trolley and hoist. Mine would be much more useful if the ceiling joist it's hung from were higher.  
Esterer Sash Gang is a  Money Machine

mike_belben

Barn door track and trolleys will probably handle that weight if you use two channels lagged to sufficient joists, and 4 to 6 skates.  


Next step up is probably 3" I-beam 
Praise The Lord

Ron Wenrich

I worked in one mill that had a bridge system for lifting logs.  We could move log left or right and move them forward or back.  The hoist was electric.  The system ran the length of the debarker area and was overhead.  A setup like that would save a lot of work.  It would be pricey, but might be worth it if you are going to do a lot of slabbing.

There are lightweight gantry cranes that would handle that weight.  The only drawback is that they're on casters.  I would worry about dirt if you were trying to position things.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

kelLOGg

Joey,
How will your overhead transport grab the slab? I thought about an overhead system but abandoned it for a simpler drag method. My operation is much smaller than yours.
bob
Cook's MP-32, 20HP, 20' (modified w/ power feed, up/down, loader/turner)
DH kiln, CatClaw setter and sharpener, tandem trailer, log arch, tractor, thumb tacks

Magicman

Don't overlook the use of an arch.  It will handle the weight plus is totally portable for removing the slab and then moving/stacking it.
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Slingshot

Here is my overhead trolley system I put in when I built my shed.
Not a large operation but I can lift 24inch 8ft+ long logs with a 2 ton
manual hoist. I have also used an electric hoist. I had a LM 2000 mill
when I first built it. `I've used it for lifting, moving and turning logs and slabs. Both long beams are trolley tracks.



 






mike_belben

A flying gantry bridge is awesome but its limited to the area it lives in.  A single gantry and some basic roller racking somewhere down the line in the hoists path can be a cheaper, simpler way to get 2 axis movement and a constant process that doesnt vary.


Doing the job only one way is proven to be more efficient than having a lot of options, so says production studies.  Gun fitters constantly had people timing their process and moving little detail stuff around on their benches to shave a second or two or prevent them from stepping or leaning away from the work station.  We had a flying gantry in maintenance and it was always everyones long term big heavy junk dump because it was easy.  Most of my decade there that space was completely filled like we never had one at all.  Bad management.


If you need the option to put these slabs anywhere,  a forklift or loader with a boom pole mast, 2 basket slings and some pegs to sling them over will make short work.  Just make sure the slings are thinner than your stickers so you can zip them out after setting on the stack.  Baileys sells some nice thin loopie slings.
Praise The Lord

Joey Grimes

Quote from: Magicman on May 22, 2018, 08:00:01 AM
Don't overlook the use of an arch.  It will handle the weight plus is totally portable for removing the slab and then moving/stacking it.
That's a great idea I have completely overlooked!
94 woodmizer lt40 HD kabota 5200 ford 4000 94 international 4700 flatbed and lots of woodworking tools.

Don_Papenburg

Look into  I Beam Door  before buying any other door track. The system that they came up with is fantastic.  One trolley will hold more than a ton and the track will take the load. It will move with a light push .  I have a 2800lb door on a very well know door track . It uses 6 tandem trolleys and a double track. It takes a lot of umph to get that thing moving . I moved the Yd. of concrete on the Ibeam track with one hand .
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

YellowHammer

YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

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French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

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