Insol | Vacuum Lifter

Insol Ltd is a NZ-based company that specialises in the design, manufacture, supply and installation of aluminium louvre systems and bespoke architectural facade treatments for commercial construction nation-wide.

As part of a factory productivity improvement project, a solution was sought to allow a saw operator to feed the saw with long lengths of aluminium extrusion by themselves, rather than needing to disrupt other team members to give them a lift each time.

Sometime the extrusion is rotated end for end, and with a 6m long work piece, this created a lot of coordinated movement for the operators, including avoiding tripping over the stack of extrusions near the saw.

The aluminium profiles must not be marked/scratched during the lifting process. The profile has curved faces, not flat. The aluminium extrusion has to be lifted, rotated end for end and also flipped over onto the underside.

A vacuum tube lifter with a series of special suction cup to match the range of profiles, fitted to a column mounted jib crane was designed and supplied by Stratalign for Insol to install at their factory.

NEW JIB CRANE AND TUBE LIFTER ON INSTALLATION DAY

This allows one saw operator to pick up a length of aluminium extrusion from the top side with suction, (no chains or slings required) without any assistance from other factory staff.

The tube lifter rotates 360 degrees on its centre point to allow the end-to-end rotation, and the vacuum head has an optional manual tilt function to allow the work piece to be flipped 90 degrees onto its edge of the saw bed.

The process is now done with one person saving down time, reduces trip hazards and manual handling from the process, and with no marking or scratching of the aluminium surfaces.