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Yes, as I said it'll keep the line moving while we redesign the mechanism. Right now I'm thinking of a similar design with pins to keep it in the up position incase all 8 airline get severed at the same time. We'll also add rack and pinion to ensure they all lift evenly. We use those mechanics...

Yes, lifted all at once is the goal. It's working now and lifts evenly after we did some basic maintenance.

This is a great point. I'll work on fixing this issue first and get it going for now. Then work on a redesign while they get by with what they have for now. Thanks for the input.

Valid points. The frame is 7ft square. It lifts about 8" high. The valves are setup such that if the air is disconnected they stay up. Adter a cleaning and oiling it seems to be functioning again, I'd just like it to be more robust. Maintenance has been given a new procedure. We have a...

Thanks for the input. 1. It's an odd situation in a separate small plant with a handful of people working there. The workers say it sticks and they have to help it up. They say it's a pain but they'll keep doing it and are decent about the whole thing. The maintenance guy just thinks they...

Heaviside1925 I feel like rigid mounting of the actuators may be a part of the problem. Due to the welded plates(actuator mounts) on a welded frame, I feel like some of the cylinders may be off in the Z direction by a degree or two, so they're going "up" in slightly different planes and...

I get your first suggestion. I oversized the holes on the top plate and used shoulder bolts to give the top plate movement in X and Y like you suggested. I also have some shoulder bolts for the actuator body so they have some room to pivot. For your second point are you saying to reinforce...

Thanks for the suggestion but time on the production line won't allow for individually lifting corners and adding pins.

I fully agree with you about copying an existing design. I am in no way above that either. I should point out that the above design is for a very specific purpose. The product is set on top of the table, then the table is lifted 8", and 2 people stand inside the table and check the container...

1) the cylinders all have flow controls but the accuracy is questionable at best. They seem to lift at the same time with no load but that will obviously change when there is a load added. 2) You're right, I thought we could get away with a cheap solution as we didn't care if it lifted...

The frame isn't moving or bowing at all. The cylinders just seem to not all lift at the same time and sometimes this cause it to get stuck halfway up. With a bit of a manual lift it complete the move. I don't think braces are the problem. Are you suggesting a 4 bar linkage at each corner?

Your assumptions are correct, the loads differ from unit to unit but are all unbalanced. Maybe a 300lbs load and each cylinder is rated for 300lbs. The actuators have integrated linear bearings in them. You could be right about the overloading of the cylinders, although there is no noticeable...

I have a welded frame with 4 Festo air slides to lift a product. It's worked fine for months but now seems to bind and jamb more and more. I've had maintenance do all the usual suspects - oiling, check air line, etc. I'm assuming because it's a weldment that the cylinders are just fighting...

Thanks for the info. I'll look into this before finalizing the design.

Eh... the clamping force of the pneumatic cylinders. Or am I missing something? 1000lbs load with approx 1800lbs of clamping force.

Manually pinning with an interlock is a good idea. I might use that. $5k for this clamp mechanism shown and the pneumatic cylinders & valve. The car lift will take care of the lifting and the rotation is already there with a 1050:1 gearbox tied to a VFD. Manual buttons for cw/ccw rotation. I...

I wouldn't say I'm trying to reinvent the forklift. I only have 6" of stroke, 12" of clearance under the box and a $5k budget. Hardware looks to be $3k and the steel and plates shouldn't add up to $2k. We have lots of air in the area so I'd prefer to avoid hydraulics. If there's an off the...

The whole thing gets lifted up and rotated upside down before returning to this position and lowering. That's all done externally by a car lift that's been modified. We absolutely need a failsafe. I was playing with a spring activated air release cylinder to slide a pin into a opening when...

Good point. I'll make the far side floating. Thanks for the advice. Also precision isn't an issue with this setup. The box itself is not going to be square as you said.

I've never used alignment couplings before, thanks for the link. The linear bearings have a 1° misalignment capability. I feel like a waterjet plate (shown below) should be plenty to make sure everything is aligned properly. The plate is welded to the 2x2 steel frame for support but all...