depalletizing sheet metal

[gida2]

Hi all:

Looking for a machine/mechanism to remove banded sheetmetal from pallets on a forklift and feed into our STOPA SHEET METAL STORAGE SYSTEM (see image below)

Current Operation
Sheet Metal (Various Sizes, 5' X 10', 3' X 12, etc..Typically 12 inches high) arrive banded on pallets (various sizes, 16" spacing, 20" spacing).
Forklift driver has to cut metal bands and workers have to hand load into STOPA sheet metal handling machine (#4 See Diagram below).

Proposed Process Improvement
Find a way to seperate pallet from fork lift and land sheet metal onto feeder (See link - -

http://www.tecsaw.com/sheetmetal.html).

Sheet metal must then be squared flush and landed onto feeder.

Dimensions/Weights
Sheet Metal Weight ~ 1000 lbf
5' X 10' X 12" high

I'm basically looking for something that might already be out there. I would appreciated links
to vendors or any ideas.


Thanks,

 

[AutoSolutions]

We have built several pieces of equipment like this in the past. All have been custom since the exact configuration varys so much.

Since we have experience building this kind of equipment, we know how to insure the sheets are separated and registered on two sides.

I can probably find a photo and some drawings to send if you are interested.

 

[griffengm]

gida2,
Can the pallet be made so that it will drop away from the steel when the banding is cut? If so, then you might be able to place the load, cut the bands to allow the pallet to drop, let supa unload the stack and then remove the pallet.

Griffy

 

[donniev]

Gida2 - Put blocks between the pallet and bottom sheet of steel for forks to enter. After bands are cut lift entire steel stack, leaving the blocks, pallet, and banding behind.
Also, I have a similar problem at my company which I need help. We have several burning machines and load many different 60x120" plates .188" thick to .500" from our warehouse area to the burning machine que. This que is based upon work order need so we may have a que of 6 different steel plates in a que of 24 plates. In the warehouse, the plates are stacked 8-15 plates to a "layer" on wood blocks sitting on the floor. The problem is that when you only need 3-6 sheets out of a layer 15 sheets thick, you have to manually pick up one sheet at a time from the top down because we have no good way to "knife" between layers and pick up all the required sheets in one lift. We have used chisels, sledghammers, a prybar, and 2 guys, but this method takes longer and is injury-prone. Anybody know of a device that hooks on a 10 Ton crane that acts as a plate separator for stacks of .188-.500" thick plate?

 

[gida2]

Thanks for the reply
I don’t know if you will find a cost effective solution.
Try to Google “sheet metal separation” if you haven’t already.

This looks like something that might work.

http://www.magnetics.com/sheetfan&electros.htm

Magnetically separate oily, sticky or thin steel sheets. IMI's new Sheet Seeker is a breakthrough in magnetic sheet separation technology. First, the magnetic circuit is lifted and locked into place for introduction to a stack of steel sheets. Then, once the materials are in place, the sliding magnet is unlocked and automatically centers on the top of the stack and fans the sheet stock. As each sheet is lifted off the stack, the magnet indexes down automatically and will fan to the bottom of the stack.