Forklift Feet Spacing Standards 3

[monkeygirl4me]

I am currently working on a design and I require forlift pockets in my design. I believe that the standards for spacing the pockets are based off of load capacity for the forklift. I think the standard can be found in ISO 1496-1 Annex C, but I do not have acess to that standard and do not want to pay $50 just for one spec.

Does anyone kown where I can find this spec with out paying for it? Do I even have the correct one?

My desing will have a max weight of 50,000 lbs.

Thanks

 

[SnTMan]

Wow, you can get a spec for $50? BARGAIN

Regards,

Mike

 

[monkeygirl4me]

That was a price I found on some radom website. I dont even know if it works. Not willing to risk it.

 

[IRstuff]

Seems like there are a variety of fixed values, but a typical forklift is supposed to be able to adjust to the spacings:

http://www.liftmate.co.uk/standard-hand-pallet-trucks

TTFN

FAQ731-376
Chinese prisoner wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

[Ron]

Forks are adjustable. For 50kip load, you're talking big forklift. High capacity forklifts can have fork spacings as much as 9 or 10 feet. Generally, the forks can be adjusted from almost no clearance between them to the maximum spacing of the particular lift truck.

Check with a couple of the major manufacturers for the dimensions of their machines (Hyster and Caterpillar, for instance).

Fork spacing will be dictated by the type of load to be picked up as well as the weight of the load. If it is a wide load, then maximum fork spacing would be dictated. You also have to consider the self weight of whatever is being picked up...can it withstand the maximum fork spacing?

 

[KENAT]

At a previous employer some time was spent looking into this and as best we could tell there was no real 'standard'. True fork lifts generally have generous adjustment, it's pallet trucks that are tricky.

Ended up getting the customer to tell us all the sizes of pallet truck that they would be using with our container and designing around that.

That said, maybe for something like that weight you may be able to do better, perhaps matching ISO or similar standard containers.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[TenPenny]

Here's what might be helpful, based on a 20 ft shipping container:

From

http://www.steinecker-container.de/container/Container2/Spez-Container/Spez_openSide.pdf

2.5 Forklift pockets
Width 360 mm 1' 2 11/64"
Height min. 115 mm 4 1/2"
Center to center 2,050 mm + / - 50 mm 6' 8 45/64" + / - 2"

 

[DesignerGuy16]

It's not so much the spacing per weight (which is more of a pallet consideration). You have to be the judge based on the size and weight distribution of what you're designing. You can likely judge the width based on common fork lifts, but just do your best to space them far enough to center the weight over the forks.

James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP

 

[RebelBrill]

I believe most large forklifts have hydraulic fork adjusters that enable the operator to move the forks together or apart to any c/c distance within their range. Small trucks often have manually adjusted forks which ave specific detented postions so the c/c distance is not continuously variable.

Regafding fork size, there are a large variety of sizes and types used by various manufactures. We have, for example a Taylor (45,000 lb capacity) with forks that are 10"x5"x96" and a Royal (43,000 lb capacity) with forks that are 10"x4.5"x96".

If you don't know what forklifts you device might be handled by, make sure your fork pockets are large enough to accomodate a presumed worst case.

 

[IceStationZebra]

As stated above, the distance between the forks can normally be adjusted. Be aware though that sometimes different width carriages are available.

Also be aware that forks of the same capacity can have different cross sections. Instead of looking at the forklift OEM's, who will sell whatever forks you want, look at a fork manufacturer.
cascorp.com/products/forks

ISZ

 

[unclesyd]

Like the others I've haven't run across any standard for general use forklifts. If in the US you will need to get the OSHA standards for all the tests required for a new design or modification. We got burned bad for an unauthorized modification to a high lift fork truck.

One point that needs to be made is you can save yourself a lot of work if you can use an existing design fork or have your design built by someone who deals in same. Another is pay careful attention to the yoke if you use chain lifts as this has been the location of most defects found during semiannual inspections.
Like the others I've haven't run across any standard for general use forklifts. If in the US you will need to get the OSHA standards for all the tests required for a new design or modification. We got burned bad for an unauthorized modification to a high lift fork truck.

One point that needs to be made is you can save yourself a lot of work if you can use an existing design fork or have your design built by someone who deals in same. Another is pay careful attention to the yoke if you use chain lifts as this has been the location of most defect found during inspection.

Like the others I've haven't run across any standard for general use forklifts. If in the US you will need to get the OSHA standards for all the tests required for a new design or modification. We got burned bad for an unauthorized modification to a high lift fork truck.

One point that needs to be made is you can save yourself a lot of work if you can use an existing design fork or have your design built by someone who deals in same. Another is pay careful attention to the yoke if you use chain lifts as this has been the location of most defect found during inspection.

http://www.budgetforklift.com/forklift-forks.html

 

[IceStationZebra]

I have done capacity testing for two different forklift OEMs, one with off-road telehandlers and one with 1-8t strait mast industrial. The capacity of the truck is determined by tipping it in 5 different scenarios to see if it will go beyond X degrees before it tips. (Note: lifting 1 wheel is not considered "tipped") Repeat for each attachment combination.

In the case of telehandlers several weights must be tested at several different extensions to create the load chart. Operator weight is either 0lbs or 200lbs, whichever is the worst scenario. The fuel tank level is also dictated by the worst case scenario. And tire make/model, size and inflation pressure have a huge influence.

In the case of counterbalance trucks there can be hundreds of different mast, carriage, fork, engine, fuel type, tire and counterweight combinations.

I can tell you from experience that it is very difficult to calculate the actual tipping points. Telehandlers have few options so they are usually tested. For industrial trucks the OEMs have built their own database with past experience that has helped them develop fudge factors for the different options. Then they only have to test the major changes from one model to the next, put that in their model, and they can calculate the hundreds of permutations.

The big concern that OSHA has is nobody but the OEM is going to know or understand what all goes into these stability calculations. And when Joe Bob modifies his forklift and kills himself, the widow and her three little kids go after the big bad forklift company. We had one case were the guy admitted to drinking a pint of vodka and a 6 pack of beer for lunch...and he still won!?!

As unclesyd was saying, OSHA doesn't mess around with this. And you can see why the forklift companies will not approve your homebrew design, unless you want to pay some money to have the design reviewed and possibly tested.

ISZ