Heavy machines experience 5

[adavidi]

Hi All,
I'm working for a company in the printing industry. Lately we start developing a new machine, which is about 5 ton weight. Since our current experience is with only 2 tons machines, I would like to learn from your knowledge and your experience more about moving heavy and precise parts and about the logistic methods (packaging, shipping etc') we might meet during the production process.
Thank you in advance,
Aharon

 

[saberblue]

The first people I would talk to are the people who currently set up your machines and move them. You then should talk to the best "riggers" (industrial machine movers" that you can find.

A.R. "Andy" Nelson
Engineering Consultant
anelson@arnengineering.com

 

[dvd]

Size all of your structural members for the small deflections required to maintain good part relationships; do not size members for stress less than yield.

Know how big the doors and aisleways are in the building where the machine is to be housed. Walk through the total transportation from your facility to the customer's. Build in rigging points based on the center of gravity.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I agree that talking to riggers might be a good idea.

I'm not sure it will help; the best riggers I know communicate mostly with whistles and grunts, and an occasional burst of Spanish. I have on occasion tried to chat up their foreman, but he's busy, and being paid to be busy, when I see him, and I don't think he speaks 'engineering'.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[ornerynorsk]

5 tons is not that much. Your palletizing and packaging needs to reasonably protect the machine while being transported.

If the machine is so sensitive as to be possibly damaged by normal handling and moving, then your shipping base or crate needs to be sufficiently robust to provide the stability necessary formoving.

The packaging will, to a degree, affect the class of freight that the trucking company categorizes it as, and subsequently, how careful they are with it. Never ship without insurance.

 

[saberblue]

You may want to look at shipping your material using a Home Moving Company as the sole shipper -- first class trucks and handling

A.R. "Andy" Nelson
Engineering Consultant
anelson@arnengineering.com

 

[BobMeister]

Don't forget about shipping width: the breakdown sections of your machine should not exceed roadway shipping width or an oversized permit and escort will be necessary. That translates into $$$ and Grrr's!