A little tweaking can produce the perfect tool. All it takes is for a vendor to go an extra step or two. The beneficiary of one tweak is Falk Corporation, a manufacturer of industrial-mechanical power transmission components in Milwaukee.
What operators at Falk needed was a device that could lift and simultaneously rotate a family of machined gear housings safely and efficiently so that assemblers could access the top and bottom of the housing while it was suspended. The solution was a modified rotating axis grab unit, Model M2038, from Bushman Equipment Inc.
Representatives from John Maye Associates LLC assisted the Falk engineers, explaining how operational characteristics of the grab unit could be adapted to their needs. The result was an innovative lift, clamp and rotate device.
The grab grips the outside of the gear case and rotates it 90 degrees about its horizontal axis. A self-locking acme screw shaft, actuated by a motor, provides grip strength. Specially designed sliding incline planes automatically increase the gripping force based on the weight of the load.
A reducer, with an adjustable torque limiter, protects the motor. The bail is adjusted using an acme screw assembly to accommodate different gear case models and different centers of gravity. Two self-locking worm gear reducers, driven by electric motors, enable the rotation process. This design lets operators properly position the gear cases, eliminating product damage and improving the assembly process.
Bushman Equipment, www.bushman.com, 800-338-7810
