my vacuum lift

[rww]

Hello everyone! I thought I should finally start posting some things here. I have learned so much from this forum maybe I can help some other people.

I figured early on that I needed a hoist. I wanted to be able to use it one handed and be able to slide it from side to side so I could load plywood from underneath the bot and from our vertical plywood rack.

I already had the Quality vac vacuum clamp venturi pump. Then I bought a 220lb electric hoist from harbor freight for about 100.00. I picked up some super strut brace from home depot. I already had some inline skate bearings and misc. angle iron and bolts.

So far it will pick up anything I have tried to lift up to about 200lbs. The handle also swivels so if I start from the side of a sheet I can rotate it around without turning the sheet.

Enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions.

[zeykr]

Would like to see more on how the vacuum "puck" is designed. What is the seal?

[rww]

Hello Ken... The puck is three layers of 5/8" Baltic birch plywood. The seal is a foam sticky back gasket material. Here is another picture.

[loriny]

That is a beauty. How much vacuum are you pulling?
Lorin

[jsooter]

That is awesome

[rww]

I think I am getting around 18hg.

This made a huge difference in loading the shopbot.

My total cost was about 450.00.

[GlenP]

Pretty cool setup. Do you mind sharing the file to cut the handle parts and info on the vacuum setup etc? I am going to make one to move 7/8" mdf. I do allot of mdf doors and have a customer that likes the 7/8" mdf for his. Very heavy stuff. Heck I am getting old and the 1/2" seems heavy these days....lol
The winch and ceiling assembly I have I am just curious about the vacuum solenoid and parts to operate the vacuum.
Looks good. I remember a past shopbotter Frank that used a pot lid for his vacuum plate.

Cheers,

[scottp55]

I have not found an easy way to manage 3/4 hardwood ply since being in the wheelchair (23 yrs) and always need to call in favors. This may do it to get on table saw to cut into desktop sized pieces, thanks for posting. Scott

[rww]

Here is the vac that I already had. I would think almost any kind of high hg vac would be fine. Either venturi or vac motor.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Vacu...-5-2-CFM/H0740

I will try and find the files for the handle. I designed it on the fly so I'm not sure if it is complete or if every part was saved.

[sawkerf]

I used my sons favorite aluminum frying pan I just ground off the handle, drilled a hole in the center and installed an eye hook. Then I drilled and tapped two more holes for a vacuum gauge and a release valve. I used a "D" shaped weather strip from lowes attached with 3M weather strip adhesive around the rim. I've only had to replace the rubber once in 9 years. I have found MDF too porous to lift with the vacuum pod so I fashioned a set of hooks to grab the sheets by the edges. Maybe a stronger vac pump would suffice but I can actually lift several hundred pounds with a good seal.