Vacuum Crane

[thewoodcrafter]

I still like the vacuum crane.
It doesn't take up any room in the shop.

[scott_smith]

Don't get me wrong, I love the crane idea. But it takes 4 foot by 8 foot if the wood is on the floor or at a useable height.

[scott_smith]

And I have storage for cut-off sheets under my stack.

[jerry_stanek]

you could store your 4x8 sheets on a drywall cart and lift the off with the crane and it would take up less space.

[cutitout]

love the plunger suction cups -- I could have flip this setup to hold/clamp material for shaper cuts and not destroyed my spoil board.

[john_hartman]

When my veneer ply is delivered we unload it directly on to 4- 4/wheeled dolly's. I then push the entire stack of ply to front of the bot. There's still just enough room for me to get around it or I just walk right over it. (I do put down a 4x8 piece of card board when I do this) The other thing is to unload the ply in the order you want to use it.

An update on the crane: the photo's show it in its prototype phase. Once I was happy with the function I decided to pvc glue all those joints, make a 1.5" thick brace to support the pvc and replace the nylon rope with rubber coated cable. Go figure that after all that "improving" the design that the suction cups wouldn't even pick a sheet of 1/4" ply! I figured it doesn't like to be too rigid and needs enough flexibility to conform to however the sheet wants to bend. So once again "KISS" takes affect...

[carlcnc]

JOhn
I have used pvc for vacuum plumbing for several years
instead of glue I use a good quality elec tape, a few wraps on the pipe then press it into fitting then a few wraps around the joint. never had one leak.
CArl

[john_hartman]

Carl,

Actually there weren't any leaks prior to gluing everything. My first set-up worked great with all the pvc parts just dry fitted together. PVC fittings are already pretty tight. It seems that even with only one turn of the electrical tape that you wouldn't even be able to sweeze the fittings together...? This is what your saying right?

[carlcnc]

John
as soon as I hit post I realized my mistake,
you are correct 1, possibly two turns on the pipe max, and it probably isn't needed, as long as you wrap the joint after assembly.
another trick is to brush the elec tape with a small amount of abs glue, keeps the end from unraveling over time.