Pallet Stacker: A Safety Necessity
The Necessity of a Pallet Stacker for Safety
Since some pallets weigh in at more than 80 pounds, deciding upon an efficient method of gathering, moving, and managing pallets can mean a big difference between profit and loss. Seeing that employee safety is imperative, and reducing hazardous working conditions is tantamount… you must ensure that pallets don't drop or fall.
Full pallets? If not properly moved, you'll risk product damage. For efficient storage and distribution, the manual pallet stacker you choose is important. Using it will save time and money and also prevent needless injuries.
Key Specifications for the Manual Pallet Stacker
The Lift Height and Weight Capacity that you'll want to choose depends upon the lift truck that fits in best with your routine. The most basic questions are, how high will your scaffolding be? This will determine how high you'll need to lift and how much weight capacity it will have to take. Certainly if you're lifting bricks, you'll have to determine what the maximum you'll need to lift is.
A manual pallet stacker typically can lift to a maximum of 12 feet (or lower) and handles up to 3300 lbs. If your specifications are more than that, you should consider purchasing a forklift.
A manual pallet stacker is the cheapest way to go, when purchase price, on-going repair, and maintenance is considered. You'll be able to move a 2000lb pallet, although if you will be handling more than 10 pallets/day you should consider electric drive.
Electric drive pallet stackers are more expensive to purchase and operate than manual drive models are, but are better suited to high-duty use. These models will all feature forward/reverse variable speeds and safety brakes.
When you speak of 'fork over design', that's where the forks of the pallet lift truck lower right on top of the stabilization legs. These design advantages make it less expensive. It takes up less space and can maneuver in tight aisles. However, the disadvantage is, since the forks are directly over the stabilization legs, you can't pick up a closed bottom pallet directly off the floor.
This is still an excellent choice for unloading trucks, though, and this disadvantage can be overcome if you use either open bottom pallets/skids or blocks.
When you talk of 'straddle leg pallet stackers', these allow the forks to lower directly to the floor with the stabilization legs straddling either side of the pallet. This design has the advantage that you can pick up a closed bottom pallet directly from the floor. The disadvantage is, it's more expensive to purchase/ship and it'll take up more space.
What's called 'counterweight or counterbalance' stackers offer benefits of both the previously mentioned styles; but with other drawbacks. Since counterweight stackers can lift pallets direct off of the floor because there are no stabilization legs to get in the way, the weight capacity and lift height will typically be less than with the other styles.
Many different manufactures make pallet stackers including Jet's winch or hydraulic stackers, Presto's Foot Operated Stackers, Hercules Lift Trucks, Wesco Power Lift Stackers and many other manufacturers and styles in the categories I mentioned.
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