Cylinder and Stillage Handling
Sidetracker multi-direction reach trucks are providing exceptionally versatile handling solutions for one of the UK’s leading gravure printers.
Not only have the trucks solved the problem of carrying long printing cylinders in confined spaces, they are also used to carry stillages around the company’s works.
Polestar Varnicoat ordered specially designed Sidetrackers to carry the cylinders between the etching department and a new gravure press, one of the biggest in Europe. The print works, are extensive, and the route involves narrow corridors and openings which the cylinders could not pass through on a conventional lift truck. To allow for low doorways, mast closed height is only 2.2 metres.
To enable the trucks to carry the delicate print cylinders and also handle stillages, custom-built fork carriages, 4220mm long, have been fitted which incorporate pick-up arms for the cylinders and conventional forks for stillages.
When print cylinders are being carried, the forks are pivotted out of the way in the vertical position. To carry stillages, the forks are pivotted to the horizontal position and the pick-up arms rotated so they are parallel to the fork carriage and clear of the load. The pick-up arms have powered spread adjustment to ensure the various lengths of cylinder are lifted correctly.
The Sidetrackers’ steering system enables them to turn within their own diameter and travel in any direction, giving a high degree of manoeuvrability in confined spaces.
