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A Better substrate mover....

weaselboogie

weaselboogie

New Member
I'm in the middle of a huge project and have had a need to cut down a lot of plywood ranging in thickness from 3/8" to 3/4" on my table saw. I'm not as young and spry as I once was and moving 30 sheets of plywood through a fence is a bit exhausting especially when I'm by myself. With the heaviest pieces around 50lbs and awkward I've been looking at different options for moving substrates particularly to and through a table saw.

A couple of options that I've been eyeing up or a combination of all would be an infeed and outfeed table.
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Of course there's the Gorilla gripper :
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A plywood cart.
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This one is freakin' brilliant.... And watch the video http://ezsmart.blogspot.com/2008/08/plywood-cart.html
Its a cart that can tilt up horizontal and double as an infeed table. Also the bed itself is a torsion box (think perfect flatness for furniture assembly)

Anyone want to weight in with any tricks or tools that they use when moving substrates (besides another employee? :rolleyes: )
 

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J

jdoug5170

New Member
I used a hydraulic lift table located at the feed side of the table saw...was just close enough to slide a sheet over onto the table...

If you don't want to invest in the table idea, use your fork lift.

Off feed table is a absolute must, stationary. Bigger is better.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Like sky said... a panel saw would really do the trick.

I think you're best bet would be to figure out exactly what you want to cut, in what order and how many of various sizes. Call on someone to come in and help you for a day. Even with the gorilla grips, you still have a lot of bending, hoisting up and futzing around with big clumsy panels. There's nothing like a second pair of hands.... not to mention, they can be doing things while you're doing other things.
 
JR's

JR's

New Member
That thing is pretty sweet weaselboogie. The one in the video looks like it has a smaller footprint so when it's time to store away it doesn't take up a lot of room.

Is this something you plan on making yourself? If it is can you keep us posted?


JR

P.S. I am going to send that link to my brother he could use something like that in his workshop.

Thanks
 
ionsigns

ionsigns

New Member
I would invest in a 16-year-old at $10/hr. :thumb:
(besides another employee - temps are not employees?)
 
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weaselboogie

weaselboogie

New Member
I had a friend come in last night and cut down just about everything. The thought of doing all of this by myself inspired this thread because there will be plenty of times that I won't have this luxury.

A Panel saw is def a future option and I like the idea of the hydraulic table too.
 
J

John L

New Member
I always thought this was kinda cool... http://www.workbenchmagazine.com/main/wb280-caddy03.html but it requires a good sized shop space to roll around 8' width wise like that.

I've worked late and alone in the shop so many times I thought for a while that my family would have to rent mourners when I finally buy the farm. I've sorta developed a leverage/handling technique of lifting from one corner, pivot to an edge, sliding along the floor (flat on that edge), pivot up to the table saw (one end) and then pickup the other end. Sounds like a lot typed out, but I am actually faster without help.
 
shakey0818

shakey0818

New Member
John L said:
I always thought this was kinda cool... http://www.workbenchmagazine.com/main/wb280-caddy03.html but it requires a good sized shop space to roll around 8' width wise like that.

I've worked late and alone in the shop so many times I thought for a while that my family would have to rent mourners when I finally buy the farm. I've sorta developed a leverage/handling technique of lifting from one corner, pivot to an edge, sliding along the floor (flat on that edge), pivot up to the table saw (one end) and then pickup the other end. Sounds like a lot typed out, but I am actually faster without help.
Click to expand...
:thankyou:
 
artbot

artbot

New Member
i am gonna make me some thingamajigees!

as for the panel saw. forget that ancient behemoth. a festool track saw is the real game changer. and it cuts a lot lot lot lot better. perfect zero splinter butter smooth cuts, portable, insane accuracy, angles, easy to set stops, can cut 4 sheets of plywood at once, cutting of extremely delicate material (veneers, aluminum, thin petg, laminate), depth adjustment that you can eyeball, beyond 45 degree tilt, seconds to change a blade.
 
A

andy

New Member
I wish we'd bought our forklift truck a lot sooner.... we used to handball all our sheet materials off delivery trucks and drag them to the machines.. now we just lift the pallet, drive to the machine, set the forks to the bed height and simply slide off one at a time.

There are stacks of cheap used forklift trucks for sale... you will probably find buying a truck works out cheaper than buying a fancy lifting table or sheet handling gizmo.
 
signmeup

signmeup

New Member
A drywall lifting thingy would probably work. I tried the 16 year old @$10 an hour. Teenagers look like they could do something but all the ones I've hired couldn't get out of their own way. No muscle tone. I doubt the average teen could lift a sheet of plywood.
 
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