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Freres Lumber chooses Caldwell Rotary Leg Lumber Lifter

 Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Freres Lumber Co. Inc. is using a custom below-the-hook attachment, manufactured by Caldwell, to lift long lumber loads at its Mass Ply Panel (MPP) facility in Lyons, Oregon.

The 15-ton capacity, 53 ft.-long, motorised rotary leg lumber lifter handles lamellas (thin layers / plates) of structural composite lumber, used to manufacture MPP products. It is attached to a 20-ton capacity overhead crane with two hoists; the lifting equipment and attachment were provided by U.S. Crane & Hoist, also of Oregon (Wilsonville).

“I was confident in Caldwell,” said George Beaudoin, general manager at U.S. Crane & Hoist. “Having worked with them for a number of years, I knew that they had a wide range of product solutions as well as the ability to design custom lifting solutions. The Freres team and I discussed a few different options and ideas.”

The crane, hoists and lifter combine to lift product from a roll case and place it into inventory. The maximum unit dimensions that the motorized lifter picks is 60 ft. long by 30 in. high by 4 ft. wide. This is approximately 600 cubic ft. of material at 37 lbs. per cubic ft., which weighs a little over 11 tons. The lifter itself weighs another 6 tons.

Kyle Freres, vice president of operations at Freres Lumber, said: “We knew we needed to pick extremely long units, and we were aware that lumber lifters had been utilised in the past due to our relationship with LVL [laminated veneer lumber] producers. The lifter was a natural fit for that reason. The 4 ft.-wide units may be made up of 2 ft. by 2 ft. pieces. The lifter is also able to pick a unit from inventory and place it onto another roll case, which delivers the product to the next manufacturing phase.”

The rotary leg lumber lifter, which is in daily use, can effectively lift two bundles of lumber side-by-side, fully supporting them from underneath. Freres explained that the lifter “forks” or “legs” are rotated out parallel to the length of the machine. This allows the lifter to drop on top of the unit of product that is to be picked. Once the “legs” are under the unit they are rotated 60 degrees so that they are below the unit. When the crane starts lifting it picks the package with it. The aforementioned roll cases have rolls spaced so the lifter can set the unit gently onto the case.

The rotary leg lumber lifter has not required any unscheduled service or maintenance.

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