Hook-mounted Roll Handler with Powered Pitch

The client needed a safe and ergonomic way to lift and tilt heavy rolls to load them into a converting machine.

GCI designed a roll handling manipulator with an expanding lug probe that grips the inside of 3 inch cores while the rolls are in a vertical orientation. Once gripped, a pneumatic cylinder allows the operator to rotate the roll into a horizontal orientation for the next step in the process.

To help keep the system level with different roll sizes, the manipulator includes six hoist chain hook points. A two button release is included as a safety redundancy to help minimize the chance of an accidental drop during operation.