Herochu Vacuum Panel Lifter – pick up a 4 × 2 m steel sheet as if it were a piece of cardboard, slide it onto the laser table without a scratch, and still have change from three grand. Units start at US $2,990, ship CE-UE-ISO 9001 certified, and are built to fit your exact ceiling height, sheet size and power preference. If you feed a fibre-laser, plasma table, press-brake or composite press, this is the fastest way to lose the slings, magnets and finger-pinching clamps that slow every shift down.
The heart of the system is a modular vacuum beam that thinks for itself. Eight to ten suction cups lock to the frame on cross-slots, so you can spread them across a 1250 mm strip today, slide them out to 4000 mm tomorrow, or drop two cups altogether when you handle small stainless blanks. A silenced electric pump holds a steady -85 kPa; if shop air is cheaper, swap the motor for a venturi block in ten minutes. Either way, an integrated reservoir keeps plates safe for a full five minutes after power loss—long enough to finish the cut or park the crane safely.
We build four stock frames, but every dimension is negotiable. The HC-PR3015-300 handles 300 kg sheets up to 3 m long and 8 mm thick, while the HC-PR4020-1000 steps up to one-ton, 20 mm plate without changing footprint. Need to flip a board vertical for edge-deburring? Add a 90° powered tilt module that rotates through a planetary gearbox and locks with a pneumatic brake. Prefer to keep the load flat and simply rotate the operator? Specify a bottom-swivel handle so the whole beam spins 360° under the hoist hook—no wrist strain, no helper.
Safety is more than a sticker. Each cup line has its own vacuum switch; drop below -60 kPa and an amber beacon flashes while the hoist circuit is locked out. Hit the mushroom button and the pump reverses for instant release—handy when the sheet lands 0.5 mm off mark. A backup DC battery pack is available for outdoor cladding jobs where mains power is a generator that might hiccup. The battery automatically charges when mains is present and gives 150 cycles on standalone mode, so you can finish the roof deck before lunch.
Ergonomics shaped the frame. The whole beam weighs 38 kg including pump, so two technicians can bolt it to an existing overhead rail in under an hour. Handle height adjusts between 700 mm and 1100 mm without tools; operators from 1.5 m to 2 m tall keep their elbows below shoulder level, cutting fatigue audits by 30 % in field tests. Sound pressure sits at 62 dB—quieter than the compressor that feeds the workshop, so conversation is still possible while the pump tops up.
Installation is deliberately plug-and-play. A single 380–440 V, 50–60 Hz supply feeds the on-board inverter; no star-delta, no cabinet, no sparky invoice. Air-only models need 6 bar dry shop air and include a self-draining filter regulator. Every lifter leaves the Jiangsu plant with a full test certificate: 1.5 × load held for thirty minutes, leak-down under 2 % per minute, insulation resistance > 100 MΩ. The paperwork travels in the crate so your insurer and ISO auditor tick their boxes on day one.
Return on investment arrives faster than the courier. A typical job shop feeding a 4 kW laser reported an average 3.8 min per sheet using slings and magnets—walk, unhook, shim, square. With the Herochu vacuum beam the same operator parks the crane above the stack, lowers until cups touch, flips the toggle, lifts and positions in 45 s. At eighty sheets per day the saving is 4.3 labour hours daily; capital cost is recouped in 11 weeks before counting fewer scratches, less edge deformation and the ability to run thinner protective film that used to tear under magnetic claws.
Custom builds are routine. Add a second beam for tandem lifts of composite sandwich panels, specify food-grade blue cups for brushed stainless in a brewery, or request radio remote so the rig can hang from a mobile boom and feed roof sheets three stories up. We keep blank extrusion in stock; unusual lengths ship in five days, not five weeks.
Spare parts are stocked in Rotterdam, Houston and Dubai. A replacement cup costs less than a pizza and swaps in two minutes with a 13 mm spanner. The maintenance screen counts pump hours and flashes at 1 950 h—enough notice to order the filter kit before the 2 000 h service interval. No laptop, no proprietary software, no dealer trap.
If you are still levering sheets with hooks and praying the magnets don’t let go, it is time to vacuum up the difference. Email your max sheet size, weight and power preference; we will return a 3-D drawing, cycle-time estimate and freight cost within one working day. Herochu vacuum panel lifters: grab once, place once, cut once—every shift, every sheet, every time.
