If your warehouse or manufacturing facility stores or uses drums of material, safe handling is likely one of your top priorities. Apart from the cost of the chemicals inside the drums, the safety hazards associated with spilling large quantities of chemicals can be great. Not to mention the safety hazards to employee health from trying to move a drum without the aid of equipment. That is why it is important to always have the right equipment for the job.
Lifting and Moving
Whether you are bringing drums of chemicals from the warehouse to the machinery for production, or drums of used oil from your machines to the warehouse for disposal, you will want to do so safely and quickly. Here are a couple of attachments that you can put on your forklift truck to easily move drums around your facility:
- Morse MORspeed TM Forklift attachments: These attachments allow for fast handling of rimmed drums with your forklift. You can lift, move and place drums right from the forklift, and the attachment mounts in seconds without any tools and no power connections. Massive steel jaws grip under the rim of the drum with a capacity of 1500 pounds per drum, and are available for handling one or two drums.
- Wesco GG-F2 Drum Fork Mount – Model GRIP: GATOR DBL Fork: This steel forklift attachment allows two 55 gallon steel drums to be lifted and moved without additional pallets underneath. Dimensions are Width 32”, Height 37”, Depth 28” with a capacity of 1600 pounds. The unit weighs 340 pounds.
Putting Drums into Place
One of the biggest concerns with heavy drums is lifting them and putting them in place for use. The right equipment can help make this job easy and safe for everyone involved. By placing the drum onto the cradle of a unit like the Wesco Standard Steel Drum Cradle you can easily tip the drum into place for use and then tip the empty drum down to the floor again when finished for easy replacement:
- Wesco Standard Steel Drum Cradle: The Wesco drum cradle has an all steel frame with the ability to take a drum at floor level, hold the drum on the shaped frame, and rock the drum on the side in order to wheel it into place for use. The unit is designed to be easy for one person to use with a load-tipping handle and 2.5” polyolefin wheels that allow for easy movement into working position. The dimensions of the unit are width 19.5”, height 15” and depth 32.5” with a capacity of 600 pounds. The unit weight is only 32 pounds. Drip trays are also available as an option for this unit.
Palletizing Drums
Putting drums onto a pallet, such as drums of used oil for shipment to a waste oil recycling facility, can be one of the most difficult tasks when the ideal equipment is not used. Using a drum palletizer from Wesco can make this job quick, safe and easy:
- Wesco Drum Movers / Palletizers: These uniquely designed units from Wesco can lift a drum up to 19” high and then quickly and easily move a heavy drum to and from a pallet. The unit works for drums made of rimmed steel, plastic or fiber with a minimum height of 28.5”, and has a capacity of 1000 pounds. Simply move the drum palletizer to the drum, raise the head to automatically engage the upper drum rim, then the gripper holds the drum in an upright position for you to transport.
Mixing the Contents of Drums
For mixing the contents of a drum there are two main options, drum rollers and drum tumblers. Drum rollers stop the drum from rolling away while allowing it to roll in place on rollers for mixing of the contents. For more aggressive mixing drum tumblers will rotate a drum end-over-end to mix the contents.
- Morse Hydra-Lift Drum Roller: This easy ergonomic design allows you to hydraulically load, roll and unload a drum without manual intervention. The roller accepts the drum in an upright position at floor level then places the drum into position and rolls with a speed of 5 to 20 RPM until the contents are mixed and returns the drum to floor level for you to move. The drum roller has a load capacity of 1000 pounds for liquid loads and 400 pounds for dry loads. Options for this drum roller include a safety guard enclosure and optional equipment to roll plastic drums.
- Morse End-Over-End Drum Tumblers: The Morse End-Over-End Drum Tumbler is ideal for very viscous substances, wet grains, dry powders or course granules. This tumbler rotates a 55-gallon steel drum to provide a vigorous mix with a rotation speed of 13 RPM, and variable speed models are available that adjust from 3 to 20RPM. The unit weight is 621 pounds with a capacity of 800 pounds for a full drum or 400 pounds for a half full drum. Options for this unit include factory installed load cranes (one or two), a clamp screw kit to hold a 55 gallon plastic drum and a guard enclosure kit with safety interlock.
The Customer Service You Need
At Douglas Equipment our dedicated service team has been in the material handling equipment business for almost 60 years and has the skills and knowledge to help you pick the right drum handling equipment. We can help you navigate through the sea of questions you may have to find the material handling equipment you need for your unique job.
Contact us now to find out what drum handling equipment is available to make your warehouse safer and more efficient.
