Vertical drop casting is the primary method used by aluminum manufacturers around the world for the creation of round billets. The process involves pouring molten aluminum through a series of molds designed to solidify the aluminum into billets, often up to or exceeding twenty feet long.
The task that these aluminum manufacturers then find themselves needing to solve is what is the safest and most efficient way to remove the billets from the casting pit and lay them down for further processing. Through the years the most common solution to this question has been the billet lifting beam, which is used to lift billets using chain slings or wire rope chokers.
Bradley Lifting has a long history of working with the largest aluminum manufacturers in the world to develop the best solutions for material handling. For this application, we have developed the billet lifting ring as an improvement over the chain sling and wire rope chokers typically supplied with billet lifting beams. These dual suspended rings provide additional stability during the lifting process, reducing the ability for the billets to sway and twist in the air. Billet lifting rings also provide a superior grip ratio when compared to chain slings and wire rope chokers. This not only improves safety during the lifting process, it also provides more control during downending.
As with all Bradley Lifting equipment, our billet lifting beams are custom engineered for your specific application. We design our billet lifting beams to match your mold table configurations, often allowing a single beam to handle multiple diameter billets while only requiring you to swap out your billet lifting rings to match the billet diameter being handled. We can also include additional features, such as end lifting hooks for handling your mold tooling with miscellaneous rigging.
Interested in more information? Click Here to contact us and one of our Applications Engineers will be glad to answer any of your questions.
Horizontal Ingot Handling Equipment