[John Tomelevage]

Okay, of course a vacuam pod lift, or an abco style lifting clamp, but how about a way to do this for the first job?

I am thinking a thousand pound slab, so two of the large truck tie down straps (10,000# load limit), a steel spreader bar say six feet, with stops welded on for the straps and the forks of the fork lift. That ought to pick it up off the truck and get it to the saw table, but is it safe to just set it down on the bottom and lay it over? Or piviot it against the edge of the saw table (bolted to the floor) say halfway and lay it down?

Do I need to brace the sides with 2 x4’s or 2″ steel tubing?

3cm, santa cecilia, 67 x 109″ long slab.

Of course train em to num like hell at the first sign of trouble. Any body got any ideas?

Thanks, AL.

[Andy Graves]

You can buy tables that you can flip the material. Is this what you are looking to do?

[Gary Still]

Got a design for the flipping table of stoneadvice.com, but it looks scary. Might build one tomorrow and see how it works out.. Got a stone job coming up next week, darn it. Been turing people since last year to solid surface, let one get by me somehow.

[Andy Graves]

Take some pictures as you build it to share with the rest of us.

[chester morse]

The flipping table or the countertop?

[Andy Graves]

al wrote

The flipping table or the countertop?

The flipping table.

[wong sung]

OK, will give a time and material breakdown. as well.

[Tony]

Here is what I built last week. Cost around $350 for the steel, $13.00 for the hardened bolts ( grade 9) and it took about 24 man hours to cut, weld, grind and paint.

Steel A frame, double sided, 2″ square tubing, 14 gauge wall thickness. Bottom peice and angled legs were approx 5′ long, top strecher is 16.5″ long. I would limit this to one slab per side, maybe two slabs if they were kept balanced. I don’t know if two slabs on one side would be safe unless there was at least one slab pushing back from the oposite side. Better safe than sorry, or just brace up the A frame sides with a diagonal brace.

I wanted a light weight A frame that one person could easily push out of the way when empty. Just a place to temporarily store one kitchen’s worth of material. If we grow to the point of needing multiple slab storage, I will build A frames out of Channel, not 2″ square tubing, or set 2″ or 3″ pipe into concrete for mass storage.

Make sure you secure the slabs with a 2″ nylon truck strap (10,000# breaking strength, 3300# working load)

Lifting beam, 2 -39″ 5″ channels for fork pockets, two 36″ 2 x 4 14 gauge steel tubing cross members, one 36″ long 5″ channel cross member for bottom of forks, one 6′ long 2 x 4 tubing lifting beam , one 9″ grade nine bolt and two 5″ long hardened bolts. Scrap channel welded on top to keep the strap from sliding off.

I picked up the back end of my 3/4 ton truck with this thing to test it. I might watch the beam closely the first few times and reinforce it at the first sign of bending. I walked a pretty fine line between strong enough and light enough to install easily. Use this light design for single slabs under 55 square feet, carefully…… We will be using slings for lifting the first job, will by an lifting clamp for the next job. Baby steps, you know.

Tilt table, two six foot 2″ square tubing for the table top ends, three 68″ long center rails, two 6’8″ long side rails. Angled legs were around 40″ long, somewhere around 21 degrees angle, base runners were around 48″ long. Two center legs were around 32″ long, and a 2 x 4″ square tubing center beam was 6′ 8″ long. All welded, ground down, and rewelded for safety.

This thing is light, easy for one man to tilt it up when empty or slide out of the way. It is built plenty strong enough for all future work. Notice the three channel removable end stops that keep the slab in place when you tilt it. We will be using a nylon truck strap as well

[Andy Graves]

Look great. You made all that in 24 hours or just the a frame? Thanks for posting the info. I need to make an a-frame soon.

[Leonela Gonzalez]

24 hours for everything, buying material through painting. Still have to put a wood top on the flip table so we can cut on it.

[Mark Mihalik]

You might want to put some diagonal braces on each side of your A-frame to keep it from racking.

Especially if you load it on a truck to transport heavy loads of stone.

[Daniel King]

Definetly, Mark.

We let the stone slab supplier haul the slabs, three slabs has been our largest job, with two on the A frame and one on the cutting table.

[Author]

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