glass suction cups

[khoile]

Would this work?
http://www.tool-sale.com/double-suct...ler-p-323.html


I need to get maybe 4 to carry my 72x30x25 tank. it's rated @ 500lbs.

Thanks.

[gmccreedy]

why not just hold the tank from the bottom?

[A Hill]

What if the suction broke

I would probably carry it from the bottom too. I would use them to help pull the tank on a cart or something though.

A few friends and your choice of beverage afterwards usually seems to work from the results posted here

-Andrew

[khoile]

Well I wouldn't want to risk getting my (or worse, my friends) fingers crush by the tank. The tank will be probaly 600lb or more.

[A Hill]

Originally Posted by khoile

Well I wouldn't want to risk getting my (or worse, my friends) fingers crush by the tank. The tank will be probaly 600lb or more.

Who is making your tank? Sometimes they'll install it as well.

Putting something under the tank at first or something so your fingers don't get smashed as well may work.

Many hands make light work they always say. But I also would be worried about getting hands crushed, maybe a little... Where is it going? I would be more worried about something happening to the tank, VS. someone actually hurting themselves putting it down.

-Andrew

[eyebeatbadgers]

What if they just move their fingers? Everyone moves their fingers on one side, set it down gently, then everyone on the other side moves their fingers....

jeez...

[gmccreedy]

lay it just cockeyed on the stand, to avoid crushing fingers, then slide into place.

600 lbs is alot, but with a few people its not. and ditto on the beverages affterward

[daFrimpster]

I would imagine the 500lb rating is pulling straight up against the handle. If you had the handles mounted on the side you would be exerting more of a shear force which IMO would reduce the rating by a lot. I wouldn't trust them.

[khoile]

So my plan is:

1. Rent a manual fort lift
2. Use this suction cup to only lift the tank couple inches onto a dolly
3. Drink beer
4. Push the dolly (w/ tank) into the house
5. Lift tank onto manual fort lift
6. Lift tank to stand height (30")
7. Pull tank onto stand (again using these suction cups)
8. Drink more beer

Good?

[crazy loaches]

Wow, you'd think from the posts here that using these suction cups is some kind of sin?!? Many places use these... many folks moving large tanks have used these... sometimes a handle is a little easier to hold on than the corner of a tank . Glasscages used these when helping move my 240 from their truck to mine. I have no idea what kind of rating they'd need to be, as I havent used them personally. It would have made things much easier though. the ones I have seen were individual and had a plunger you pumped up to create the suction (like a little thumb button).

[tazcrash69]

Originally Posted by khoile

So my plan is:

1. Rent a manual fort lift
2. Use this suction cup to only lift the tank couple inches onto a dolly
3. Drink beer
4. Push the dolly (w/ tank) into the house
5. Lift tank onto manual fort lift
6. Lift tank to stand height (30")
7. Pull tank onto stand (again using these suction cups)
8. Drink more beer

Good?

Save all beer drinking to celebrate the tank sitting on the stand unbroken.

[swylie]

In my experience, it's much easier to carry heavy furniture and such when your arms are slack and there's nothing in the way of your knees. Generally this means grabbing stuff from the bottom. The weight is supported by your shoulders and torso rather than your biceps.

With that in mind, I think these handles would be very useful for maneuvering the tank into position, but a lot less useful for carrying it long distances. I think the dolly is an excellent idea though, and if you can get one that lifts that's just a bonus. It'll allow you to go as slowly and carefully as you want to without any risk of someone tripping, losing their grip, etc and dropping the tank.

For what it's worth, I bet those suction cups are rated for 500 lbs in shear, 'cause that's the orientation in which glass installers use them.

[khoile]

I'm renting something like this to lift the tank:

[eyebeatbadgers]

Did the glass shop tell you it was going to weigh 600 lbs? Seems a little much to me for a 6ft tank, though I could be way wrong. I work construction, and have lifted things weighing about that much with just three guys, and moved this awkward thing several hundred feet. I do that about three times a week actually. A tank would be much less unwieldy.

I still don't understand why you would need a forklift. Are you going to mount it on a ten foot high stand?

[crazy loaches]

Looks great... perfect for putting monster tanks up in lofts or anywhere that your about 20 feet to short lol j/k.

Originally Posted by eyebeatbadgers

Did the glass shop tell you it was going to weigh 600 lbs? Seems a little much to me for a 6ft tank, though I could be way wrong.

I was wondering as well, just based on the LxWxH dimensions I figured your tank at 7260 sq" and my 240g at 8304 sq" so about 10% less. And if I recall they said my tank was around 400 pounds, cant remember for sure. Anyway, thats with only 1/2" glass. If you stepped up to 3/4" then yours would be heavier than mine for sure. Well all that is neglecting other details like bracing, overflows, etc.

Edit - I just looked glass weight up looks like about .0939 lbs per cubic inch so I calculated out my estimate for my tank would be 390# and that doesnt include any of the bracing and overflows and doubled up bases and corners, etc, so probably around the ~450 lb mark I figure.