What Is a Steel Plate Lifter?

’What is a steel plate lifter?’ you might be wondering. It’s a lifting device designed specifically to lift steel sheets in commercial and industrial environments. In this short blog, we’ll demystify this device and highlight steel lift use cases and types.

Types of steel lifts and uses

There are different types of steel plate lifters in use around the world today, and we’ve outlined them for you:

Electromagnetic steel lifts

Electromagnets are capable of generating more powerful magnetic fields than permanent magnets, giving them an obvious advantage when it comes to lifting and maneuvering heavy steel sheets. With the ability to increase lifting capacity simply by providing more power to the magnets, these steel lifts represent a flexible solution that, in times past, proved to be very popular.

However, because the magnets require a continuous current, electromagnetic steel lifts tend to heat up very quickly, especially at the limits of their operational capacity. This can make them unsuitable for use in environments where safety is a primary concern.

Permanent magnet steel lifts

Permanent magnets have a tendency to corrode over time, and as they do, they lose their power. For this reason alone, they are not usually the best choice for the repetitive lifting of steel sheets in busy industrial environments.

Electro-permanent magnet steel lifts

Although they seem to overcome the inherent weaknesses of electromagnetic and permanent magnets by combining their strengths, electro-permanent magnets have a flaw of their own that makes them unsuitable for some steel lift uses. 

Because the magnetic field they generate does not project very far from their poles, electro-permanent magnets perform poorly when there is an air gap between the magnet and the surface being lifted. This makes them a bad choice for lifting steel plates with rough or uneven surfaces.

Vacuum steel lifts

Vacuum steel lifts do not rely on the power of magnets, which makes them a great choice for environments where various different types of metal sheets need to be lifted on a regular basis (some of which may not be magnetic). They don’t lose their lifting capacity over time, and they don’t normally depend on a continuous power supply to maintain their grip. This makes them a more flexible and safer option for a wide variety of steel lift uses.
If you’re interested in the range of steel lifts that Quattro Lifts has to offer, please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can help you to pick the perfect model for your specific requirements.