If your job involves moving drums, you may want to invest in a forklift drum attachment. Forklifts aren’t limited to pallets. While most of them are designed to move wooden pallets via a pair of lifting forks, attachments open the doors to new possibilities. Here’s everything you need to know about forklift drum attachments.
What Are Forklift Drum Attachments?
Forklift drum attachments are modification-based accessories that allow forklifts to grab and move drums. You can use them to convert an otherwise standard forklift into a drum handler.
There are different types of drum attachments, most of which feature a pair of claw-like arms. You can install them on the front of a forklift. Rather than using the default lifting forks, you can then use the drum attachment.
Benefits of Forklift Drum Attachments
With a forklift drum attachment, you can effortlessly move drums. Standard drums measure about 22 inches in diameter and 33 inches tall. And even if they are empty, they can still weigh nearly 50 pounds when made of steel. Because they are so large and heavy, drums can be difficult to move.
A drum attachment simplifies the process of moving drums. As long as you have a forklift, you can use the drum attachment to move drums. Drum attachments support clamping, tilting and even rotating.
By securely holding drums with their claw-like arms, drum attachments can lower the risk of spills and accidents in the workplace. Drums often contain fluid. If you accidentally drop a drum, the spilled fluid will create a slip-and-fall hazard. Hazards such as these can often be prevented by using a drum attachment to move drums.
Drum attachments are fully capable of handling loaded drums. While empty drums can weigh 50 pounds, loaded drums can easily weigh 500 or more pounds. Fortunately, drum attachments can handle them. Most drum attachments have a load capacity of 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, which is more than enough to handle a loaded drum.
Powered vs Mechanical
There are powered forklift drum attachments, and there are mechanical forklift drum attachments. Powered drum attachments are electrically powered. Some of them draw power from a separate battery, whereas others draw power from the forklift itself. Regardless, powered drum attachments use electrically to grab and move drums.
Mechanical drum attachments, on the other hand, aren’t electrically powered, nor do they feature the same claw-like arms as their powered counterparts. Mechanical drum attachments consist of straps connected to a stable mounting base. Once installed on a forklift, you can tighten the straps around a drum.