How Does bale clamps Work?

Which weighs more: a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? As any school kid will tell you, it's a trick question. They weigh the same. But that doesn't mean they can be handled by the same equipment.

You may not be moving tons of feathers around your warehouse. But a bale clamp attachment might be right for you if you move anything more delicate than a ton of bricks. Read on to learn what bale clamps, hay squeeze attachments and other hay-handling equipment can do for you.

Benefits of Bale Clamps

Bale clamp forklift attachments are a broad class of material handling equipment designed to firmly grip delicate material without damaging it. "Delicate "is a relative term used here to describe any material that might be damaged by excessive force. This includes:

• Agricultural products
• Foam rubber
• Hay
• Paper products
• Pulp
• Rags and recycled fabrics
• Recycled plastics
• Scrap metal
• and textiles

Bale clamps are also used to move oddly-shaped material that doesn't fit into boxes or on pallets. For example, it's difficult and inefficient to box or pallet scrap metal, but a bale clamp can move bundles of it with ease.

Forklift Clamp Attachments

Forklift bale clamps are pretty multi-purpose, but certain industries have clamps designed to meet a specific need.

Bale Clamp

As you might guess, the bale clamp is the typical clamp used in most configurations. It excels at handling textiles, plastics, cotton, wool, and many other materials. 

Pulp Bale Clamp

A specialized clamp is a strong choice if your warehouse handles many pulp bales. Pulp bale clamps are very similar to typical bale clamps. But their grip design allows the clamp to secure even easily crushed paper pulp.

Recycling Clamp

Recycling clamps are a little less delicate than your typical bale clamp. They have a more robust grip configuration designed to secure less fragile materials such as scrap metal.

Multi-purpose Clamp

As the name suggests, multi-purpose clamps are designed to transport a wide range of materials. Where other clamps use steel bars in their grip design, these clamps use broad rubber strips for grip. These provide a gentle grip suitable for many materials and are a great choice when other clamps don't quite meet your needs.

Hay Handling Equipment

Hay is the fourth most valuable crop in Washington State, and producers often use a specialized bale clamp attachment. In addition to improving efficiency, equipment designed for hay handling is contaminant-free.

Since livestock feed is the most common use of hay, even the slightest bit of forklift grease could ruin the product. That's why hay squeeze attachments and bale clamps designed for hay use composite bushings  ' to prevent grease and other contaminants from coming into contact with the hay. 

Forklift Hay Bale Clamp

Hay clamps are designed to handle nearly any type of hay bale. The attachment arms open wide and have a slight curve, allowing the operator to grip square or rounded hay bales with ease.

Hay Squeeze

Hay squeeze forklift attachments have straight, thin arms. This design allows them to move a high volume of bales at once. These are great for loading and unloading trucks, as their size and slim arm profile maximize their efficiency.

How to Choose a Bale Clamp

The material you're moving will play a big role in determining what features you prioritize in your bale clamps. Below are a few typical features to consider when making your selection.

Arm Profile

Space is money in any warehouse. A thin arm profile allows a bale clamp to work with little space between bales. This saves precious inches and enables you to make the most of your warehouse space.

Sideshifter

Sideshifters save time no matter what your forklift is picking up. Sideshifter attachments on bale clamps allow the operator to quickly align the clamp with the load without having to maneuver the forklift into place. This saves an enormous amount of time when moving irregularly shaped bales.

Rotators

Rotators make it easy to reposition bales. Many bales benefit from being able to lay on any side. With a rotator, you can turn bales over until they are in the best position for your space.

Learn More

Bale clamps aren't suitable for every warehouse. And there are OSHA regulations surrounding what modifications can be made to your existing forklifts. But for many industries, they are indispensable.

If you want to learn more about bale clamps and hay handling equipment, ask an expert at Mid-Columbia Forklift if they are right for your business. Contact us online or reach out to one of our dealerships by :

Auburn 253-854-
Pasco 509-547-
Wenatchee 509-663-
Yakima 509-457-

Further Reading
Top Forklift Attachments for Washington Operations
Top 3 Best-Selling Forklift Clamps in Washington State
Forklift Modifications and Osha - What You Need to Know

This week's blog looks at another beneficial forklift attachment bale clamps and how they benefits industries in moving bales of product.

What is a forklift bale clamp attachment?

Forklift bale clamp attachments are fitted to a forklift mast in place of standard tynes and carriage.

The attachment is made up of two hydraulic clamps that can grip both sides of baled up products, whilst the attachments rear frame keeps the load in place during transit and lifting.

Common bale clamp applications
There are a wide variety of bale clamps manufactured for the safe lifting and transport of a wide variety of products and goods that can be utilised across multiple industries, these include:

• Agriculture
• Paper, recycling and packaging
• Wool
• Textile and synthetic materials manufacturing

Some common examples of how bale clamps assist the above industries are described below.

• Bale clamps can be used to carry almost any baled up product in farming and agriculture this may include bales of animal feed such as hay or raw materials such as cotton before and during processing
• Paper recycling and packaging manufacturers may use forklifts fitted with bale clamps to assist in the manoeuvring pulp bales during the recycling process or to dispose of baled up waste at the completion of processing
• Textile and synthetic materials manufacturers may also utilise bale clamps for easy movement of products in the manufacturing process or to assist with storage of finished goods

Benefits of bale clamp attachments

• Where multiple bales are stacked on top of each other the thin profile of a bale clamps arms allows them to easily knife through tightly compacted loads to allow the easy removal of bales this ability increases operational safety, efficiency and productivity
  • Safety is increased as a forklift operator can directly pick-up a bale load even if it is tightly compacted meaning the operator/employee doesn't need manually manoeuvre the potentially large and heavy load into a position beforehand so the clamp can grip the load. In some storage situations bales can be stack from floor to ceiling, the clamp eliminates the potential of employees having to climb onto bales where they can potentially be struck or fall
  • Efficiency is increased as the forklift with the clamp attached can complete lifting and transport operations all at once. There is no need for a secondary vehicle or action to be involved during the process as they forklift can pick-up, transport and safely drop-off the bale load all in one go decreasing the time taken to move each load leading to increased efficiency and productivity
• Pressure that is applied when gripping a load via a bale clamp can be smartly controlled to apply the correct pressure to provide a safe and sure grip whilst causing minimal if any damage to the product
• Damage to bales is also reduced due to the wide variety of clamp pads suitable for specific applications available on the market
• Bale clamps allow the quick and easy movement of non-palletised loads this can lead to monetary savings on freight as the weight of any necessary wooden or plastic pallets do not have to be factored into freight costs
• On top of monetary savings on freight extra storage space can also be reclaimed as bales are stacked directly on top of each other removing any pallets from storage stacks

For more information how Adaptalift Group can supply the most suitable forklift bale clamp attachment for your goods contact our team of 13 22 54 or .

Reference List

1. Bolzoni Auramo

   USA

   (). Bolzoni Auramo Four Bale Cotton Clamp KS22G2B-F-1. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22D88WLts6w [Accessed 24 Jan. ].