Machine skates are perfect for moving heavy items of machinery, appliances and cabinetry. With standard kits to easy to steer options available for immediate purchase you have come to the right place.
We have skates with load capacities up to 60 tonnes available, so you will surely find a set to suit your needs.
Lifting Gear Direct is home to lots of material handling products, including load moving skates which are also referred to as moving skates or machine skates. They are sourced from some of the best brands and sold at competitive prices by Lifting Gear Direct. We have an economy range and a collection by the leading brand – Steerman skates. Find out all about this type of load moving equipment here and then either order online or get in touch for ordering and assistance.
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Load moving skates or machine skates are an excellent piece of load moving equipment to possess for moving around large or heavy objects, they provide a modern means to manoeuvre loads around the workplace easily. The idea of machine skates possibly came from the ancient way of moving large and heavy objects, by pushing the load across large logs and literally rolling the load into position, however this used tremendous man power, where as the modern equivalent load moving skate may only need one or two.
There are many types skates available for load moving, from basic roller crowbars, lightweight skates, complete kits and caterpillar skates. Some machine skates come with handles, spacer bars, stabilisers and even turntables; and these skates are also available in different modes including; fixed, adjustable, steerable, and complete universal kits.
They are often available with either metal, polyurethane or nylon type rollers, and should be chosen according to the floor conditions on which they are to be used. They all work best on smooth and level floors.
Roller crowbars are the most basic type of load mover, they are in effect a large crowbar with an extra wide plate on the lower end and fixed with a solitary roller on each side, and are perfect for moving smaller, lighter items around such as packing cases and office equipment. They can also be used to lever up larger items so that a set of skates can be pushed underneath ready for moving.
Most other machine moving skates are supplied in small sets which consist of three parts; a large, usually steerable skate incorporating a long handle and two rear (often adjustable) skates with a spacer bar, these are known as a three point loading system. The front section with the handle provides the steer ability and the rear skates act as the stabiliser, to hold up larger loads. All sections will usually have multiple rollers for ease of movement and stability. These multi-roller skates can be changed to a four point system by adding an extra skate, or steering unit.
There are also complete machine moving kits available which give more flexibility as to how and what loads are moved, these kits will normally consist of the front, steerable skate, the stabiliser skates, spacer bars, handles and turntables which can often be interchanged to suit the load which needs to be re-located.
The turntable type of skate consists of a platform (usually circular) mounted on numerous swivel rollers allowing smaller loads to be rotated as well as relocated easily.
There are extra heavy duty machine skates available in the form of caterpillar skates, these work like caterpillar tracks on a tank, but with many rollers instead of heavy grips. The rollers revolve around an endless roller chain within the body, this design makes it easy to move much larger weights around. Caterpillar skates are typically used in areas such as; bridge and ship building, large fabrications, moving large diameter pipes, concrete sections and oil rig installations, when used inverted they can be utilised as skid banks.
These heavy duty caterpillar skates can be found with lifting capacities from 15 tonnes up to 400 tonnes per skate, and can also be supplied along with guide rollers so they can be used running along tracks.
If you have a particular brand of load moving skate that you would like to buy, it is likely that Lifting Gear Direct will be able to supply it, giving you the best in terms of build quality and compatibility.
Raptor and Viper are popular manufacturers of some of the load moving machine skates that we stock, although it is by no means your only option. You can also snap up alternatives from market leader Steerman, so there should be something to appeal to your tastes.
Load moving skates are used across many professional industries to help with material handling solutions for a variety as applications, such as factories and warehouses, freight terminals, engineering workshops and anywhere the need constantly arises to move large and/or heavy loads from one place to another. They are also used in home removals for shifting heavy furniture around.
A machine moving skate setup might be sensible in some scenarios but will not fit every operation that you have to complete. Thankfully our line up of products is extensive and caters to most needs.
Pallet trucks and scissor lift tables can be found in the broader load moving category and are also used for moving loads around. Furniture movers are another great way of moving larger items of furniture. Our other material handling options include drum handling and forklift attachments.
Browse our site and you will encounter a cavalcade of high quality gear, including hoists, wire rope, height safety equipment and more.
If you are preparing to place an order, you can get help and ask us any questions by filling out our contact form or giving us a call on 01384 76961.
Load moving skates are small, wheeled platforms which slide under heavy objects to make moving them much easier. Typically used for moving machinery, cabinets, appliances and furniture.
Load moving skates are typically used in multiples but it will depend on the item you are moving. Two, three or four are common set ups however you can buy complete kits which often come with a steerable part and handle to make it easier to guide the load.
A roller crowbar is basically a crowbar with wheels, they are used to slide under loads to tilt them up in order to position load moving skates underneath.
