Product of the Month – Winlet 375 glazing robot
A lifting device that replaces the human hand must be pretty impressive, which is why our Product of the Month for February is the Winlet 375 glazing robot.
Without a Winlet, moving a glazed panel into place is very likely to need a good amount of gripping, pushing, pulling, pressing, squeezing with hands.
With the Winlet 375 battery electric powered glazing robot, and with any other model in the Winlet glass lifter range, the only one of those actions needed is pressing. Of some buttons.
Not that the human hand isn’t astonishing. It is a triumph of biomechanical engineering. In fact, Sir Isaac Newton took the view that the opposable thumb, essential to our digital dexterity, was proof enough of the existence of God.
Others now take the view that evolution had a hand in it too.
But, as lifting tasks have grown in scale and weight, along with the need for precision and safe manual handling, it is suction cups, not sweaty palms, that increasingly hold sway in the world of glass installation.
Exceptional advantages
The Winlet 375 defines this advance in glass lifting technology – allowing glass to be installed more productively (including by smaller teams), in more confined spaces, with greater precision, and unrivalled safety.
Just as importantly, with manual handing all-but eliminated, the risk of muscular-skeletal injury is greatly reduced as well, as is the risk of damage to expensive glass panels being installed and fixtures around the aperture, into which the panels are being placed.
Glazing installers are increasingly aware of these exceptional advantages. In effect, one Winlet 375 glazing robot can replace an entire installation team.
At a time when skilled glass installation operatives are in short supply, and labour costs are increasing rapidly, a Winlet glazing robot not only makes business sense, it also helps hard-pressed installers win contracts and deliver them more profitably.
Incredible precision
The Winlet 375 glazing robot has a maximum safe working load of 375kg.
Yet, just like the human hand, it is not just a lifting device. It is a glass manipulator: designed to allow panels to be placed with incredible precision at any angle and in any plane.
The Winlet 375 can lift glass panels to a maximum working height of just over 3 metres – 3,087mm to be precise.
When it reaches that height, a 375kg panel can be placed horizontally directly overhead.
Or, a panel weighing up to 270kg can be placed horizontally with the cups facing down. The Winlet 375 can also pick up a glass panel lying flat on the floor.
Its hydraulic boom can be extended 958mm from the glazing robot’s front bumper, at which point it has a maximum capacity of 200kg.
It can also carry a glass panel weighing up to 200kg held neatly at its side, allowing panels to be transported through congested spaces or, given it is just 690mm wide in this mode, through single doorways.
Gyroscopic controls
The glazing robot’s glazing manipulator head has other useful features. They include proportional controls that allow panels to be moved with extra precision to aid final placement.
Specifically, the feature allows loads to be moved with extra precision up and down vertically through 100mm and through 200mm from side to side.
Another capability much appreciated by glass installers is the way glass can be held in the same plane during installation thanks to the glazing robot’s gyroscopic controls, which aids final panel positioning.
Glass panels can be rotated through 360 degrees, tilted backwards 45 degrees and tilted forwards by 97 degrees. Also, the entire process can be carried out using a wired remote control unit. This means the operator can stand in precisely the right position to control the lift.
Safety features
As with all other Winlet glazing robots, safety is built into the way the Winlet 375 is designed.
Low pressure lights and buzzers alert the operator to any suction problems. Also, a double-action safety keys, which must both be switched on at the same time, guard against accidental load release.
The glazing robot also has stabilising arms that give the operator additional confidence when transporting or installing loads across potentially uneven ground.
All equipment panels are water jet resistant and dust tight to the IP65 rating standard. Meanwhile, the glazing robot has an onboard battery charger, though it is designed to keep working through long and busy glass installation shifts.
All-terrain capability
We also need to mention, it is not just glass the Winlet 375 can lift. It can also be used to lift plastic and sheet metal. With a quick change of the four 310mm diameter suction cups, it can also be used to lift glass-reinforced concrete (GRC) panels and plasterboard.
Weighing just 732kg, a figure that drops to 578kg when the counterweights are removed, the Winlet 375 is easily light enough and compact enough to be transported in smaller construction site lifts or even standard lifts.
Also, its chunky foam-filled tyres, and front wheel drive means the glazing robot copes admirably and smoothly with the many lumps, bumps, lips and gradient changes found across every construction site.
Glazing robot range
As already mentioned, the Winlet 375 glazing robot is just one in a range of machines in the Hird glazing robot hire fleet.
Others include the Winlet 400TL, which has a maximum capacity of 415kg, the very popular mid-range Winlet 600, with a max capacity of 600kg and the Winlet 1000, which can lift glass panels weighing up to 1t.
Hird also offers a Winlet curved glass adaption kit for its Winlet 575, 785 and 1000 models. Use of the glazing robots is supported with delivery of the LEEA-accredited vacuum robot training course, developed by Hird.
Continuous innovation
Finally, we should point out there is another difference between the human hand and the Winlet glazing robot.
Winlet is continuously developing its range, adding new models and innovative new features that push back the boundaries of what is possible in glass lifting.
On the other hand (couldn’t resist it), according to scientists, the human hand has not changed much since it first evolved millions of years ago.
In fact, a study published recently in the journal Nature Communication, found the hands of chimpanzees and orangutangs have evolved quite while human hands have stayed much the same.
If it isn’t broken, it doesn’t need fixing, perhaps. That is not an approach being taken by the engineers at Winlet. And it is Hird’s glazing robot rental customers who are benefitting.
Find out more
Talk to Hird about the Winlet 375 glazing robot and the other machines in the Winlet glass lifting range. Available nationally through Hird’s three operational centres.
Email: [email protected]