This blog is something that could interest almost any person working in any form of factory not just Doors.
Yeah, we produce a lot of doors. We would love to have more space but costs and even finding a place is a challenge. So how to get more out of what you got? Both productivity and saving space.
Our old method was to build doors basically on saw horses. Would work one side (sand etc) and then flip the door to do the other side. The flipping of the door sometimes took 3 people depending on the size.
Then once the doors were ready for stain would stain one side, let it dry, flip it over and do the other side. Again maybe three people are needed depending on the size/weight of the door. And if there are three coats that is a lot of time sitting and drying before it can be flipped over so the next coat can go on. The painting was, even more, labor intensive. The doors when ready were stood up in a paint booth usually at least 2 people are required.
So a month ago we had every square inch of shop space used up with a bunch of doors on saw horses (coat one drying). For a few hours, we could do nothing until they were dry to flip them. So we got to thinking and created a “door flipper” (attached video of the prototype).
For a small amount of money, we got two bar stool swivel seat plates. They were rated for 350lb (but that would be sitting on – so will see how this works out). We built two end stands attached to the swivel plates. Then attached the stands (swivel plate) to the top and bottom of the door with wood screws (you never see the top or bottom of the door).
So we started with a small light door – success. Then we moved to a 10’ tall x 6’ wide door- yeah 225+ lbs. We were really careful as we did not want to damage a door due to our contraption failure. WORKED! So we left it overnight (with safety supports). Next day still good.
We used the prototype for a week and it was great. We then purchased some metal square tube and made new support stands instead of the wood prototype. We added wheels to the stands and now we can flip doors and move them – ONE person.
The real beauty is we can paint or stain one side and then flip and do the other side right away. We have had people say “awesome we are going to do something similar as we need to flip xyz product at our operation”. Thought we would share this little idea as it works great and might help in a dilemma you may have. A interesting side note, we bought a little welder to make the stands – and learned to weld. Not the prettiest welds in the world but strong and works. If you want to call us with any questions feel free to.