Over time and with use, fork heels of forklifts can wear and lead to a significant reduction in capacity and potential fork failure. When a fork has worn by 10%, it must be removed from service immediately for the safety of the operator and other staff.
FB Chain, a manufacturer and supplier of industrial chain and associated parts, has launched a new tool for measuring wear on the forks of forklift trucks. The FB Professional Fork Wear Gauge makes it quick and easy to achieve accurate fork heel wear measurements. This enables the operator or technician carrying out the wear inspection to schedule the forks’ replacement at the appropriate time, eliminating costly unplanned downtime, as well as the risk of harm to people, goods and equipment associated with fork failure.
Regular measurement with the FB Professional Fork Wear Gauge also helps avoid the unnecessarily expense and material waste of replacing forks too early.
The concept is similar to the widely used FB Professional Chain Wear Gauge and so will feel familiar to many of those carrying out thorough examinations according to LOLER and PUWER, as well as the BITA guidance notes and FLTA technical bulletin.
The operator or technician needs to close the front teeth of the gauge squarely on the shank to identify the fork diameter (35 mm, 40 mm, 45 mm or 50 mm), measure each side of both fork arm blades, and read off the percentage wear from the appropriate scale window. Wear is indicated in 2% increments from 0-10%.
Peter Church, managing director, FB Chain, said: “Over the last 15 years the FB Professional Chain Wear Gauge has become a go-to device for maintenance engineers and insurance inspectors all over the world. Our ambition is for our new FB Professional Fork Wear Gauge to become an equally valuable addition to their toolbox.”