In early 2010, Meijer Handling Solutions will be launching its new range of telescopic forks. Improvements principally involve their outer sleeves. A unique design has been achieved thanks to specific expertise at sister company Meijer Metal in the field of laser cutting and sheet metal work, and higher quality demands placed on the inner fork. The final result provides several significant benefits:

• The outer sleeve can be assembled with a reduced tolerance gap. This means that the sleeve bends less when fully extended.
• This tighter fit also means that more room is freed up for an additional wear strip along the full underside of the fork.
• This wear zone is made up of a 6 mm thick plate that is robot-welded into the sleeve. This wear strip is made of wear-resistant steel (400HB) that has been specially developed for heavy-duty applications, e.g. in the construction (cement mixers, shovels, dumpers, etc.), agricultural (ploughs, conveyors, etc.) and mining industries.
• The strip is cut to shape using a laser to give a maximum surface area at locations where wear is the greatest. Where wear is minimal, the surface area is reduced to save on expensive materials.
• This integrated wear plate underneath the outer sleeve is totally smooth even at the rear close to its base.
• An ingenious combination of laser cutting and sheet metal work construction ensures that sleeves do not catch when withdrawing from pallets. The sleeves corners are fully rounded off along all edges.
• The sleeve is folded all round which gives the sleeve tremendous rigidity and ensures that static and dynamic loads are evenly distributed throughout the entire profile and not weakened by any welds.
• The absence of any sleeve side welds means that the outer sleeve is now narrower.