180 Degree Mechanical Plate Tilter
Photographs and video coming soon
Shop photographs and a video of a full turnover cycle are being prepared and will be published here shortly. For general arrangement drawings or reference photographs of a comparable build in the meantime, get in touch or call +91 91091 02280.
A 180 degree plate tilter turns a steel plate completely over — the face that was underneath comes up, and the plate is set back down flat. That single move replaces flipping the plate with slings and an overhead crane, which is slow, occupies a crane and a rigging team, and puts people alongside a swinging suspended load. In a shop with automated welding, it is also the step the welding machine sits waiting on.
The drive is mechanical rather than hydraulic. A crank-rocker linkage or gear train carries the plate positively through the arc, so there is no power pack, no hoses, and no oil anywhere near a surface that is about to be welded or painted — and the cycle repeats identically every time. The machine is also sold as a plate turnover device, plate upender, or, where the workpiece is a cast slab, a slab tilting machine.
Configurations
- Floor-mounted tilter: Stands on the shop floor, loaded by crane or fork truck
- Pit-mounted tilter: Table flush with the floor so plates can be slid on and off without a lift
- In-line tilter: Sits between conveyor sections in a plate processing or slab conditioning line
- Arm-and-cradle turnover: A receiving arm and a lifting arm, roller-fitted, hand the plate between them through the arc — the arrangement used for heavy plate
- Clamped turnover: For thinner plate that would otherwise flex or slip during the turn
Specifications
Against the Alternatives
| 180° plate tilter | Crane and slings | Hydraulic upender | |
|---|---|---|---|
| People involved | One operator | Crane operator plus riggers | One operator |
| Crane tied up | No | Yes, for the whole flip | No |
| Cycle repeatability | Identical every time | Depends on the rigging crew | Good |
| Oil near the work | None | None | Hoses and power pack present |
| Stops at part angles | No — full turnover duty | Not controllably | Yes |
Where the tilt genuinely has to stop and hold partway, a hydraulic machine is the right answer and we build those too — tell us the duty and we will say which fits.
Key Features
- Removes crane-and-sling plate flipping, one of the more hazardous routine operations in a plate shop
- Mechanical drive — nothing to leak onto a surface waiting to be welded or painted
- Positively driven crank-rocker or geared turn, with controlled start and stop at each end of the arc
- Rollered arms support the plate through the whole arc, so it does not flex, slip, or drop between stations
- Frees the overhead crane for production work instead of turnover duty
- Interlocks, emergency stop, and guarding around the rotating envelope
- One operator runs the cycle from a pendant
Applications
- Second-face welding on heavy fabrications and weldments
- Slab conditioning lines — grinding and scarfing the second face after inspection
- Both-sides descaling, shot blasting, and surface preparation
- Second-side painting and coating
- Underside inspection and NDT in plate mills
- Shipbuilding, bridge girder, and pressure vessel fabrication
- Turnover between passes in a plate processing line
Frequently Asked Questions
How is a 180 degree plate tilter different from a coil tilter?
A coil tilter rotates a coil through 90 degrees to change it between eye-up and eye-out. A 180 degree plate tilter does something different: it turns a flat plate completely over so the underside becomes the top face, which is what you need before inspecting, welding, grinding, or painting the second side. The plate leaves the machine flat, the other way up, not stood on edge.
What else is this machine called?
Plate turnover device, plate turnover machine, plate upender, plate flipping machine, and — where the workpiece is a cast slab rather than a rolled plate — slab tilting machine or slab turnover device. They all describe the same duty: rotating a flat workpiece through 180 degrees so the second face can be worked. If you have been quoted for any of those, we can quote against the same specification.
Why choose a mechanical tilter instead of a hydraulic one?
A mechanical drive has no power pack, no hoses, and no oil to leak onto a plate that is about to be painted or welded — which matters in fabrication and paint shops, where a contaminated surface means the whole preparation is done again. The turn is driven positively through a crank-rocker linkage or gear train, so the cycle repeats identically and holds position without relying on fluid pressure. There is also less to maintain. Hydraulic actuation still makes sense where the tilt must stop and hold at intermediate angles; a full-turnover duty usually does not need that.
What does it replace, and what does that save?
Conventional practice is to flip the plate with slings and an overhead crane, sometimes on a trunnion. It is slow, it occupies a crane and a rigging team, and it puts people near a swinging suspended load — one of the more hazardous routine operations in a plate shop. In a line with automated welding, it is also the step the machine waits on. A tilter turns that into a single cycle run by one operator from a pendant, with the crane free for other work.
Is the plate tilter customised to my requirement?
Yes. Every machine we build is custom-engineered — plate length and width, plate thickness, weight, cycle time, mounting and loading method are all matched to your shop. Send your plate size range and throughput via the enquiry form or call +91 91091 02280 for a firm quote.
*Every machine is custom-engineered to your requirements, so the price depends on plate size, weight, cycle time and mounting — reach out for a firm quote.
