The Brew Cabin

the old bones are creaking a bit these days
but i did find a manual slab lifter online
montolit slab lifter
obviously still got the weight , but looks more ergonomic
has anyone used one for sawn indian stone?
thanks
LLL

The mechanical 'grabber' version as opposed to the vacuum lifters?

I've not used the Montoilit one (they, as a company, messed me about summat rotten a few years back over a block splitter, so I choose to ignore them nowadays) but I've been recommending "similar" gadgets for years as a real boon to those of us.... let's say "with more experience". The two-man versions are a real boon, but even the little one-man jobbies are damned handy for smaller flags.

They really come into their own when you're laying single size flags , such as Small Element Paving where you set the span once and off you jolly well go....

yes ! saw the montoilit 600mm one, thought it might be handy for indian stone ergonomic wise only around £90 might give one a trial run cheers LLL

i use a grabo, vacume lifter, not cheap but lifts up to 170kg
can lift lots of material, even used it to move a fridge..battery life is days not hours,

If I was still in the contracting game, I wouldn't be without a vacuum lift.

I've lived with a knackered spine for 23 years now, and the idea that all the pain, suffering, loss of mobility and general inconvenience could have been avoided if only we had such gadgets readily available back when I was doing untold damage to my vertebrae makes me sad.

800 quid....even 1800 quid seems like a small price to pay to keep yourself fit for work. You can replace a machine: you can't easily replace a spine (or your knees, shoulders, wrists, etc.)

How about one of these mate? https://www.baron-mixer.com/en/products ... ing-dolly/
I'm tempted myself but I'll let someone else test it first

It wasn't that particular model but I met the guy who allegedly "invented" the forerunner of that contraption many years ago at a Trade Show in Ireland (https://www.pavingexpert.com/news035). It was very much a home-made effort based on a wheelbarrow frame and looked farcical, but it worked - even me, with a knackered spine, could lift a small-ish (450x450) flagstone with ease and manoeuvre it too!

He was, I'm sure he wouldn't mind me saying, a typical coumtryman from the west of Ireland: part farmer, part landscaper, part engineer, part builder.....a lot of those lads have to be able to turn their hand to a whole host of different skills, but he was most assuredly NOT a marketing whizz, and was looking for someone to take on the design and to commercialise it.

I've seen it, or a version of it, in various guises since then. It looks unwieldy: it has severe limitations when it comes to working, most notably it only really works when laying from existing paving - less useful on those jobs where you're obliged to work from the unpaved area; and the most common comment made when using it seems to be "Do I look like a right tit?"

However, anything, anything at all, that takes the pressure off your spine, can only be a good thing. And consider this: both of the big German-based paving kit manufacturers have a 'version' of something uncannily similar on their books right now!

I'd be very keen to hear what you decide to do, and if you do buy, how you find it when you're out on site.