If you gantry crane is available/unused part of the time why not use a set of self balancing pallet forks that are designed to work off a hoist cable and eliminate the need for a conveyor? All that is needed is pallet strapping kit to bundle pallets together and it will allow you to move bundles of pallets at your convenience.

You have no need for a conveyor for the job of pallet return in your case if you utilise a cable hung pallet fork. ■

Yes, well done somebody. Your accumulator is running the wrong way but there's nowt you can do about it now. A barren pallet is hard up against the stops because the accumulator is ramming the full pallets against it, right? Reversing the accumulator temporarily might help to free the barren pallet while a transfer table jumps up to whisk it away sideways. Health & Safety won't let you drop the end stops while you reverse the accumulator so you might have to push it out (pneumatic ram job) to the side over lifting slides. In fact use the ram & slides alone & forget the expense of the transfer table. Then drop the pallet on its end and wait for the hook on the overhead ropeway to engage lift & transport it back to wherever. You also need to install spring loaded, air dropped, stops to jump up & hold the leading full pallet in place as the empty is removed. The air drops the stops once the pusher ram is retracted.

The ropeway hook grabs around the leading corner block of the empty pallet; which susequently dangles along to the recovery point with minimum floor comsumption along the way. I wish they were all so simple. ■