TPT May 2011

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6 May 2011 ›
Industry News
GERMAN machine tool enterprises
Reika and Gräbener Maschinentechnik
of Gräbener Group have been attracting
positive attention recently after unveiling
their RingSaw® premiere to the machine
tool world – a revolutionary design for
cutting of tubes, profiles and bars – and
with the latter recording a big order with
delivery of seven machines to a new pipe
mill in Saudi Arabia.
Reika’s RingSaw® Avantgarde has the
potential to become tomorrow’s classic, the
company said. Detailed test runs together
with leading manufacturers of roller bearings
have confirmed and even exceeded
expectations. It also offers remarkable
savings thanks to the new technology of
the saw head that orbits the stationary
workpiece: cost savings of 50 to 80 per cent,
compared to conventional carbide saws at
30 to 60 per cent faster capacity have been
experienced leading to the initial investment
quickly being paid back.
Meanwhile, new test runs with bars,
smaller (40mm diameter) and bigger
(600mm diameter) tubes, reported
impressive results. The team at Reika
stated that it is proud of the machine, which
has been performing almost every day
since its launch but the company, based in
Hagen, Germany, is still anxious to keep the
tool technology up to date. High-tech tools
are constantly being developed to optimise
the already outstanding results.
Continuous development is also the
keyword at Gräbener Maschinentechnik.
Among hydroforming and hot-stamping-
presses and plate edge milling machine
sfor the manufacture of ship deck sections,
there is a particular attention to machine
tools for the manufacture of longitudinal
welded pipes. Milling machines, pipe forming
presses, 3- and 4-roll bending machines,
post-bending presses, continuous root
tacking machines, end facing machines and
so on. All machines will be updated to the
latest technological standards with special
care to ensure the usual Gräbener reliability.
The most recent example is Gräbener’s
pipe forming press delivered to a pipe mill
in Malaysia, being among the fastest in the
world. Gräbener engineers reduced the real
pipe bending time to three minutes which
was an outstanding achievement.
Reika GmbH & Co KG – Germany
Fax: +49 2331 969036
Email:
Website:
RingSaw machine makes impressive debut
important the service they offer for the water
industry. We demonstrated how our ROV
robot is able to inspect and clean live potable
water pipelines, using video footage we have
collated from some of our most high profile
work in the water industry to date.”
Panton McLeod uses two robots in its
specialist cleaning and inspection work
across the UK, and has deployed them
during high profile projects for some of the
country’s biggest water firms.
The larger of the two machines – the
VR600 – is a special tracked robot that is
manoeuvred along the floor of any water
storage structure and removes any sediment
build up. It can also be used to inspect the
condition of water tanks and structures.
Panton McLeod – UK
Fax: +44 1835 822 919
Email:
Website:
Underwater
tube robots
scoop award
WATER quality engineering firm Panton
McLeod has celebrated another boost to its
UK water industry credentials after winning
a specialist innovation award. The firm
has been announced as the winner of
the Pipeline Industries Guild’s innovation
award, after impressing the judges with its
innovative underwater cleaning robots.
The robotic technology, which is
used to clean and inspect water storage
facilities and tanks, as well as inspecting
pipelines and boreholes across the UK, was
highlighted as one of the star attractions at
the Pipeline Industries Guild’s innovation
day – a major showcase of state-of-the-art
technology from across the water industry.
A team from Panton McLeod promoted
the robots as part of the event and, after
giving an impromptu presentation about the
benefits of the machines, were unanimously
announced as winner of the coveted
innovation award.
Paul Henderson, operations director of
Panton McLeod, said: “We’re absolutely
delighted to have won this award. There
was some very strong competition at the
event from a number of established names
in the water sector, so it was a great
testament to our services to emerge as the
winner.
“The robotic work is a major part of our
work in the water sector and the results we
have achieved with them speak volumes
about our expertise. It wasn’t difficult to
show how impressive they are and how
The Reika Ringsaw in operation