TPI November 2015

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28 Tube Products International November 2015
products & developments
Tube company invests
in fintube machines
With quality products, quick delivery
and customer service as its main
goals, Salem Tube International has
revolutionised itself from supplier to
maker of high-quality heat exchanger/
boiler tubing. To accomplish this, the
company relies on its understanding of
the manufacturing and heat exchange
processes and the ingenuity of McElroy
fintube machines.
99 per cent of what Salem sells is
now made at its factory. This includes
U-bends and low fin tubing as well as
extruded and applied fintubes. “We had
companies that finned for us for many
years, but we decided that the best
option was to do everything in-house,”
said Salem president Howard Ions. “We
believe we can provide a better service
to our customers when everything is
under one roof.”
Salem is headquartered in the northeast
of England, with a plant that is situated
in a forested, industrial area that echoes
a coal mining history. The company also
has offices in France, Italy, Egypt and
Australia.
Salempurchased three fintubemachines
– two No 5 Applied and one Model B
Extruded – engineered and produced by
McElroy Manufacturing. McElroy has a
growing network of fintube distributors
as part of its commitment to deliver
quality products and service. Rico Box
Consulting in Barcelona is Salem’s local
source for machine service, parts and
support.
McElroy sent a team to assemble and
install the new machines in Salem’s
expansive tube shop, which is spacious
enough to easily accommodate
the applied and extruded machines,
30.5m and 33.83m long respectively.
The team also taught ten of Salem’s
employees how to operate and maintain
the machines. McElroy states that
with proper maintenance, its fintube
machines will produce quality fintubes
for decades, and that many McElroy
machines built in the 1960s are still in
operation today.
Within five weeks of McElroy’s arrival,
Salem’s new fintube machines were up
and running, and production was well
underway. The new fintube machines
broaden Salem’s capabilities in tube
making to serve customers’ specific
needs. The company will be able to
produce a variety of fins including wrap-
on, overlapped footed, wrap-on knurled,
overlapped knurled footed, embedded,
perforated and extruded.
McElroy’s disc technology on the
extruded machine makes it possible
to use the least amount of material
necessary to produce a quality product.
“We wouldn’t buy any machines
other than McElroy because they’re
the world’s leading brand,” said Mr
Ions. “We are very confident in the
workmanship of their machines and
applaud their ongoing efforts to have
the latest, most productive technology
on the market that will save us time and
money.”
With the applied fintube process, an
aluminium strip is curled around the
liner tube via a high-speed rolling mill.
By modifying the rolling surfaces and
with certain tool changes, a variety of fin
types and sizes can be produced.
With extruded fintubes, stainless steel
tubes are used as the base liner in
fintubes. The outer aluminium tubes are
used to make the fins. The liner tube
is inserted inside the aluminium tube,
which is pushed through three arbors
with rotating discs. This extruding
process creates fins out of the aluminium
material, and the root of the aluminium
fin remains bonded to the liner tube.
McElroy Manufacturing – USA
Salem Tube International – UK
Rico Box Consulting SL – Spain
McElroy’s No 5 applied
fintube machine
Applied fintubes
McElroy was on-site at Salem for the
commissioning of the fintube machines
and staff training