The old way (left) ….and the new way, with the Enerpac tool applying 10 tons of precision force to the backing plates.
that took two people to lift safely
and required a crane for positioning.
The new tool is also light enough to
be taken on-site for maintenance
tasks, where it also increases the
safety of the job and cuts the time
taken to do it. The old customised
tool was too heavy and awkward
to take on-site for work on the
ABON chain feeders, which transfer
material from the feed side of
machinery towards the discharge
head chute side of the feeder at a
constant volumetric rate.
The compact and powerful 700-bar
high-pressure hydraulic equipment
– supplied by Enerpac distributor
Cooper Fluid Systems in Mackay
– is used to assemble the chain
links to form ABON conveyors of a
type produced by FLSmidth Group
for extensive use in the mining and
energy, coal, cement and aggregate
industries.
With extensive experience in the
FLSmidth ABON product, GIS is
the only company that has been
authorised to provide contract
labour and tooling for OEM work on
the product.
“GIS places a high value on safety
and efficiency and are very open
to new ideas that will help achieve
these aims,” says Enerpac North
Queensland territory manager
Tammy Wood, who worked with
GIS and Cooper Fluid Systems to
understand workplace needs and
provide a practical and cost-efficient
solution.
Guided by Mr Keenan and his team,
the search for an optimum solution
focussed initially on an application
where ABON chains were used
at a Queensland coal handling
preparation plant (CHPP) to feed
raw coal to crushers. The 1.8m
chain lengths each involved 108
links holding flight bars together as
one long conveyor for the plant.
The job involved assembling chain
links using pin holding links (backing
plate pins) measuring 28mm x
110mm. These are fitted to steel
bars to form a conveyor consisting
of bars and chain.
“Traditionally the job has been done
on-site by flogging in place with a
sledge hammer, which is tough and
potentially hazardous work,” says
Wood.
“Manual on-site methods are also
subject to potential error, because
the alignments of the pins on the
backing plate are communicated
to the person wielding the sledge
hammer by the trusting person
holding the plate. This person is
laying on the ground, hoping the
pins don’t mushroom or swell,
because that makes getting those
pins into place nearly impossible.”
Between the edge of the chain and
the side of the chain feeder there is
about 75mm space to put the links
on, says GIS team member Rob
Gibson. “You have got to have the
end of the tool in the gap, so you
can get behind the chain to push
the link on.”
The new C-clamp press (weighing
about 17kg) is a perfect size,
because the job without it can be
such a heavy and awkward task,”
says Mr Gibson, who works with a
team that includes Tegan Trevethan,
Mark Cook and Sarah Keenan, who,
having completed an apprenticeship
with GIS, now works alongside her
dad Paul.
PU series pumps are part of
Enerpac’s extensive hydraulic pump,
cylinder and compactly powerful
700 bar tool ranges, including professional
bolting technology, with
sales, service and technical specification
advice throughout Australia,
New Zealand and PNG. Enerpac
has one of the world’s most comprehensive
ranges of heavy lifting
cylinders.
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