tracstar

hi i just thought i would share some pictures of the new mcelroy tracstar butt fusion machine we have at work ,it is the first one that the company has purchased ,we had some training on it yesterday for a few hours and then we were left on our own
i must say its a nice piece of equipment to use
in the pictures we are welding 315mm pe 100 sdr 17 watermain
the best bit is when its knock off time you just track it to the container and switch it off no more running bits of equipment back and forth in the front bucket to the container :cool2
cheers graham

O Graham I hope that container has a BIG lock on it
Wicked looking bit of kit. Its going to keep you fit picking those sticks up higher now though isn't it

difficult

hi rob ,i thought somethings were hanging low today
yes it has a big lock ,also a 590 case in front ,the machine has a tracker ,immobilser and also if the green control box is not with it it will not even start so hopefully it will be safe
glad you got your machine sorted
cheers graham

is that plastic pipe. i was something similar down the road, a local company putting in new fire-hydrant service. the went from black steel pipeto black flex pipe and had a machine that looked similar. how does it work?thanks

bigblueox said:

is that plastic pipe. i was something similar down the road, a local company putting in new fire-hydrant service. the went from black steel pipeto black flex pipe and had a machine that looked similar. how does it work?thanks

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What I know as a Butt Fusion Welder. It welds together lengths ( sticks ) of plastic pipe by heating them and butting them together.

I am sure Graham has a much more technical explanation

I take it that is a chop saw secreted under the silver hood ? :cool2

What looks like a chop saw is a wheel with two knives on it to shave the pipe to true up both ends so when they butt together they are perfectly flush A flat heating iron is then placed between the two pipes. the pipes are pressed against the iron until a bead of melted pipe of desired size forms. The iron is pulled out and the pipes are hydraulically pressed together

The machine has adjustable pressure and heat setting for various sizes of pipes. The serrated jaws that clamp the pipe down are interchangeable. The machine in the picture appears to be one that handles 4" - 12"

Pipe welding by butt fusion is a very slow process but the pipe will break long before the welds will. In certain applications it can save you from having to do thrust blocks on water mains

thanks

shaper has just about covered it :drinkup i was out on a burst main last night ,and have not had a chance to reply
the machine will join pipe upto 500mm in diameter
the clamp shells are all imperial in size and all our main is metric so it has extra small shells to convert it to metric
i was told the machine cost around £ 50.000

here is a picture of our old machine
cheers graham

Awesome machine.