Protecting welders from the elements while working on oil and gas pipelines can be dangerous business. Steel welding sheds weighing 2,000 pounds and steel-framed tents averaging 500 pounds are often hoisted over pipes and work crews by side-boom tractors to shelter welders from snow, wind and rain.

"I've seen these loads shift out of control on rugged terrain and come crashing to the ground narrowly missing vehicles and people. I've seen some of these home-built sheds contact power lines, causing damage to surrounding facilities," says Mark Moroney, who has worked as a rig welder in Alberta's oil patch for 25 years.

Moroney has also seen his share of improvised shelters -- often slapped together with lumber, tarps, and scaffolding after Mother Nature turns ugly. "Everyone's climbing over slippery, wet pipe to get these welders covered up. You see a lot of falls. It's very dangerous."

Concerned for his own safety and those around him, Moroney decided to build a lighter, safer alternative to the shelters he sees in the field. He invented a portable welding tent called a Hex-Hut and partnered with Tangent Design Engineering to launch the product to welders working in oil and gas, construction and mining.

"When you're working outdoors on costly projects with tight schedules, you can't afford to stop welding every time the weather turns bad. But I knew there had to be a safer way of doing things," says Moroney.

The Hex-Hut's sturdy, lightweight aluminum frame -- draped in fire-retardant, rubberized canvas -- folds out like an umbrella and can be set up or dismantled in less than 10 minutes by one person without heavy machinery. The unit stands about three metres tall, spans three metres in diameter and weighs less than 45 kg (100 pounds).

"In my opinion, the Hex-Hut is a much safer tool than other welding shelters," says Dan Moon, a safety co-coordinator for EnCanada. He conducted a safety analysis of the Hex-Hut, comparing it to steel welding sheds a few years ago when Moroney began building prototypes. Moon worked for an oil field service company at the time that was interested in using Hex-Huts.

"If a steel shed fell on a person, it could result in death. With a Hex-Hut I could never see anything more serious happening than medical aid, and only infrequently -- like if someone slips while setting it up," says Moon, who pipelined for more than six years and estimates "there were two to 10 incidents a season" involving steel welding sheds. "I saw two sheds dropped, One crushed a vehicle."

His safety assessment looked at operability and potential hazards related to ventilation, work area congestion, electrical shock from overhead lines, pinch or crush, and slip-trip-fall, on a scale of 0-to-20 where lower numbers represent lower risk. While the steel sheds scored 14s and 16s, Hex-Hut scored mostly sixes and never higher than eight.

Moon says managers responsible for welding crews should take a look at the Hex-Hut, especially in light of Occupational Health and Safety regulations and Bill C-45 which holds CEOs and supervisory personnel responsible for the safety of their workers.

John Pape routinely recommends customers who rent his automatic pipe welding equipment to now use Hex-Huts. "They're inherently safer and save time and money because you eliminate the need for heavy equipment on crowded worksites just to move your shelter ahead to the next weld," says Page, owner of John W. Pape Welding Consulting in Edmonton, AB. He says crushed fingers and feet are a "fairly regular occurrence" with heavy welding sheds because workers often stand too close as they help guide these shelters into place."

The Hex-Hut's umbrella frame straps firmly to the pipe or structure you're working on and the tent walls bend around any obstacle, sealing shut with drawstrings and magnetic buttons -- "making it easier and safer to work on pipes that are close together," says Pape. "Everyone else's huts are free-standing, requiring a large footprint of level ground around the pipe or they're supported by a crane." One of Pape's customers plans to lease Hex-Huts for a large pipeline construction contract.

Flint Energy Services was the first to use a Hex-Hut. "We had the first prototype Mark ever built and we've been using Hex-Huts ever since. There's nothing else out there that comes close," says Jason Robinson, pipeline general foreman for Flint in Cold Lake.

Hex-Hut Shelter Systems

Gullco's Welding Positioners improve productivity and weld quality with rotary ground and turntables complete with mounting flange for self-centering gripper, and tilt mechanisms, microprocessor-based pulse width modulation motor controls. The microprocessor-based motor control enables operator interface of start, stop, clockwise rotation, neutral, counter clock-wise rotation and infinitely variable control of the speed, within the model. To make production on long work pieces easier and faster a 2.5" "Through Hole" model is available.

Gullco

Eurovac has added the new Eurovac II grinding portable to its line of dust extraction products. The Eurovac II grinding portable features a powerful 120 volt, 3000 watt, 3.9 HP pump which has sufficient suction for use with grinders (rotary sanders ) set up for dust extraction as it produces 100" of water column and 250 CFM. It has more suction because it utilizes three motors -- two are turned on initially by the first switch. The third motor is started by activating the back switch after the first two motors are running. The system is used to reduce the start-up current that would be required if all three motors started at the same time.

Eurovac

OAKFLO™ metalworking fluid is available in soluble, semi-synthetic and synthetic oils for applications such as milling, drilling, turning, reaming tapping, broaching, sawing and grinding. It is formulated to address the needs of machine tool and metalworking systems. The fluids provide users with proven lubricity, superior cooling and excellent corrosion control. OAKFLO™ also eliminates rancidity and dermatitis issues and promotes efficient, easy part cleaning. Four distinct families create the OAKFLO™ line of fluids: OAKFLO™ DSO -- premium soluble oil/metalworking fluid concentrate; OAKFLO™ DSS -- semi-synthetic, metalworking fluid concentrate; OAKFLO™ DS4 -- synthetic, metalworking fluid concentrate and OAKFLO™ DST -- metalworking oil.

OAK International

The VibeMaster Series of round-bowl finishing machines includes the VM-3, VM-5 and VM-10 models, with tub capacities of 3, 5.3 and 10.6 cubic feet, respectively. They provide manual separation of metal parts and abrasive media at the conclusion of the deburring process. The compact and space-saving units feature an extended screen deck and a thick, moulded polyurethane-lined bowl for longer life and protection against part impingement. They also feature variable adjustable amplitude, Ac variable frequency drive and an optional economy compound pump. The new line is designed for smaller, non-high-volume, non-automated shops where non-automatic, manual operating parts/media separation is acceptable.

Alexander Tools Ltd.

The inflatable DynaWheel is offered with a composite hub for lightweight handling or aluminum hub for added strength and durability. When fitted with the proper abrasive and run at optimum speed, this pneumatic wheel allows concentrated grinding for faster material removal on stainless steel and other metals. DynaWheel's thick rubber wall has the increased rigidity vital to heavy-duty grinding applications. It is available in three sizes: 5" diameter x 1" wide, 5" diameter x 1 1/2" wide and 5" diameter x 2" wide.

Dynabrade

E123 presetters feature a fixed rotating spindle that uses six mini bearings with radial concentricity error compensation. Two standard versions are available -- ISO/BT/CAT 40 and ISO/BT/CAT50. The E123 is equipped with a touch-screen version system featuring a full-colour LCD screen. A C-MOS image sensor with STN screen allows accurate measuring of any kind of tool profile. Measuring is fully automatic and includes both radii and angle values. Focusing bars are included to ensure repeatability. X-axis measuring range is 130mm and Z-axis is 360mm.

Lyndex-Nikken Inc.

Torch Wear X-Treme welding sleeves feature a three-layer design which encapsulates Torch Wear armour material to provide superior protection. The sleeve is intended for harsh applications such as carbon-arc, sub-arc, spray-arc and heavy-arc welding, as well as pipe and heavy TIG welding and standard MIG welding. One size fits all with the sleeve designed to be worn over a shirt or jacket. Torch Wear fabric provides superior protection while being comfortable enough to wear next to the skin. When exposed to intense heat or flame, the fibers will carbonize and then expand, dramatically reducing the oxygen content within the fabric. The fabric will not char, shrink or burn when exposed to heat and flame.

Torch Wear

The carbide tipped Holcutter™ Sheet Metal Cutters are suitable for easier, high quality holemaking in tougher sheet metal and plate materials (up to 1/8" thick) such as stainless steel, alloys and cast iron, or other materials having high Brinell hardness numbers. The carbide Holcutters provide smooth cutting action and virtually burr-free holes while eliminating typical tearing, ripping, gouging and deforming of the surrounding, thin material like with bi-metal hole saws and step drills. The cutters include pilot, arbor and a spring to eject the center slug of material from the cutter interior recess, and an integral shoulder is designed to prevent damaging plunge thru as the cut is completed.

Hougen Manufacturing, Inc.

The CBN160C coated insert is particularly suited for heavy interrupted and high speed operations in finishing case hardened steel, which is often used in the automobile industry where limited or unmanned, high volume production of parts is commonplace. CBN160C features a Ti(Si)N "C" coating, which improves wear resistance and increases tool life so that higher speeds and feeds can be achieved. Downtime is also reduced as there is less need to inspect tool wear and fewer indexing/tool changes are required. The low content CBN inserts are available in single and multi-tipped brazed formats and all typical styles.

Seco Tools Canada

The Digiset 6 presetter provides increased productivity and streamlined setups for precision machining. It makes presetting boring and milling tools quick and easy with an intuitive control system and software. Its ergonomic design contributes to ease of operation. In addition, presetting increases accuracy, optimizes part quality, and maximizes tool performance and life. Digiset 6 features powerful digital camera imaging that shows measuring results almost instantly on the on-board colour display. Now operators can manage up to 1,000 tools simultaneously and choose from programs that perform axial and radial runout inspection, cutting edge inspection, zero point monitoring and measurement of multi-bladed tools.

Command Tooling Systems

The CIMCOOL CIMTECH® family of products are applicable for both heavy and light-duty grinding and machining operations. The fluids are formulated to reject tramp oil while providing a transparent substance. The CIMTECH® "Z" metalworking fluids are designed to provide many considerable benefits including: extended sump life, up to a 40% improved tool life, a 20% increase in productivity, excellent radial control and greatly reduced concentrate usage.

CIMCOOL

The G5 is a full 5-axis machine with a B-axis of .5/1.5 sec (90/180), a C-axis at 100 rpm, a 60-tool automatic tool changer that will hold up to a 8.7 inch diameter grinding wheel. A unique two-axis coolant nozzle allows the G5 to accommodate variations in wheel diameter and changes in cutting direction while maintaining ideal cutting conditions. It also allows for intermittent rotary dressing, an NC controlled, hydraulically powered feature that redresses the wheel to reestablish profile geometry on the cutting wheel.

Makino

The Super-MIG™ system is a new, innovative welding technology developed by combining two reliable standard welding processes, plasma arc and MIG arc, into one hybrid process. The system reliably delivers greater welding speeds under variable gap conditions, deeper weld penetration and reduced splatter and a narrower heat affected zone. Super-MIG™ is capable of welding most standard MIG, Plasma and Laser applications. For example, it can be used to do true overlap weld continuous or stitch/spot configurations.

Welding Solutions, Inc.

The MiniMAX 3, 4 or 5-axis vertical machining centres offer a working cube of 17.7" (X) x 13.7" (Y) and a standard table size of 21.6 x 11.8". It has a machine base of massive cast-iron construction with full splash safety guarding. The standard spindle is a BT 30 (BT 40 optional) supplied with an umbrella style utilizing a 10 tool ATC featuring 6 sec. change speed. The user-friendly PC control is an Advanced High Performance Control with a 10 1/2" flat colour monitor capable of 6-axis simultaneous interpolation. The programs are compatible with Fanuc and other programs using standard "G" codes and "M" functions.

Intertech Worldwide Corporation

Kurt's XL 8-inch vises with a 21-inch jaw opening and 20,000 lbs. of clamping force are suitable for very large parts requiring aggressive, high speed machining operations. The vises lock precisely and with maximum rigidity for the highest horsepower "hogging out" operations as well as high precision milling and drilling operations. They feature the Anglock® design, an exclusive pull-type jaw clamping design feature that reduces stationary jaw deflection and prevents parts from lifting upward under heavy clamping loads. A hardened spherical segment mechanism produces "all directional" alignment of the jaw components and vise body so clamped parts remain stationary for accurate machining functions.

Kurt Manufacturing Company

Giddings & Lewis are introducing modular design, multi-tasking design and automation in large machine tools. In addition to the RT Series, or rotary-table type, other models include the PT series or plain-table boring mill, MC Series which adds automation features including pallet shuttle and tool changers and the latest FT and FTR Series of floor-type or travelling-column boring mills. All the products are modular in design including the entire line of MAG horizontal boring mills. Choices include various table styles and sizes, headstocks, controls, attachments and X-, Y- and W-axis travel options. The configurable design lets manufacturers fit the machine to their requirements.

Giddings & Lewis

Sunnen's new SV-310 vertical CNC honing machine combines a wide choice of tooling options, large work envelope, and 762mm stroke for bore sizing of small and medium-sized gas/diesel engine blocks, large gears, air compressors, aerospace parts, refrigeration compressors and similar small or large multi-bore parts. A work envelope of 1016mm x 1778mm and weight capacity up to 909 kg provide versatility for processing a wide range of parts. An optional tool-guide assembly and variety of bore-diameter gauging systems combine with a servo-controlled X-axis travel of 1143mm to allow automated honing of multi-bore blocks with high precision.

Sunnen Products Company

The Caliber™ nickel-plated brass Flashback Arrestors are intended for use in oxy-fuel cutting or welding. Their unique nickel-plated finish provides greater surface hardness and corrosion resistance. The arrestors also feature soft seat Buna Nitrile o-ring connections for extended life and seal integrity. Flashback arrestors are a necessity for safe oxy-fuel welding or cutting. They stop the flashback flame and stop the reverse flow of gases. Two styles are available. Torch style sets are mounted between gas hose and torch; regulator style is used between hose and regulator. Each set contains two non-interchangeable, colour coded arrestors -- one for oxygen and one for fuel gas.

Western Enterprises

The HL300 Finishing Machine is designed to finish honing and lapping the face or inside and/or outside diameters of small to medium sized cylindrical parts. The machine can provide total control for cross hatch or mirror finish while simultaneously improving the overall geometry and bearing ratio. It can be used with a variety of stones from coarse to superfine vitrified, CBN or diamond depending on the application. The machine includes a standard cycle timer and controls. An optional CNC programmer for automatic or semi-automatic control is also available.

Superior Honing Company

These new flap discs are made specifically for cutting aluminum. Designed for higher heat generating applications, the new discs contain a calcium stearate coating that liquefies under heat to keep the disc cooler and to prevent loading on soft materials. Manufactured from premium blue-fired aluminum oxide grain and a polyester heat-treated backing, the new 36 grit discs are available in 4 1/2", 5" and 7" diameters. Aluminum flap discs can be used on aluminum, brass, copper and zinc.

CGW-Camel Grinding Wheels

The linear-motor-drive backgage is available as an option on Cincinnati's new high-speed MAXFORM hydraulic press brake. The six-axis backgage uses linear motor drive to deliver re-positioning speeds of 3000 ipm in X (in/out) and Z (left/right) axes. The high-speed positioning eliminates resets waiting time for fast sequential bending of complex parts -- more strokes per hour and parts per shift. The 6-axis backgage complements the MAXFORM's speed machine capabilities. Advanced hydraulics and control technologies deliver up to 700 ipm ram speeds with 3 Sigma (+/­0.0002") repeatability for outstanding consistency in bending complex parts without deviation, drift or error stacking. Especially suited to high-volume manufacturing operations, the high-speed MAXFORM package eliminates the press brake as a bottleneck to reducing work-in-process for many manufacturers.

Cincinnati Incorporated

The Blue Tiger APS line of high capacity electro-mechanical servo press spindles offers a large 500 kilo Newton capacity. The line consists of 18 sizes ranging from 5-500 kilo Newton capacity spindle presses. The presses feature a synchronous servo motor with integral brake and encoder. An inline planetary gearbox or optional right angle gearbox with toothed belt drive. A backlash free bellows coupling and high precision strain gauge with 0.5% and transversal load compensation for precise electronic control of speed, dwell and force for all pushing and pulling applications. Speeds up to 1500 millimeters per second are possible via the robust planetary roller screw drive and heavy duty spline shaft tappet.

American Sales Development

The Turbo-Tumbler is a high-speed centrifugal machine that works by spinning parts in a work bowl along with ceramic media, water and a deburring compound. This creates a vortex of parts and media, ensuring that each part gets impacted with the media many thousands of times within a short period.

Rotor Clip Company, Inc.

For multi-surface, simultaneous 5-axis machining combined with a high-precision tilting rotary table, all under the control of a powerful CNC, the new Variaxis 630-5X II is developed for high-speed, heavy-duty multi-tasking machining of complex parts from solids in a single setup. The integrated main milling spindle and motor feature a combination of 40 HP power and 18,000-rpm maximum speed. Rapid-traverse rate is 2047 ipm in X, Y, and Z, making for highly efficient machining. Turning can be accomplished on the tilting rotary table at 0-degree or 90-degree position with the new 1100 rpm, 25 HP motor. The compact nose on the main spindle helps to maximize the machining envelope so that a wider variety of parts may be processed on the machine.

Mazak Corporation

The newest version of NCL multi-axis machining software offers many new features including implementing a new visual calculator. This feature enables users to have access to the standard functions that you would expect from a scientific calculator, in addition to, access to all numeric and geometric functions. Added functions under a single interface allow the user to quickly compute numeric equations, distances between geometric entities, angles between entities, and the length of an entity among other features. While the user performs the calculations, the calculator will build the formula that can be edited and saved for later.

Numerical Control Computer Sciences

The 230mm and 180mm Metal Devil® metal cutting circular saws with dry cutting technology feature low-speed, high torque motors optimized for metal cutting. The 230mm circular saw has a powerful 15 Amp motor that delivers 2500 rpm for optimal torque. With a maximum cutting depth of 3 1/4" inches, this machine can easily cut up to 3 inch square tubing. The 180mm metal cutting circular saw offers a 9 Amp motor that delivers 3500 rpm for optimal torque in cutting applications such as 1.4" thick mild steel.

The M.K. Morse Company

The Weld Select family consists of Weld Field Immune sensors, SteelFace™ sensors, SlagMaster™ slag resistant laminate coatings, improved mounting hardware, connector components and Weld Repel™ products designed to protect sensor connector components from damage in welding cells. Balluff weld field immune sensors are specifically designed to operate within these fields without false tripping. Armed with a one-piece gun drilled stainless steel housing, SteelFace sensors can take multiple hits and still function properly. Sensor failure due to high ambient heat and slag can be dramatically reduced by using SlagMaster™ coated sensors.

Balluff

Canadian Industrial Equipment News October 2007

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