McElroy’s New Hydraulic Clamping Speeds Fusion Jobsites

TULSA, Okla. — One of the more popular features of McElroy large-diameter fusion machines is coming to several mid-range units. The recently introduced McElroy Hydraulic Clamping retrofit kits upgrade the clamping systems on Rolling and TracStar 412 machines, as well as Rolling and TracStar 618 machines.

“Our middle-diameter machines were originally designed with manual cranking of the jaws’ clamp knobs that secure and hold the pipe for the fusion process,” said Chip McElroy, president and chief executive officer of McElroy. “Customers that knew our complete line of machines asked for this large-diameter feature to be introduced for some smaller machines. We answered the call with this convenient and cost-appropriate clamping option.”

Once the Hydraulic Clamping kits are installed at a local McElroy distributor, operators will find increased speed and productivity of the fusion process. Time usually spent manually clamping the knobs shut can be redirected to actually performing the fusion at hand. Also, workers on site will experience less fatigue by letting hydraulic power do the heavy work instead of hand-wrenching the knobs into position.

Besides the clamping benefits, McElroy engineers designed the clamping system with quick disconnect hydraulic fittings that allows a fusion technician to easily prepare the machine to fuse tees, ells and tie-ins.

The retrofit kit consists of a manifold block for the machine’s carriage that controls the two fixed jaw cylinders and two moveable jaw cylinders independently. The two inner-upper jaws are specific to clamping-enabled machines.

For more information, visit the McElroy website at www.mcelroy.com.