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NEW EQUIPMENT ON SHOW IN AMSTERDAM

24th May 1968, Page 59
24th May 1968
Page 59
Page 60
Page 59, 24th May 1968 — NEW EQUIPMENT ON SHOW IN AMSTERDAM
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By R. D. CATER, AMInst BE

MANY IMPROVEMENTS were to be seen incorporated in well-established units at the third "Autovak" Exhibition of tools, garage office systems and forecourt furnishings which took place at the RAI Exhibition Centre in Amsterdam. However, although I spent two days last week at the exhibition I found few items which were in principle completely new.

Compactness was a feature continually showing up in the redesigned items; it appears that the old bogy of insufficient space is world wide.

One of the most outstanding units on show. the Beeline chassis straightening rig, was being exhibited for the first time in Europe. All through the week demonstrations were given using vehicles which in some cases had been given up as insurance write-offs because of the vast amount of preparation required before the actual repairs could be carried out.

Powerful hydraulics are used in the Beeline system which can set the heaviest frames known to be in use anywhere in the world without the use of heat. Built into the rig are alignment and tracking gauges and the manufacturer claims that once a vehicle is straightened and aligned by its system, considerable increases in tyre life and decreases in fuel consumption follow automatically. The device is widely used in the US and one of the biggest operating companies, Mason Dixon Lines, has not found it necessary to dismantle a frame for alignment work in nearly 12 years.

The main basis of the Beeline straightening rig is a frame to which numerous attachments can be fastened and which will stand pressures of up to 60 tons at any point along its length. Outrigger frames carry removable runways in approximately 3ft 6in. sections providing complete access to any part of the vehicle with the minimum amount of obstruction. ThiS equipment was shown by NV v/h Fa. Amelsbeek, Amsterdam,but the international distributor is Paul E. Moss and Co. of New York.

Jacks in all varieties were on many of the stands. A new light-vehicle jack called the Kwiklift and operated by air pressure was exhibited by Saarloos, Rotterdam. It comprises a small nylon-wheeled trolley with an air cylinder mounted so that it slopes 10deg towards the rear of the trolley. Surrounding this cylinder are four right-angle tracks with ground surfaces. The lifting shoe assembly is equipped with roller races, the outside periphery of which run against the ground tracks, and provides for a total lift of approximately 20in. The capacity of the unit is 1,200kg (2,640Ib).

Among large numbers of heavy workshop machines for such operations as crankshaft grinding, brake drum reconditioning and clutch pressure plate refacing, two which originated from France—H. Muller of Paris—particularly caught my eye. A brake drum lathe designated the 12700H accommodates drums from 120mm (4.7in.) up to 700mm (27.5in.) in diameter and from 25mm (lin.) to 320mm (12.6in.) wide. The mandrel is belt driven and can be set to revolve at 25, 36, 50, 52, 72, 76, 110 and 152 rpm. Hydraulics are used for the traverse of the tool post and the speed of traverse can be set from between 0.01mm (.0025in.) to 0.50mm (.0125in.) per revolution.

Another machine manufactured by the same Paris company is designed for flywheel and clutch-pressure-plate refacing.

On the stand of Ravas NV of Utrecht, a wide range of hydraulic jacks and presses were displayed. A feature of some of the hydraulic garage jacks was that they were fitted with a pair of pneumatic rubber-tyred wheels to provide easy movement over rough surfaces and to avoid unnecessary damage to garage floors by the iron wheels normally used. The rolling radius of the rubber wheels is arranged so that contact with the floor is below the normal line of the iron wheels when a load is imposed on to the jacking pad; the pneumatic tyres are compressed, so allowing the iron wheels to come in contact with the floor in the normal manner. Units ranging from 6-ton capacity up to 20-ton capacity are available.

Another useful item on the Ravas stand was a very simple wheel-assembly trolley. This unit, of tubular construction, comprises two L-shaped assemblies, one of the legs of each L being telescoped into its opposite number and the two being tied together by a square-threaded .screw turned by a hand wheel on one end. The unit is mounted on four small castor wheels and when fully extended can straddle a pair of 10.00-20 wheels and tyres. Shortening the screw

forces the wheel and tyre assemblies to ride up on the carriage and they can then be rolled away from the vehicle.

A useful crack repair kit was displayed on the Saarloos stand by the Australian Repro Co. It is called the Irontite repair kit and has a number of drills, grindstones, hacksaw blades and tapered reamers for preparing cracked units, the repair being effected by cast-iron threaded tapered plugs which are screwed into prepared holes drilled into the cracked area. Many exhibits of repair jobs done with the kit would not have been feasible by welding.

Also shown by Repco was one of the most simple devices at the Amsterdam Show. It comprises two tapered pegs mounted in flat mild-steel bases and is designed for supporting cylinder heads while work such as valve grinding is carried out. The stands will accommodate any known cylinder head and are strong and stable enough to support a heavy cylinder head with a man standing on top of it.

Shown for the first time in Europe by Gleeson Engineering, of California, USA, was a new WRG fully automatic crankshaft welding machine utilizing the submerged arc welding principle. The term submerged arc derives from the fact that granules of flux are fed from a hopper in the head of the machine at such a rate as to submerge the arc taking place between the journal being repaired and the continuous welding wire as it is fed on to the journal. I watched this machine in operation and it produced excellent results. I was convinced that I could have completed a journal myself, so simple is the system used. Saddle traverse both while welding and for inching when setting up is controlled electronically, the only manual controls on the machine being adjustable face plates upon which the carrying chucks are set to centralize the crankshaft throw being welded, and a balance weight contained on the outer end of the driving mandrel.

Recovery of vehicles up to 30cwt unladen seldom justifies a permanent breakdown tender unless fleet strength runs into the 100s. A new vehicle recovery trailer was shown on the stand of Nexima of Lisse (near Sassenheim), Holland. The unit comprises a rigid backbone manufactured from two rolled-steel channels on one end of which is mounted a 50mm (19.4in.) ball hitch and a ratchet and lever-type winch. Also mounted at this end of the frame is a small double-acting hydraulic pump. At the opposite end of the frame is a pair of

6. Light vehicle recovery is made simple with the unusual Nexima recovery unit. The one at the rear of the picture is shown with the suspension raised and the cross-member folded while the one in the foreground is shown with the suspension lowered and the frame extended ready for picking up a vehicle.

7. The Hywema-werk unitized vehicle lift seen in action; each pair of lifts has a capacity of 10 short tons.

brackets carrying an over-centre suspension which is moved fore and aft along the length of its radius arms by a long double-acting hydraulic ram connected to the axle at one end and to the trailer backbone at the other. Above the suspension (on a sliding member) there is a swivelling cross-member which carries a rectangular tubular-steel frame at both ends. The sliding longitudinal member can be extended rearwards and when the suspension is in the lowered condition, and with the swivelling cross-member arranged transversely to the trailer backbone, the two outer rectangular sections are in a suitable position for a disabled vehicle's front or rear wheels to be positioned within them. This operation completed, the ratchet winch is used to retract the sliding member and when this member is fully retracted the hydraulic ram is then extended, raising the carriage and the vehicle above the ground and making it ready for towing. The ball hitch can, of course, be fitted to any type of towing vehicle.

Materials handling forms a big part of the operations in any garage or workshop and lots of time can be lost by trying to make do with inferior or unsuitable equipment. Many hydraulic lifting devices manufactured by Hywema-werk, were to be seen. Among them were hydraulic cranes with a maximum lifting height of 4,250mm (14ft). Other devices shown included scissors-type lifting platforms suitable for use as loading decks. A novel new conveyor system is comprised of the usual roller track with small rollers superimposed upon the math units at 90deg so that items passing over the conveyor can be moved in any direction.

Among the most impressive equipment seen here was a free-standing unitized vehicle lift. Each pair of lifting units has a capacity of 10 tons and will lift to a height of 1,600mm (63in.). By using one pair of lifts for each axle, loads of up to 40 tons can be accommodated. An electronic console controls the units either individually or collectively and the rams providing the lift are powered both up and down.


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