CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NOV 2018

HammerHead Portaburst to the rescue A small piece of equipment is making a big difference in the City of Johannesburg’s bid to replace ageing sewerage infrastructure with its ability to work faster than a large team of men working in its place. Drill Power Tech Engineering recently put its new- ly-acquired HammerHead Portaburst PB30 into service throughout the suburbs of Weltevreden Park and Roodekrans where it is able to burst and replace aging cementitious and clay sewerage pipelines with long-last- ing HDPE pipes in a fraction of the time it usually takes. Purchased from leading trenchless equipment supplier, ELB Equipment, the sole supplier of Hammerhead equip- ment in South Africa, the small and simple to operate pipe bursting machine has even surprised veteran pipe replacement specialist, Fernando Barbosa, the owner of Drill Power Tech Engineering, who is impressed with the machine’s speed. “So far the longest run that we have done is 120 m of standard 160 mm piping which we completed in just two hours. In just over three months since entering the operation our HammerHead Portaburst PB30 has racked up an incredible 2 km of pipe replacements in all sorts of terrain,” says Barbosa. “What makes it even more useful is the fact that it is lightweight with a small, narrow footprint about a metre long and roughly the same height which means it requires much smaller entry and exit pits. This makes it ideal to use in confined areas or mid-block between two properties (usually in the backyards).” The HammerHead PortaBurst PB30 is a portable lateral pipe bursting system with a massive 30-t of pulling force. This enables it to be transported to areas where it can be assembled in tight confines and used to burst and pull pipes of up to 355 mm over long lengths as required. Its modular four component design, with each component CSA Landscaping went on to purchase one U15-3, and owner, Carl Arnold, says the machine is performing beyond expectations. It is used across a range of applica- tions, but largely for soil preparation, digging tree holes and irrigation trenches. “The U153’s ability to work with a range of attachments makes it a versatile proposition for us. Its size also makes it very easy to transport be- tween sites, given the nomadic nature of our business,” explains Arnold. “I am surprised by the power that this small machine can deliver.” For most landscaping contractors, machine size is crit- ically important. Given the nature of their applications, contractors are aware that they are likely to encounter worksite limitations, often restricted working width. With an operating weight of 1,5-tonne, the U15-provides enough power to tackle some of the toughest jobs in space-constrained environments. However, a key feature that speaks directly to the common problem of width restrictions on landscaping sites is the U15-3’s hydraulic track that can adjust the track width from 1 240 to 990 mm. At the touch of a lever, operators can reduce the width to allow for navigation through nar- row spaces, or increase the width, for better stability. b

The HammerHead PortaBurst PB30 is a portable lateral pipe bursting system with a massive 30-t of pulling force.

weighing less than 32 kg, even allows it to be passed over walls or into hard-to-reach spaces where it can be quickly reassembled in the pit if necessary. Once set up the operators can quickly push the main cable through the existing pipeline, attach the burst

head with new HDPE pipe attached and thread it to the machines power- ful jaws to begin bursting. The Quick Grip burst heads use snap-fit fixtures and don’t require any hand tools. Its rugged design also gives it the unique ability to negotiate bends of up to 45 degrees. b

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