MechChem Africa February 2017

⎪ Materials handling ⎪

FLSmidth, the supplier of specialist equipment to the mining, minerals processing and cement industries, has recently upgraded its South African wedge wire screen manufacturing facility in Edenvale, Gauteng. Using second generation technology in both its control system and its tooling abilities, the new machine produces specialised wire mesh for mining, industrial and food processing applications. Local wedgewire manufacturer receives a boost

F LSmidth has significantly upgraded its local steel wedge wire screen manufacturing capabilities follow- ing the recent commissioning of state-of-the art technology at its facility in Edenvale, Gauteng. Buks Roodt, director responsible for Meshcape ® Screen Media at FLSmidth in South Africa, says the company’s newwedge wire machine was made available from FLSmidth’s Australian operation. The SouthAfrican operation is one of four global facilities that specialises in the manu- facture of this quality screening material for international markets. Known for its ability to significantly reduce blinding and plugging, this specialisedwiremesh is used extensively in screening applications for mining, general industry and food processing. “A teamof international FLSmidth experts assisted in commissioning the machine, to- gether with its advanced control system and wide range of tooling. They also provided training for the operators deployed on the wedge wire manufacturing line,” says Roodt. The machine was developed in-house by FLSmidth engineers, and incorporates second-generation technology based on the company’s extensive experience in manu- facturing wedge wire screening products. The technology provides FLSmidth with the flexibility required to use a range of support rods of varying sizes as well as to manufacturewith different wire profiles and aperture sizes. FLSmidth carries stock of a wide range of profiles and support rods in different materi- als ranging from ferritic stainless steels to exotic duplex stainless steels, to cater for the different segments of industry using wedge wire in their applications. Themachine incorporates a sophisticated resistance welding head capable of precision welding. This ensures optimum strength between support rods and the wire intersec- tions, enhancing the quality and integrity of the final product. Roodt explains that the advancedwelding head canweldwireswithheadwidths ranging from one millimetre (mm) to five millimetres and with high accuracy slot sizes ranging from 0.2 mm to 20 mm. In addition, the ma- chine can produce cylinders with diameters ranging from 650 mm to 1 250 mm and up

The new wedge wire machine recently commissioned by FLSmidth in its Edenvale facility.

The wedge wire machine long wire feed assembly.

Wedge wire being manufactured at FLSmidth.

to 6 000 mm in length. These can be split and rolled to produce flat panels. Completing this investment is the new automated rod straightener and cutter on the factory floor. This extra sizing and cutting capacityisalsobeingusedbyotheroperations at the factory. This investment has brought the South

Africanwedgewiremanufacturingoperations in linewithFLSmidth’s other international op- erations. Inaddition toAustralia, the company also manufactures wedge wire in India and the United States. The latter is home to the ‘Big Bertha’ machine that has the capacity to producewedgewire cylinderswithdiameters in excess of 2.0 m. q

February 2017 • MechChem Africa ¦ 21