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The aluminum industry got its first glimpse of Granco Clark’s new Spinning Log Welder at the AEC Fall Management Conference in Chicago and at its physical unveiling at ALUMINIUM 2008 in Essen, Germany. The technology’s ability to eliminate two-piece billets and increase yield by 1-2 percent generated considerable interest at the conference and among many of the 17,000 visitors at Essen.
The design concept behind Granco Clark’s Spinning Log Welder was the work of Derek Boden* from G. James Extrusion Co. Pty. Ltd in Brisbane, Australia. Granco Clark developed the new technology, integrating it with the Granco Clark Hot Saw to join two billets and fuse them into a virtually seamless single billet. Here’s how it works:
As the logs emerge from the furnace, the Granco Clark Hot Saw locates the junction and creates a precise, even cut, exposing fresh surfaces on the billet piece to be joined. In a process that takes less than 10 seconds, which reduces oxidation at the joint, the new Spinning Log Welder joins them together under pressure and controlled rotation. An alignment system ensures the billets are precisely centered. The entire process takes place after the furnace where it can be done most efficiently.
It’s far superior to two-piece billet technologies that attempt spot welding. Billet ends degrade while exposed to the atmosphere. Spot welding does nothing to remove the oxidation on the surface where billets will be joined. Spot welded logs have a greater propensity to break at the joint, defeating its purpose and potentially damaging your furnace. The Spinning Log Welder eliminates these issues by forging a stronger, more complete bond to form a uniform single billet.
Already proven to be the best technology ever developed to join log end segments, a patent for the Granco Clark Spinning Log Welder is pending. Meanwhile, Granco Clark’s design engineers are presently working with the technology—evaluating speeds, pressure, degrees of rotation and other parameters to enhance performance and process optimization. An independent third-party facility is testing fused billets created by the Spinning Log Welder to validate optimum performance.
The first Spinning Log Welder will be installed at G. James aluminum extrusion plant in Sydney, Australia. A model of efficiency, it’s expected to be in operation in the second quarter of 2009 where it will make history—by making history of two-piece billets!
The Granco Clark Spinning Log Welder.
Patent pending. Design concept by Derek Boden,
G. James Extrusion Co. Pty. Ltd.
*In Memoriam: Derek Boden, 2008
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