TPT May 2011

T ube M ills & R oll F orming M achines

Seam orientation units

RAFTER Equipment Corporation, USA, manufactures welded-seam tube and pipe mills, roll forming machines, cut- off machines, auxiliary and other related tube and pipe mill machinery. Additional services include rebuilding and upgrading mill equipment. With the current economic downturn, Rafter’s efforts have been mainly focused on mill retrofits and upgrades. Over the last few years, the company has developed a simple yet effective accessory for controlling

the location of the weld seam during production on a tube or pipe mill: a seam orientation unit. One example was installed at a prominent North American facility for the production of up to 5.563" (140mm) OD x 0.375" (9.5mm) API line pipe. The seam orientation unit is used to maintain the proper seam location for subsequent online non-destructive testing. The customer reports that [the machine operators] are very happy with the performance of the [unit].

adjustments to the turkshead to correct [for] crooked pipe. The seam orientation unit features remote powered adjustment that allows the operator to control the seam location from a downstream station. This is beneficial, since the effects of the adjustment are not immediately apparent – it takes a few moments for the seam to relocate itself. The seam orientation unit is also useful to producers of hollow structural sections (HSS) for locating the weld seam prior to reshaping the tube into various square and rectangular shapes. Some HSS producers require that the weld seam be located on a corner while others may require it to be located on a flat. Rafter seam orientation units have been successfully installed on smaller laser-weld mills producing austenitic stainless steel tube, as well as larger 10" (250mm) square mills making HSS. Rafter Equipment Corporation – USA Fax: +1 440 572 3703 Email: sales@rafterequipment.com Website: www.rafterequipment.com

According to the cut- off operator, who also operates the turkshead [straightener], once they got it adjusted correctly and it was holding the seam between 11 o’clock and 12 o’clock, they have not produced a single piece of crooked pipe. This is extremely out of the ordinary for [them]. They are usually making frequent

RT-5500S seam orientation unit

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