International Flooring Media News, Australia

A Melbourne metal engineering company has employed the power and precision of compact Enerpac 700 bar hydraulics to streamline manufacture of a time and labour-saving range of flooring clamps.

John A.L. Mills and Associates combined its computer-aided metal design and fabrication experience with Enerpac hydraulic tools to produce a custom-fabricated clamp highly suited to countries with a high proportion of houses with wooden floors and decks.

The clamp, including a gap closer as standard, is produced using an RC1010 cylinder located in a pedestal press and powered by a hands-free, pedal-operated PATG 1102N Turbo II air hydraulic pump. The ergonomic hydraulic tools are used to produce an ergonomically designed floor tool with a rotating knob on its operating clamp that gives greater comfort in use, ease of operation and added safety by replacing a steel protuberance on earlier models.

“Drawing on commercial builder and private user experience, we have employed hydraulics to cost-efficiently manufacture a flooring clamp that is much faster and less onerous than manual means,” says John A.L. Mills and Associates’ Director Mr John Mills.

The clamp grips the joists and spacers to align the planks – providing drainage gap where required - while the gap closer positions the planks close to the wall.

“It’s a very neat solution to an old problem, engineered using simple but precise hydraulic force,” says Mr Mills.

Using high-pressure 700 bar technology to reduce cylinder weight and size while maximising compact power, the high-strength alloy steel RC cylinders in capacities of 5-95 tons are part of an Enerpac range of safety-oriented, energy saving and labour-saving technologies.

John A.L. Mills and Associates’ 10-ton RC 1010 cylinder is safely and remotely actuated by the treadle-operated pump that leaves the operators’ hands free for any necessary adjustments, says Mr Mills.

Mr Mills and his son Laurence use a vee-block and ram to bend three of the flooring clamp’s components, employing Enerpac hydraulics because of the high force needed for the job and fine control the hydraulics gives them.

“We also use the ram and fixture to drive in spring-pins that hold key sub-assemblies together. This is far superior to driving the pins in by hand, as the power and control of the Enerpac cylinder minimises damage to the powder-coated body,” said Mr Mills.

“We also use Enerpac hydraulic power to stake our thumbscrews together, to crush the tube used on the floor clamp handles prior to fabrication, to bend the rod for the actuator screw, and to stamp our name on certain components for branding.

“Each of these operations demonstrates ways in which we have used Enerpac technology to achieve cost-efficient manufacture, been able to do more of the work in-house, and ensure the quality of our product is of a consistently high standard.

“We have been building earlier models of the clamps for over seven years, and we are always looking for ways to improve the product, both from the point of view of the user and the manufacturer.

“Enerpac has increased our capabilities whilst enabling us to stabilise prices, maintain profitability and improve productivity through smarter manufacture,” said Mr Mills, who’s flooring clamps are employed nationally on timber joists, concrete slabs, chipboard, and with secret nailing.

Enerpac’s single-acting general purpose RC cylinders and new RC Duo cylinders are a ubiquitous workhorse of Australian industry because of their combination of compact power and rugged versatility.

Available in 39 models with strokes from 16-362mm, the cylinders are part of a comprehensive range of high-pressure (700 bar) cylinders trusted in Australasia for more than 50 years.

The RC and RC Duo range – part of a broader Enerpac cylinder range in capacities exceeding 1,000 tons – is complemented by a broad range of advanced pumping technologies from Enerpac, ranging from simple portable hand pumps and versatile battery pumps to new generation electric and air-over-hydraulic technologies. These include cool-running and energy-saving ZU4T  electric pumps and new generation 700 bar XVARI ® XA air-over-hydraulic foot pumps which enable finer and safer control of tasks while completing jobs up to twice as quickly as conventional pumps.

John Mills can be contacted
T: 61 412 426 096
Fax: 61-3-9569 6164
E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.johnmillsengineering.com.au

Enerpac can be contacted internationally through
www.enerpac.com