Don Stunkel is the Training Coordinator at the Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Union, Local 501 in Aurora, IL and he has discovered an interesting way to save time and money as he trains apprentices in the art and science of pipe welding. Don and his team went to the AWS trade show in 2010 and met Wayne Moncla of MSI. MSI showed Don and his team the latest technology for automatically beveling a pipe end.
This proved to b
e a very important discovery for Don in that it allowed him to automate the production of test pipe coupons for his students to use to practice welding. The apprentice program lasts 5 years with the welders actually welding up to 275 hours requiring the production of a whole lot of test pipe coupons. Previously the coupons had been made by using an oxygen fuel cutter with a rotating jig fixture. This process was time consuming and made relatively poor quality edges for his students to bevel, requiring more weld prep time and less weld instruction time for the students.
Enter the MSI C8H Chamfermate automated pipe beveler. Since purchasing the C8H from MSI Don has seen a tremendous increase in test coupon quality with cleaner edges, while producing the pipe bevel samples in far less time for significantly less money. Don states that, "not only is our quality much improved but the time to make them has decreased. Our students now have much better samples to work from and it helps us educate them on how to properly weld a beveled pipe".
The C8H Chamfermate from MSI bevels a variety of test coupons made from carbon steel ranging in diameter from 2" to 8" and in schedule, or wall thickness, from 0.218" to 0.436". The students weld two test coupons together either by SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) or stick welding, GTAW (Gas Tungsten Arc Welding) or TIG welding, and GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) or MIG welding. Each coupon has a 37.5 degree facing bevel for optimal weld strength.
Mr. Stunkel states that, "th
e MSI C8H Chamfermate has been invaluable to us as we try to make our operations more efficient and keep our costs in line. We expect this machine to pay for itself in saved time, pipe, and gases for oxygen/fuel cutting tools in under 2 years. This has been a great investment for us."
MSI is located in Beaumont, TX and builds chamfering and pipe beveling machines, marking equipment, bar shears, nut assembly tables, cylindrical parts feeders, bolt cross drills, and bolt shortening tools and services an international customer base in a variety of industries.
