Eaton Corp. highlighted some new and concept hydraulic hose crimper designs at its annual Eaton Distributor Meeting earlier this month, with three state-of-the-art crimping machines. Coming from a collaborative effort between Eaton and Uniflex, the new machines can improve set-up and operation time so much that you can crimp up to an hours-worth of hoses more a day, said Tom Nash, Regional Sales Manager for Uniflex.
The machines include the ET5040 4-in. crimper, ET5050 6-in. crimper and ET5060 10-in. crimper. ET5040 was launched earlier this year while the other two designs are concepts that Eaton is exploring.
Having learned how to crimp a hose earlier this year, I recognize how important it is to know and use the correct size dies and how changing the dies takes time. Eaton and Uniflex are solving these problems with advanced technologies.
For instance, all three models come preprogrammed with all Eaton crimp specs, so instead of having to refer back to data sheets, all one has to do is enter the type of hose on the touch screen and select the hose and size. In addition, having a fixed die at the bottom and easy to snap-in versus bolt-in dies reduces set-up time for the operator.
“These are all about the operator and how easy it is,” said Nash. “Because you don’t have to bolt the dies in, and you just snap it in, you can change from a 12-in. hose to a ¼-in. hose in about a minute. You can do an hour more of hose crimps a day just with the time-saving dies.”
In addition, all three models are grease-free. In greased crimping machines, specifications are usually different at the end of the day versus the beginning of the day, said Nash. As a result, you lose precision. With the grease-free designs, crimps are consistent throughout the entire day.
All three models are upgradable in the field and the ET5050 and ET5060 are backward compatible with the ET5040 dies.
The ET5040 has a 280-ton crimp force for 2-in. spiral and 6 spiral hoses, 3-in. 2-wire braided hose, and 4-in. industrial hose. Similarly, ET5050 also has a 280-ton crimp force but has a larger crimp range and opening travel and serial production crimping speed. It is designed for 4-in. 2-wire braided and some 6-in. industrial hose. Finally, ET5060 offers a 450-ton crimp force for 2.5-in. 8-spiral, 4-in. 2-wire braided, 10-in. industrial, and 12-in. industrial lay flat hose. This tough design allows users to pass 8-in. 150 lb ANSI flanges through the crimper without die removal.
A training video is included in the programmed data that is accessible via the touch screen.
Eaton Hydraulics
www.eaton.com
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