Four Tees, specialists in structural fabrication tell us why they recently invested in the CG 15 Grinder.
About the company
Having established Four Tees Engineers as a specialist steelwork fabricator in 1982 we have expanded our services to offer an end-to-end operation. This expertise spans design, detailing and fabrication, to site assembly and installation.
FTE provides and repairs metallic structures in the rail, highways, marine engineering and water treatment sectors. We offer practical solutions to engineering challenges – making excellent project performance repeatable and consistent.
The Challenge
Four tees operators needed a heavy duty grinder that could be used extensively, on a daily basis. All their steel work needed to be finished to P3 standard – removing all rust and mill scale from the metal surface in preparation for painting. As such they needed a grinder that could cope with the heavy demands of their workload.
The company’s Health & Safety director, Craig Wilkinson, was also very concerned about the exposure to HAVS for the company’s operators, and monitors their grinders regularly, subjecting them to vigorous testing. Having worked with a number of competitor grinders in the past, the company had found they were unreliable and were beginning to show wearing within the first few months of the operators using them.
They needed a grinder that could cope with the heavy workload and being used for multiple hours daily, as well as significantly reduce their exposure to HAVS levels.
The Solution
One of our technical experts alongside our metalworking partner, Rapid Welding, recently visited Four Tees and spoke to Craig to gain a better understanding of how they used grinders within their business and to better understand the applications they were performing. It was during one of these visits, that our technical expert recommended the CG 15 grinder.
The CG 15 Grinder, boasts a fully enclosed brushless FEIN Powerdrive Motor. It also allows for up to 2.5x more removal compared to grinders with universal brushed motors, removing the need for carbon brush changes and eliminating the common issues surrounding damage to brushes, brush holders and commutators. The CG 15 also boasts extensive safety features including a 0.2 second brake feature, overload protection and advanced kickback monitoring as well as significant reduction in HAV’s meaning it can be used for prolonged amounts of time.
The Benefits
- Reduction in HAVS – Having gone through the company’s testing methods alongside previous grinders they had used, the CG 15 outperformed when it came to reducing HAVS levels
- Prolonged Use – Reduction in HAVS levels meant that the operators at Four Tees could use the CG 15 for longer than the previous grinder, 9.32 hours compared to only 2.25 hours for the previous grinder
- Operator Handling – One of the operators at Four Tees is an apprentice who is really concerned about Health & Safety and liked the CG 15 for all the safety features it boasts. Another senior operator, who suffers from RSI in his wrists and fingers due to using grinding tools for years and sometimes struggles now to hold them, said the CG 15 was much easier and more comfortable to work with – and found virtually no vibration.
- Added Value – Four Tees use anything up to 4000 grinding discs and have found that FEIN’s own brand of grinding wheels (125mm (5”) Flap Wheels) not only generated the lowest HAV’s levels but also outlasted other brands meaning less downtime to switch discs over and greater value for money.
Speaking about the partnership, Chris Wilkinson said ‘Here at Four Tees, our demanding workload calls for an equally demanding grinder and I am always conscious about how we can keep our operators safety when using grinders for prolonged use of time. When I was recommended the CG 15 grinder, I was informed that it could potentially reduce HAV’s levels and I was keen to get a closer look and consider this. We tested the grinder using our Havocs Hisense system and were so impressed with the results it generated, not only increasing our efficiency and productivity, but most importantly the reduction in HAVS levels compared to competitor grinders we had used previously’.
Kevin Bridges, our technical expert at FEIN added ‘It was great to visit Four Tees Engineering and learn about their application needs. When a new product like the CG 15 comes onto the market, we learn about its capabilities but it is only when it is used in a company like Four Tees, that are using them constantly on a daily basis, that you really get an understanding of these capabilities and see the product being put through its paces. I’m always pleased when I can recommend a product to a company and see it genuinely make a difference to the operators day-to-day work and receive such high praise and feedback’.
