Rod McCallum, Komatsu Australia`s Sales and Business Development Manager - GET, looks at the latest developments in "hammerless" GET tooth systems.
Changing or rotating the teeth on a loader`s or excavator`s GET system has traditionally been a tedious, time-consuming and frequently dangerous task.
Typically the pin-on type teeth require the use of a punch or other tool, combined with a heavy duty sledge hammer to bash through the pins in order to free the teeth.
Wear and tear during digging and excavation means that the locking devices/pins are often burred, or they are seized in, making the task even more difficult.
Bashing away at the pins means there is a risk of eye or skin injury from flying chips of metal, severe hand or finger injuries when holding the punch in place, or injured feet or shins if the hammer should glance off the bucket or tool.
In addition, the tedious and potentially dangerous nature of the task means that operators -- who are frequently supposed to inspect teeth, and rotate or change them before they wear to the adaptors -- are often reluctant to do the job as often as they should.
Leaving a tooth too long before rotating or replacing it, increases the risk of it wearing through to the adaptor, resulting in reduced tooth and adapter life and the significantly greater expense of cutting off the adaptor unit and replacing it.
However, safer and easier-to-use options have recently come onto the market, eliminating the need for hammering away at stubborn pins to free them.
One such design is Hensley`s XS "hammerless" system, which completely eliminates the need to hammer at pins to free teeth from adaptors.
Instead, a simple reusable locking pin is used, which can be engaged/disengaged using a standard off-the-shelf socket set.
A 90ø turn of the cam on the locking pin locks the tooth in place on the adaptor; turning the cam 90ø in the opposite direction frees the pin, and allows the tooth to be quickly and easily removed for replacement or turning.
Tips on a standard 2 cu m loader bucket with, say, eight teeth, can be turned in about one minute by the machine operator, with no outside assistance.
The risk of injury to eyes, hands, legs and feet are eliminated, and there`s no need to wait for the fitter truck to come by to change or turn tips.
Features of Hensley`s XS hammerless system include:
-- Reusable pins
-- Reversible teeth
-- Reduced throwaway mass compared with traditional systems
-- Faster tooth changeover
-- Streamlined tooth and adaptor combinations.
Komatsu Australia`s network of customer support sales representatives are available to carry out complete bucket inspections and provide quotes on conversions to a hammerless system.