The Agru SP110 Machine is a Hit
Castle Oils have had a recent campaign of PP pipe installs on high-abrasion and high-corrosion lines, both of which suit PolyPropylene pipe well.
So much so that their Ilkeston team booked training with IPS, and they did some self-training at the Stoke branch using a couple of different machines but found the SG160 IPS supplied to be a very capable and easy to use machine.
Chris Lowery Castle Oils Site Manager said "We would undoubtedly hire the machine again"
The Castle group MD Rob Cowley was so pleased with the work by Chris and his team at Stoke he emailed their other directors in the group describing the work done with the parts and equipment that IPS supplied; this directly resulted in training being requested from IPS for their Ilkeston maintenance team, and no doubt, future equipment hire and parts purchase.
Email from Castle group MD to their other directors
"I thought it would be worth sharing our recent experience of polypropylene welding with you. It may be that you want to consider going down this route in the future rather than the more expensive option.
I have attached a few pictures of the equipment that we hired plus some of the joints that were produced for reference."
"At the start of the year we identified 3 pipe runs that we wanted to fabricate in polypropylene – 1 each in 4”, 3” and 1 1/2”. As {our usual suppliers} were unavailable we looked to source an in-house solution"
"In the end we hired a socket fusion welder and a butt fusion welder from {another supplier}, Chris conducted an internet search and found some data on PP welding standards and we took some advice from IPS (along with an order for a variety of pipe and fittings). IPS said that they would provide training to use their welder if we needed it but most people didn’t actually need this – due to COVID restrictions we would have needed to send staff to the North East for a day’s course so we decided that we would proceed without."
"With a bit of practice it was fairly simple to use and the joints ended up being really good to look at. We have carried out basic testing on the line and all appears good with it".
"The butt fusion welder was used for some test pieces and some small replacement sections".
"More recently we hired a butt fusion welder from IPS (£250 per week) which is shown in the attached pics. This was a more complete combination of equipment and tools than was available from {user supplier}. It was used to produce the joints shown in the pictures".
"Chris and Andy Williams (our fitter) worked to the welding standards that Chris found online and produced a run in 4” to feed Press 2 – a run of around 20m including a 5m lift, and a new install of an acid wash system in 3” – a run of around 40m including a 5m lift".
"All-in-all we are really pleased with the end result. Chris and Andy did a really tidy job on all 3 of our installations and it only needed a few sections fabricating"
As always IPS Flow Systems - not only offering the products required, but also the training, tools, expertise and guidance throughout!
IPS have a clear focus to be the Number One partner for our Customers, Suppliers and our People.
