BendPLUS™ is a first for the pipeline industry, an innovation that will allow contractors to achieve higher productivity and more reliable bending. The technology is proprietary, with a patent pending.

BendPLUS measures and stores exact pin-up and stiff-back location data on an initial model bend. This data is displayed onscreen to the bending machine operator, who is then able to duplicate the model bend perfectly as many times as needed. The operator is able to see 90 per cent of the information he needs on the BendPLUS screen. Bend cycle time is reduced, positioning rods are unnecessary, and human error is virtually eliminated.

“This new technology gives contractors a real advantage,” said Clayton Lawson, General Manager, CRC-Evans Pipeline Equipment Division. “It cuts out the ‘bring up to level die’ step, so with a third fewer steps you can increase the number of bends per day. You’re bending to stored information and not relying on chalk marks on a positioning rod, which makes the process much more reliable.”

BendPLUS (TM) is available as an option on new CRC-Evans bending machines or can be sold to current customers for use on their CRC-Evans bending machines.

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Meanwhile, CRC-Evans Automatic Welding has engineered a tandem welding process that brings faster travel speeds and full digital control to specific field applications. For smaller diameters, shorter pipelines, 2G and 5G, high-strength materials, wall thicknesses that need an odd number of fill passes – a range of applications that once were restricted to single torch welding processes – tandem technology is a cost-effective and highly efficient option.

Tandem technology feeds two wires to a single welding head that elongates the welding pool and is twice the speed of a single wire system. While it is a single head system, it delivers much more than standard single-head productivity. In areas were dual torch is not physically possible or cannot be accommodated within the budget, tandem provides an immediate, cost-effective productivity boost. Teamed with CRC-Evans’ P450 automatic welding machine, the tandem process makes a real difference.

The P450 is the platform for CRC-Evans’ tandem technology. It is small and ideal for 2G and 5G pipelines with diameters under 16 inches, spanning less than 50 km and exotics. The P450 allows full digital control of parameters, position and more, so the job proceeds faster and more accurately to meet QA/QC goals. The tandem process creates a perfect balance between productivity and cost in many applications.