Constructionshows
Alongside celebrating its 20th Anniversary at Hillhead, Hill Engineering launched two new products at the show – the new TEFRA Tilt Coupler and the new TiltRotate which made its world-debut at the event. The stand was exceptionally busy with some significant deals being closed across all three days! Hill reported that customer feedback was exceptional, with more than 40% of company enquiries being for the new TEFRA Tilt and TiltRotate.
Hill sold one TEFRA Tilt to RJ McKelvey Building and Civil Engineering Contractors based in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Hill is also close to sealing several deals with plant hire and sports turf companies.
The new TiltRotate was not for sale at the show, but Hill has got seven requests for demonstrations of this unit once it’s available. Mike Roby, Hill Engineering sales director said “The TiltRotate proved very popular, and once we have completed more field testing, we should enter this market with some momentum following the show.”
Mike added, “Hillhead was an excellent show for us and we noticed a real step change in confidence from two years ago. People are now willing to make that commitment on large fleet deals whereas two years ago they may have held back.”
Deals done!!
Hather Plant Hire bought 25 TEFRA couplers to go with a deal for over £1m with Case, CAT and Kubota. Cautrac did a deal for Ten TEFRA couplers for their CAT 308E models and Civil Engineering Company; D Morgan did a deal for £3.5m of new equipment and specified the award winning Hill TEFRA hitch and buckets on all their excavators!
So all in all Hillhead was a complete success for Hill Engineering – the next big show for Hill will be Plantworx 2015 at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, Leicestershire 2nd – 4th June 2015…. Put the dates in the diary.
About the New TEFRA Tilt Coupler…
The new TEFRA Tilt Coupler product takes all the advantages of the award winning TEFRA Coupler, and Hill says it provides its customers with the added benefit of increased productivity and versatility in multiple applications. The attachment will be available for machines sizes ranging from 7-55 tonne, and like the TEFRA Coupler, it’s been specifically designed to be almost maintenance free and is fully compliant with the proposed new global safety standard ISO 13031 expected later this year.
The heavy duty motor is self-lubricating and there is no requirement to grease the tilt mechanism. Additional to this, Hill has reduced potential wear items so it says users have peace of mind regarding any wear on pins or bushes.
The new TEFRA Tilt Coupler boasts advance technology from German manufacturers HKS, Hill Engineering purchase all its parts from HKS (with the exception of the Coupler of course!). Power Actuator XtraTilt is the magic behind Hill’s new attachment. The robust design of the individual components of the Xtra Tilt, made from high strength, surface hardened materials, allows rotation almost without play, even after prolonged operation.
The swivel mechanism of the Power Actuators is based on the coarse thread principle. The linear movement of the piston, when pressure is applied, is converted by multiple opposing coarse threads on the housing, piston and shaft to a powerful rotary movement. If the hydraulic circuit is closed by the adjusting valve, which at the same time prevents movement of the piston and shaft, the attached coupler remains in any required working position!
About the new TiltRotate…
The system supports hydraulic excavators with two new functions: The shovel is able to rotate continually and can tilt up to 110°, 55° in both directions – this enables the operator to open up new areas of operation. The operator does not have to shut the excavator as often because the flexibility of the TiltRotate and the radius of action are increased significantly. These operations are likely to increase productivity and save time and money, say Hill! Maximum benefit can be derived from this new attachment, particularly in track laying, because the freedom of movement of 2-way excavators is very limited.
Hill also report that a major technical advantage which the TiltRotate offers, compared to other manufacturers, is its cylinder-less construction, the compact XtraTilt Power Actuator replaces the wider cylinder variant, liable to faults, with a maximum of +45° tilt angle. Because of the slightly higher structure of the TiltRotate the excavator loses relatively little in terms of breakout and ripping power.
For normal use in the garden and landscaping sector, road building etc the breakout power is not as important, however, if very high breakout and ripping forces are required, TiltRotate can be broken down into individual modules or can also be used as a sandwich solution.
Source: Hill Engineering
