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Miller Helps Build Lincoln Square
- SuitCase X-TREME 12VS feeder features 425 amp output for more power, enabling Apex Steel to run larger diameter flux cored wires
- Metal deposition rates increase by 10 to 20 percent or more, keeping Apex competitive
- Feeder extremely reliable in construction job site conditions
Customer Testimonial
“The SuitCase X-TREME 12VS is a tool that helps us be more productive. It gives us the versatility to make full penetration welds on columns that are 300- to 400-lbs/ft, as well as make partial penetration welds on columns that are 150- to 200-lbs/ft.”
— Kevin Koester, president and founder, Apex Steel, Inc.
Application
Structural steel erection of a high profile, 29-story building in a Seattle suburb.
Key Business Issue
- Increasing welding productivity to keep pace or exceed the results of competitive contractors.
Challenge
- Increase flux cored welding deposition rates
- Find an “out-of-the-box” portable feeder that runs large diameter E70T-6 and E71T-8 wires
- Finding a feeder/small gas engine drive combination with sufficient output
- Job site reliability
Previous System & Process
- Competitive portable feeders, sled-style feeders and gas engine drives
New Solution
- SuitCase X-TREME 12VS portable feeders paired with Trailblazer 275 DC gas engine drives.
- SuitCase X-TREME 12VS features a rated output of 425 amps at 60 percent duty cycle (competitive feeders have an output of 300 amps at 60 percent duty cycle).
- Trailblazer 275 DC gas engine drives provide a 275-amp output at 100 percent duty cycle, the strongest output in its class.
Results
- 10 - 20% deposition rate increase enables Apex Steel to remain highly competitive as one of the Northwest's premier steel erectors.
- More power to pound wire. "On the Lincoln Square project, we paired the X-TREME feeders with Miller's gas drives (the Trailblazer 275 engine-driven welding generator). They peak out at about 300 amps, which is a lot of power for a small gas drive. We run them pretty hard for welding with 5/64th wire."
—Kevin Koester, president and founder, Apex Steel, Inc. - Excellent job site reliability. "Time is a huge factor. That's where a steel erector can make it or break it as a company. If welding equipment breaks down, that can cause another remobilization of tools, manpower and work preparation at a new location. On a job like this, the labor costs alone are about $85 to $90 per man, per hour. That's why we need to use reliable equipment like the SuitCase X-TREME. They've been used and abused, as have the Miller Trailblazers gas drives. Both are holding up well."
—Kevin Koester, president and founder, Apex Steel, Inc.
