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Weyerhaeuser Australia upgrades

National Forest & Timber, October 2001

Recently the Weyerhaeuser Australian Tumut Sawmill upgraded the 30 year old carriage and bandmill on its large diameter (40cm+) log line by having Southern Cross Engineering install a new CAE log carriage and a new McDonough 72 inch high strain headrig bandmill. The carriage is similar to the Dartmoor Carriage except that it has the latest INOVEC StereoScan scanning system.

"The upgrade was a turn key project for Southern Cross Engineering and the 30 day, 12 hours/day installation was done with business as usual for the rest of the sawmill with the small log line running. The commissioning date was August 4 and the volume throughout has been up to expectations," said Peter Annetts, Project Manager, Weyerhaeuser. "The new installation is running very well and we are very happy with the job done by SCE which was very particular on detail.

"The reasons for change were to improve recovery and efficiency and to put Weyerhaeuser in position to double the production through the large log line to utilise the existing resource better.

The project was awarded to Southern Cross Engineering in January 2001 and Paul Scott, Project Engineer for SCE engineered the job and supervised the on site work completing the commissioning and configuration of parameters on site with help from INOVEC technical staff from the US

"The INOVEC - 3D Scanning system - StereoScan is the first of these on a log carriage in New Zealand and Australia. This new INOVEC product has been developed over the past three years and sales in the US have skyrocketed. This new technology can be retrofitted to the clients existing INOVEC installations as an upgrade with retention of existing hardware and software," said Paul Scott of SCE.

"Southern Cross did the concept design for Tumut and we were able to improve the overall layout with a repositioned bandmill, a shift for the log infeed towards the slabber and elimination of dead travel from each pass of the carriage. The improved cycle time of the carriage makes breaking down of the logs much more effective," said Paul Scott.

"There is a new hydrostatic drive feed works winch (SCE design) new rail supports and hydraulic end buffers on the rails. As well a building the CAE carriage under licence in New Zealand there is an operator's cabin and upgraded log loading and turning system, which were built by various Australian engineering firms.

"The operator's cabin was built by VandenHurk Engineering in Mount Gambier while the support steel for the machine centres was fabricated by Tumut Metaland, who also assisted SCE with the site installation.

Hindmarsh and Roddy, another Tumut engineering firm built the walkways and handrails as part of the contract for Southern Cross. This work was all very successful and of a high standard of workmanship.

"The new cabin gives the operator a view of the logs as they travel from the log loading and scanning area through the bandmill, and then as boards or cants all the way down the rollcase to the final destination."

"The existing concrete foundations were too high and these had to be cut down to provide a new base for the equipment. Another local firm Gillespie & Tout with the help of ConCut removed this excess 150mm in just three days to prepare the site."

"The electronic and electrical installations for the setworks and scanning system were done by an INOVEC trained technician from New Zealand, and the MCC and associated electrical wiring was done by Weyerhaeuser's Michael Caddis," said Paul Scott.

"Part of the electrical installation is a "state of the art" machine centre isolation system. This system senses motion and energy and the area is sealed with an electronic lock which will not open until all motion ceases and there is zero energy within the area. This was installed by Weyerhaeuser as a part of our overall safety programme,” said Peter Annetts.

"Overall the installation was a great team effort between our client Weyerhaeuser, subcontractors and our own Southern Cross installation and commissioning team,” said Paul Scott. "At times we had to remove the roof sections to install equipment with a large crane. As the work commenced in early July, we had to replace the roof each night to protect the areas against weather and cold.

"As well as the installation SCE was on site for two weeks after commissioning to provide operator training, introduction and training on maintenance requirements. The INOVEC technician was on site for the two weeks after commissioning for the training of Weyerhaeuser personnel in the use of the Stereo Scanner. It is Southern Cross policy to always train our client's staff on the correct and safe operation and maintenance of newly installed equipment, prior to the final hand over," said Paul Scott of SCE.

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