Chicago Pneumatic has launched a new nutrunner that offers high power, low maintenance and almost no vibration in the toughest environments. Weighing as little as 8.3 lb and equipped with a sturdy stabilizing arm to aid operator comfort, the CP66 is perfect for flange-related and other bolting applications in wind energy and power generation tasks. It also provides a more durable, powerful, and safer alternative to an impact wrench in remanufacturing, maintenance, repair and overhaul operations within the mining, off-road and heavy-truck sectors.
A wind turbine manufacturer (not pictured) needed to improve its build rate from five hubs per week to eight hubs per week. This may sound simple, but each hub has 240 individual bolts. Increasing productivity by 60% without loss of accuracy and quality was therefore a real challenge.
With models capable of delivering 1,300, 2,600 or 4,100 Nm (960, 1,900 or 3,100 lb-ft), the CP66 is a compact and powerful nutrunner that will deliver exactly the right amount of torque to tighten or loosen bolts time after time. Models in the range are available to deal with bolts ranging from 20mm to 45mm (¾ to 1¾-in.). The CP66 will also keep going for longer, with maintenance required on average every 13,000 cycles, rather than the typical 10,000 cycles of comparable tools. Delivering an accuracy of +/- 5%, the CP66 can be used with an ATC (Air Torque Control) FRL Pack, which enables extremely fine pressure adjustment and gives a visual indication of any pressure drops in the customer’s air network, letting the operator detect any tightening errors.
The CP66 has also been designed with operator safety in mind. Lightweight and easy to handle, it operates with little vibration and with much lower noise levels than an impact wrench. The nutrunner operates at about 86 to 88 dB compared to an average impact wrench at 105 dB. Its strong, light weight (SLW) reaction bar is extremely durable and absorbs the torque delivered by the nutrunner’s powerful but compact gearbox, as well as stabilizing the tool and distributing its weight during operation. All of these features are incorporated to reduce operator fatigue and avoid the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) while delivering optimum performance.
Chicago Pneumatic is confident that the CP66 delivers major benefits because it has tested the new nutrunner in customer conditions during several trials.
The most powerful model, the CP6641, was given a one-month trial at a wind turbine hub assembly plant. Due to customer demand, the wind turbine manufacturer needed to improve its build rate from five hubs per week to eight hubs per week. This may sound simple, but each hub has 240 individual bolts. Increasing productivity by 60% without loss of accuracy and quality was a real challenge.
During the trial, the wind turbine assembly team replaced their existing impact wrench and nutrunner with a new CP6641 nutrunner. The results were positive, with operators reporting a more consistent performance. They also found the CP66 reaction bar, which is made of steel, a much better option than the competitor version made from a soft metal.
A second trial saw the CP6641 applied to railroad maintenance. The poor performance of previous hydraulic tools had led the maintenance team to decide they would not use torque-controlled tools, so this was a tough nut to crack in more ways than one! However, they really liked the CP6641 nutrunner because it could remove the toughest bolts and access some hard-to-reach areas. This was a marked improvement over competitor tools, which were having failures after one week of use and were not able to remove all bolts.
Commenting on this positive feedback, Christophe Roland, Very High Load Product Marketing Manager of Chicago Pneumatic, says: “We wanted to offer customers an alternative to using impact wrenches for bolting applications, as well as improving performance, safety and precision. The CP66 not only looks good on paper, we know from the customer trials that it really does deliver improvements in performance, durability and operator satisfaction – not only when compared to impact wrenches, but to other nutrunners on the market.”
The CP66 is supplied as standard with an S-type bolt head. Optional alternatives include a sliding drive, a steel space bar, and a square bracket.
For more information on the new CP66 nutrunner, visit www.cp.com.
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