Vicon Corner Machine—Dual Head

/ Sheet Metal Forming Machinery / By /

Vicon Corner Machine—Dual Head

TDC/TDF is rollformed on the duct wall in the fab shop; if a shop has a full wrap coil line, they are able to produce fully formed duct sections more efficiently—almost fully automated.  The reason we say “almost” is because there are two major operations that even a Full Wrap Coil Line cannot do: closing the longitudinal seam and inserting the connecting corners.  Some shops will spend well over $700K on a Fully Automated HVAC Line but they will forgo the additional $80K investment in automating the Pittsburgh Seam Closing and Corner Insertion, creating an instant bottleneck in a shop that produces straight duct sections faster than the shop is able to complete these last two steps.

Since TDC/TDF is formed onto the sheet itself by the contractor, the only materials needed to finish the connection are the corners, gasketing, and 6″ cleat (which secures the connections in the middle).  The most labor intensive of these is the installation of the corners, because most fab shops still do it the old school method: knocking them in with a hammer.  That’s a lot of hammering if you consider that a piece of rectangular duct has eight corners to knock in; it has four “corners” and each “corner” requires two TDC/TDF corners to mate the ends together.

Getting to here…

…requires more than this…

 

To go fully automated (when it comes to straight duct sections) consider these two additional machines as a requirement—one closes Pittsburgh Lock and  the other crimps and secures the corners. A Dual Head Corner machine will do these 8 corners (4 on each end) in approximately 1 minute vs 5 to 10 minutes hammering in and over manually.  Many shops will tell you that the most labor intensive of these two is the installation of the corners—knocking them in manually; that’s a lot of hammering if you consider that a section of rectangular duct (straight duct) has 8 Corners to knock in.

Knocking in and crimping the in the 8 corners in each TDC or TDF section of duct is a bottleneck in Duct Fab shop 

The Dual Head Corner Machine won’t work on fittings, but since the typical duct job is 70% straight duct runs / 30% fittings, there are a lot more corners to knock in and over on straight duct anyway.  

Vicon Dual Head Corner Insertion Machine

 

Machine inserts two corners at a time—one at the top, one at the bottom

A Dual Head Corner machine like the Vicon or IPI will do this in approximately 1-2 minutes based on our feedback.  The estimate from most shops is that it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to do this manually.

Works on Full Wrap Duct

 

Works on L Section Duct

For optimum workflow, shops with Coil Lines will position these two machines at the exit station of the line

Here’s where the Dual Head Corner machine really shines: inserting and securing the eight corners required in these straight Duct Sections by means of any method OTHER than a Dual Head Corner Machine would have added a lot more labor to the Fabrication time

Vicon Dual Head Corner Insertion Machine

Dual Head Corner Machine

  • 26 to 16 gauge capacity
  • Minimum straight duct length 32”
  • Maximum straight duct length 56”
  • Heavy duty tubular frame structure design
  • No tools required for changing duct lengths
  • Available tooling for T25-a or T25-b corners
  • Duct connector types TDX®, TDC®, TDF®
  • Compatible with most brands of stackable corners
  • Auto or manual control functions
  • Top and bottom head can be operated independently
  • Low corner quantity alarm sensor eliminates crimping without the corner
  • Built in quick leveling system for easy installation
  • Easy removable access covers for maintenance and cleaning
  • Voltage 110/1/60 Hz
  • Air requirement: 100 PSI
  • Optional six foot (6’) capacity machine available upon request
  • Pit dimensions provided upon request