Diamond Products PC1505XL Grinder & Groover Clears a Runway for Takeoff
Published: 28/12, 2023
In a tightly scheduled project in the summer of 2023, a section of runway at Ingolstadt Manching Airport was grooved to improve the drainage of rainwater and prevent aquaplaning. These grooves are precisely defined in terms of width, depth and spacing.
The contractor chose Diamond Products’ new PC1505XL Grinder & Groover for the job. Designed with a 50-in (1,275mm) grinding shaft, the machine is perfect for grooving as well as grinding and bump cutting. Tyrolit BGX-C3 diamond saw blades with a diameter of 11.8 in (300mm) and a segment width of .25 in (6.5mm) were mounted on the grinding shaft of the machine. The specification chosen for this project was. Steel spacers with a width of 1.3 in (33.4mm) were mounted between the saw blades to ultimately ensure the necessary distance between the segments and to keep the groove width at the required distance.
On the grooving shaft of the machine, the cutting blades were mounted in such a way that each 20-ft (6m) field could be processed in five passes, with the grooves reaching up to approximately 6 in (15cm) towards the traverse joints. After a short grinding-in phase of the new saw blades, the feed rate of the machine was increased to 12 39 ft (12 m) per minute. This allowed the entire 710,400-ft2 (66,000m2) section to be ground in just 19 days.
The grinding pattern and the edges of the grooves turned out to be excellent. The powerful machine-integrated extraction system of the PC1505XL extracted almost all concrete slurry produced and the residues were then disposed of in accordance with the regulations.
