Leading bucket manufacturer uses Hardox 500 Tube for two different applications

Photo: Cable Arm redesigned its spreader bar using Hardox 500 tubing. The spreader bar (circled above) is used to connect the holding chains of the bucket, to lower the cable of the crane and to guide the opening cable from the crane to the bucket.

Cable Arm purchased the Hardox tubing for two different applications – to combat corrosion in their cable- operated bucket and for strength in their hydraulically-operated bucket.

Ray Bergeron, Owner and Designer of the Cable Arm buckets, has been recognized worldwide and has received multiple awards for his positive impact within the environmental dredging community. The company uses a unique and innovative bucket design that allows removal of hazardous materials from the waterways while minimizing contaminated sediments from re-entering the water column.

Each bucket is customized to maximize performance within its specific job constraints. The original design for the spreader bar on its cable operated bucket had shafts with hardened steel roller cable guides, but the rollers were prone to binding to the shafts as a result of corrosion from the saltwater environment. Cable Arm was able to redesign the spreader bar to eliminate the shafting entirely, inserting Hardox 500 tubing pieces into the spreader side plates and capping the plates to remove lateral movement while allowing for proper water drainage.

Due to recent demand, Cable Arm has also developed a hydraulically-operated dredging bucket. The company used Hardox 500 tubing for this application as well—this time taking advantage of the strength of the tube to prohibit the sides of the bucket from flexing in or out.

“What makes our product unique is its hardness throughout the thickness of the tube,” says Teemu Toivonen, Manager, Tubes & Sections. “The Hardox tubes are roll-formed welded tubes that are quenched after welding. Through our short time on the market, we have proven its high degree of consistency on mechanical properties as well as straightness and roundness.”

SSAB has been producing Hardox tubes since 2013. “The business is still very young, but sales volume is growing as is the interest,” Toivonen says.

Left: Hardox 500 Tubing used in Cable Arm’s cable-operated environmental bucket. Right: The Hardox Tubing used in the hydraulically-operated dredging bucket.