Redtrax is remotely controlled by operator wearing ergonomically designed body harness with suspended control console
Redpath Raiseboring Ltd., a member of the North Bay-based Redpath Group, has unveiled the Redtrax, an innovative carrier designed to transport and set up raisedrills on customer sites.
The Redtrax eliminates dependence on customer equipment such as telehandlers, forklifts and load-haul-dump machines, which are currently used to transport and set up raisedrills.
“With the Redtrax unit we’re not taking customer equipment out of service and we do away with scheduling issues,” said Bryan Maille, a Redpath Raiseboring supervisor.
A purpose built machine, the Redtrax is operated wirelessly by remote control.
The operator standing behind or off to the side of the unit wears an ergonomic body harness with a suspended control console.
The harness keeps the operator’s hands free to operate the controls.
The unit is designed with several safety features. If the operator trips or falls, or if the unit is tipped out of a preset degree window, it automatically stops and shuts down.
“Because we work in the Arctic, the Gobi Desert, Chile, South Africa and all over, we also had to design it to operate on all different types of terrain,” said Maille. “It had to have clearances underneath it, it had to have the weight per square inch to operate over softer soils and it had to have traction to be able to go up and down hills, so it’s a very durable all-terrain vehicle.”
The Redtrax can also be equipped with urethane track insets on civil jobs to keep the steel tracks from damaging concrete and asphalt surfaces.
Redpath Raiseboring designed and engineered the Redtrax in-house at its facility in North Bay and plans to ship eight units this year to destinations around the world with additional units planned for 2016. Components are supplied and manufactured locally, but all of the assembly is done in-house.
The current model accommodates the Redbore 30, 40, 50 and 70 raisedrills, with other models on the drawing board for the remainder of the Redbore fleet.
“The Redtrax allows us to operate independently on customer sites, so they’re not incurring extra expenses when they hire us,” said Maille. “We can go in, stand it up, drill the hole and leave. We don’t have to use any customer equipment and scheduling is more efficient.”
Redpath Raiseboring currently has a fleet of 37 raisedrills with several additional units on the assembly line.
