Russian aluminium smelter gets thimble press from VHE

VHE of Iceland has installed a thimble press at Rusal's Sayanogorsk smelter as part of a development process line in the rodding plant.

The VHE Stimir thimble press is an hydraulically powered compact unit and is able to exert up to 200 tonnes of dynamic force to remove single thimbles from the yoke assembly.

In the Sayanogorsk installation the rod assembly is suspended from an overhead crane and each stub in turn is guided into the press. Operation is by manual pushbutton and the thimble stripper is able to strip thimbles from two different designs of yoke. The design is easily modified for automatic processing of rod assemblies traveling in an overhead conveyor.