Minnesota Elevator Reduces Hours-Long Service Visit to Just Minutes with Dillon Quick Balance Tension Meter

Minnesota Elevator Reduces Hours-Long Service Visit to Just Minutes with Dillon Quick Balance Tension Meter

Minnesota Elevator, Inc. (MEI), based in Mankato, Minnesota, has nearly four decades of experience in designing, manufacturing and servicing elevators for both commercial and industrial installations. The company specializes in custom elevator designs/manufacturing, as well as maintenance and modernizations for a variety of customers including property management companies, schools, hospitals and other institutions to support infrastructure expansions, meet new building codes or to help them solve any of their vertical transportation needs.

In addition to these projects, the company maintains and services numerous traction elevators annually to ensure each operates properly and wire rope tension is well balanced. This process used to be an arduous task for elevator service technicians.

“Each elevator car is suspended by anywhere from three to 10 wire ropes, and each wire rope must bear an equal load,” said Ron Romnes, Vice-President of Field Operations at MEI. “If one wire rope is doing more work than the others, it causes irregular wear, as well as a more inconsistent ride for customers.”

To test wire rope tension using standard equipment, it would take a service technician approximately one hour to tension the wire ropes with a spring-type scale, requiring a “trial-and-error” process to ensure each was tensioned equally. For elevator modifications, the process became more complex, as MEI personnel needed to weigh the elevator car before and after modifications took place to ensure the elevator still bore a suitable load-defined as no more than a 5 percent increase in gross load.

“In these instances, our crews would need to shut the elevator down and hoist the car onto a crane scale to determine the weight of the elevator,” Romnes said. “This was a time-consuming process, taking more than two hours, excluding travel time. Upon completion of the elevator modifications, the entire process would have to be repeated. It was an inconvenience to our customers as well as a substantial labor cost for us.”

To expedite the process of gathering individual wire rope tension data and overall elevator weight, MEI selected the Quick Balance Tension Meter by Dillon Force Measurement. Quick Balance safely and efficiently measures wire rope tension and compares it to target settings for each wire rope stored within the device’s memory. It also totalizes the collected measurements to yield the full elevator weight.

“The Quick Balance Tension Meter clamps onto each individual wire rope and determines the force rating, or wire rope tension,” said Wayne Wille, area sales manager for Dillon. “Quick Balance only requires one person to operate, and it can be attached, measure the force rating and be detached in seconds.”

During this process, Quick Balance collects and displays the force ratings for each wire rope, allowing the service technician to quickly compare tension readings and determine which require adjustment. With the device’s totalizer, a single technician can check wire rope tension and determine overall elevator weight in minutes, all without requiring manual documentation or conversion charts.

Along with these savings, Romnes said MEI has been able to optimize their customer visits by integrating wire rope checks into tasks such as surveying.

“When we modernize an elevator, we send a salesperson to survey the elevator shaft and note its measurements, as well as any other factors we’ll need to account for during the modernization process,” Romnes said. “Our salesperson can easily use the Quick Balance to not only gather overall elevator weight but also get a measurement of the counterweights. By taking a few extra minutes during the initial visit, we are able to minimize elevator downtime for our customers and maximize field time for our sales and service teams.”

Once the modifications are made, a single technician can measure both the elevator and its counterweights, to verify that both are in the correct ratio with one another-and therefore ensure proper operation.

“Quick Balance has resulted in a substantial time and cost savings for us,” Romnes said. “What used to be a two-and-a-half hour operation for two of our technicians now takes one person less than five minutes.”

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Minnesota Elevator Reduces Hours-Long Service Visit to Just Minutes with Dillon Quick Balance Tension Meter

Dillon Quick-Check Provides Accuracy and Speed when Installing Cable Barrier Systems

Dillon Quick-Check Provides Accuracy and Speed when Installing Cable Barrier Systems

As a leading provider of high-tension cable barrier systems, Gibraltar Cable Barrier Systems, L.P requires a quick, reliable and above all accurate method of checking the tension on the cables they supply. The aptly named Quick-Check tension meter from Dillon does just that, providing assurance that the systems designed to contain and re-direct vehicles from road hazards are properly tensioned at all times.

Since 2005 Gibraltar has supplied over 13 million linear feet of cable in North America alone, which equates to 45 million feet of cables that are currently being monitored and tensioned using Dillon Quick-Check tension meters each year. Jay Winn, Technical Specialist at Gibraltar said “We have always recommended a Dillon Quick-Check because the product is so good and simple to use”.

Cable Barriers are erected to prevent a vehicle that leaves the road from heading into oncoming traffic or hitting other fixed objects or terrains along the roadside. The barriers absorb the impact via the cable system either stopping the vehicle or redirecting it post-impact. It is crucial that the cables are at the correct tension in order to take the force of the impact and assure performance.

Seasonal fluctuations in temperature can affect the cable tension so an annual check of tension cables is recommended by Gibraltar as per the manufacturer’s guidelines. The cables can sag if the right tension is not applied. The cables must also be checked each time a collision with the barrier occurs. The cable tension is measured to be within a tolerance of + or – 10% of design tension specifications

Time spent on site can be reduced due to the ease of use and the speed of the Dillon Quick-Check system which saves time and money as little training is required. Jay Winn, Gibraltar Technical Specialist says “The Dillon Quick-Check makes checking the cable tension simple. Once Dillon has set up the tension meter, all the DOT (Department of Transportation) / Contractor needs to do is turn the meter on, place it on the cable and take the tension reading. It’s very important that the job can be completed quickly so that the DOT / Contractor personnel spends less time in an area of danger at the side of the road.”

Either the DOT / Contractor will look after the upkeep of the barrier system, including ensuring the tension meter is calibrated on an annual basis in line with Dillon manufacturer guidelines. Bryan Hoefling, Gibraltar Technical Specialist, said “Our sales team, DOT and Contractors are very pleased at how quickly the Quick-Check tension meters are re-calibrated by Dillon and at how streamlined the process is”.

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Dillon Quick-Check Provides Accuracy and Speed when Installing Cable Barrier Systems

Dillon Quick-Check Used for 50th Africa Games

Dillon Quick-Check Used for 50th Africa Games

Dillon Quick-Check was recently used in the preparations for the 50th Africa Games. Held in Brazzaville, Congo in September 2016, the Games included spectacular visual displays involving a giant cube in the center of the stadium.

The giant cube was held in place with dozens of wires that needed to be tensioned correctly and contractor CATS Engineering selected the Dillon Quick-Check to help achieve this.

Interestingly, the Quick Check measured wire rope tensions very accurately compared to a Dynamometer with the added advantage of taking just a few seconds rather than several minutes.

Thomas Loriaux, CEO of CATS Engineering said, “Our experience with using this Dillon product on site was great. It provided accuracy, efficiency and weather resistance. On-site calibration with local products and condition went perfectly.”

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Dillon Quick-Check Used for 50th Africa Games

Branat Construction Use Dillon Quick Check to Ensure Cell Tower Safety

Branat Construction Use Dillon Quick Check to Ensure Cell Tower Safety

As a leading provider of tower construction, engineering, inspection, maintenance and modification services, Branat Construction must ensure that the cell towers they work on meet strict industry and safety standards. To do so, the company selected the Dillon Quick Check tension meter, which improves safety by providing simple and accurate measurement of guy wire tensions.

Tension Meters for Improved Health and Safety 

In the past 30 years, the increased demand for wireless and broadcast communications has spurred dramatic growth in communication tower construction and maintenance. With tower heights reaching in excess of 1000 or 2000 feet, it is incredibly important that they are structurally sound. Tensioned cables, also known as guy wires, are designed to add stability to free-standing structures such as cell towers. One end of the guy is attached to the structure, and the other is anchored to the ground at some distance from the mast or tower base. The tension in the diagonal guy-wire, combined with the compression and buckling strength of the structure, provide additional support which allows the structure to withstand lateral loads such as wind or the weight of cantilevered structures.

Meeting Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) standards

Adam Fear, Vice President at Branat Construction, explains, “It is important to measure guy wire tensions to ensure that the tower is in compliance with Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) standards.  It also ensures that the engineered structural analysis on the tower is accurate.  Often a tower can be brought within acceptable capacity by simply adjusting the guy wire tensions as opposed to adding additional steel to the structure.”

High mast metal structure telecommunication on tower with blue sky. ** Note: Visible grain at 100%, best at smaller sizes

The Dillon Quick-Check is ideal for situations where guy wire tension must be measured quickly and accurately. The tension meter can be placed on a cable, take a measurement and be removed in under five seconds, with no complex lookup tables or conversion charts. The operator can also quickly select from 20 pre-calibrated wire sizes and types stored in Quick-Check’s memory, speeding up with process significantly. The addition of a graphic display which clearly shows the current and target tension control limits in real-time enables extremely quick setting of line tension.

Quick Check tension meter for fast and accurate results 

Adam continued, “The Dillon Quick Check is the number one established brand in the industry and anyone who does guy wire work usually has one.  If you are actively adjusting the guy wire tension, it is a huge time saver to have a read-out of the tensions – and you can actually watch the tension drop/increase on the screen in real-time as you adjust the turnbuckles.  For this reason, the quick check can easily cut your time in half.”


About Branat Construction: Branat Construction have many years of experience with inspections, tower modification upgrades, tower maintenance and complete site builds.  These services have been performed to the standards of all tower owners, including but not limited to:  American Tower, Crown Castle, US Cellular, SBA Communications, Grain Communications, T-Mobile, Verizon, Duke Energy, AT&T, NC Highway Patrol, as well as local & federal government jurisdictions.  

Branat Construction Use Dillon Quick Check to Ensure Cell Tower Safety

Dillon selected as ORACLE TEAM USA official force measurement supplier

Dillon selected as ORACLE TEAM USA official force measurement supplier

ORACLE TEAM USA has selected Dillon to supply its force measurement equipment as the team prepares to race for the America’s Cup.

The 35th America’s Cup takes place June 2017 in Bermuda – and a range of Dillon’s precision force measurement products will be used by the team to ensure lines are accurately and safely tensioned.

The EDXtreme Dynamometer will feature amongst force measurement tools on board, its 0.1 % accuracy, rugged engineering and usability ensuring that safety checks don’t get in the way of adventure.

Dillon is a market leading manufacturer of instrumentation that measures force including load cells, overload protection and suspended weighing products.

Dillon has earned a reputation for rugged, long-lasting products that are easy to use in demanding environments. With an established worldwide distribution network, Dillon customers have an unrivaled product choice and after sales service.

The 35th America’s Cup begins on May 26 with the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers. As the defending champion, ORACLE TEAM USA will advance to the America’s Cup Match, presented by Louis Vuitton, beginning June 17, against the top challenging team.

Dillon selected as ORACLE TEAM USA official force measurement supplier

Zip Lines & Climbing

Canopy Tours select Dillon Quick Check to ensure Zip-Line safety

Canopy Tours select Dillon Quick Check to ensure Zip-Line safety

Zip Lines & Climbing

As one of South Africa’s fastest growing eco-adventures, Canopy Tours® is a zip-line adventure that takes thrill seekers on a journey through the treetops on a set of platforms connected by steel cables. 

Needless to say, with many of the zip-lines at the company’s seven sites set high above the forest canopy, safety is paramount and cables are subject to regular and exacting checks. The Dillon Quick-Check tension meter offers an ideal solution to measure cable tension – an extremely important element of zip-line safety. As well as the more obvious safety concern of the level of strain put on the anchor points, the tension on the line also has a direct impact on the rider’s speed and altitude.

Mark Brown, joint company founder, explains; As a civil engineer by trade, I understand the importance of good design, construction, and maintenance to any kind of built-structure. The Dillon Quick check allows us to measure the tension of the cables, which is a critical safety measure. Having cables set too slack could result in a rider stopping before they reach the platform, while the correct tension will allow the rider to maintain a safe and consistent speed until the end of the line. At Canopy Tours, where clients trust us with their lives and the well-being of their family or friends, safety is absolutely our number one priority.” 

Each branch’s zip-line system has been designed and certified by a qualified engineer, with maintenance and measurement of the tension of the zip-line cables carried out at regular intervals.

The Dillon Quick-Check can be placed on the zip-line cable, measure its tension, and be removed in under five seconds, simplifying the process for the Canopy Tour engineers by removing the need for complex lookup tables or conversion charts. The operator can quickly select from 20 pre-calibrated wire sizes and types stored in Quick-Check’s memory, saving time and ensuring accuracy. In addition, the tensioning mode graphically displays the current and target tension control limits for extremely quick setting of line tension, ensuring quick and precise measurement.

Mark continues, “The Dillon Quick-Check tension meter is ideal because it is a portable product, which is easy to use and guarantees high accuracy and safety. We do our utmost to ensure that our clients are safe and, importantly, that they feel safe at all times, so that they can truly enjoy the experience we take them on. Why? Because our business depends on it.”

Canopy Tours select Dillon Quick Check to ensure Zip-Line safety

Telemetrics employ Dillon solution and turnkey software to stress test wire ropes and cables

Telemetrics employ Dillon solution and turnkey software to stress test wire ropes and cables

Telemetrics Ltd. is an engineering services and systems integration company specializing in designing and building turnkey test and measurement, data acquisition and control systems. Telemetrics engineers recently designed and developed a high-performance system to accurately measure the strength of cable and wire ropes under tension. The Dillon EDXtreme Dynamometer is an integral part of the system, providing Telemetrics with high quality data wirelessly and in real-time.

The test machine itself is a hydraulic instrument in which the Device Under Test (DUT) – cable, wire-rope etc – is mounted between a moving arm and a constant point. A Dillon EDXtreme Dynamometer with remote Communicator is used to measure the applied force, with another sensor used to measure the displacement. This arrangement allows Telemetrics to measure the maximum strength that a cable/ wire can tolerate when put under tension.

The data collected by the dynamometer is wirelessly transferred to a PC or laptop via the handheld Communicator, where it is analysed using custom-made software. The measurements that are collected during tests provide valuable information about the behavior of the DUT under tension, including its load capabilities and breaking point. Typically, the data collected is presented in a force versus displacement diagram and is used to assess the strength and working life of the products, along with the maximum tension that a product can survive.

Paris Marmaris, Information Technology and Services Consultant at Telemetrics, commented: “We selected the EDXtreme Dynamometer because we needed a high quality instrument which would enable us to take accurate measurements while also being robust enough to withstand the big impact that happens when the DUT breaks.”

With capacities of up to 500,000 lbf and overload protection up to 120%, the EDXtreme offers the ideal balance of precision with rugged construction and inherent safety. When paired with the optional Communicator, users can define the function and manage the operation of one or more EDXtreme Dynamometers remotely.

Paris continues: “In the case of this particular testing machine, the dynamometer is mounted directly to the DUT, so it was also of vital importance that we used a system which could transmit the force measurements wirelessly in real-time. The EDXtreme and wireless Communicator offers us precision measurement and wireless communication in a system that we know we can rely on.”

Telemetrics employ Dillon solution and turnkey software to stress test wire ropes and cables

American Adventure Park Systems Recommend Dillon Quick-Check for Critical Zip-line Safety Checks

American Adventure Park Systems Recommend Dillon Quick-Check for Critical Zip-line Safety Checks

As industry leading specialists in adventure park design, construction and management, American Adventure Park Systems take safety extremely seriously. The company, which has more than 30 years of experience in building aerial adventure parks and zip-line canopy tours, uses and recommends the Dillon Quick-Check for tensioning ziplines.

Cable tension is a critical factor in the installation, safety and performance of a zip line. The Dillon Quick-Check tension meter is a quick, easy and precise way to measure the amount of strain that the zip line puts on the anchor points when loaded.

While mitigating risk is the company’s highest priority, ensuring the best rider experience comes a very close second. As well as measuring the strain on the anchor points for safety reasons, the tension on the line also has a direct impact on the rider’s speed and altitude. The correct tension will allow the rider to maintain a safe and consistent speed until the end of the line and prevent them from stopping mid-way along the course.

Michael Holder, Consultant at American Adventure Park Systems, explains “It is our business to ensure that the parks that we design, install and maintain are as safe as they can possibly be. American Adventure Park Systems, The Climbing Wall Association (CWA), The Association for Experiential Education (AEE) and the Association for Challenge Course Technology (ACCT) all have written standards that insist that equipment is inspected daily before and after each use, monthly by in house staff, and annually by a qualified outside vendor. By using the Dillon Quick-Check, we can quickly and easily ensure that the tension on the zip-line is correct. It gives us highly accurate readers and allows us to adjust the tension while the device is in use.”

The Dillon Quick-Check can be placed on the zip-line cable, measure its tension, and be removed in under five seconds, simplifying the process of checking cable tension by removing the need for complex lookup tables or conversion charts. The operator can quickly select from 20 pre-calibrated zip-wire sizes and types which are stored in Quick-Check’s memory, saving time and ensuring accuracy. In addition, the tensioning mode graphically displays the current and target tension control limits for extremely quick setting of line tension, ensuring quick and precise measurement.

American Adventure Park Systems Recommend Dillon Quick-Check for Critical Zip-line Safety Checks

Dillon Devices Used for British Antarctic Survey

Dillon Devices Used for British Antarctic Survey

Dillon has supplied the British Antarctic Survey with tension measuring devices for the last six years, helping to ensure that important exploration work in these extreme conditions is conducted safely and accurately.

Most recently, we provided AP Dynamometers for a high profile project based at the Halley VI Research Station in Antarctica.

Operational since 2012, Halley VI is a series of eight interlinked pods, capable of withstanding extreme weather. The modules contain laboratories, offices, observation platforms, generators and communal areas for the scientists who work and live there.

Built on skis, the pods can be towed across the ice by specialist heavy vehicles. Being able to move the research station is vital because of its location: the Brunt Ice Shelf, which is constantly moving towards the Weddell Sea.

The Dynamometer was used to securely move the station, which is being gradually moved to a new, safer location over the course of 2016-17, due to a widening crack in the ice shelf.

The red module pictured weighs 220 tonnes. The modules are fitted with hydraulic legs that can be raised to ensure that the station is not buried under annual snowfall.

With just 12 tonnes of force displayed on the AP Dynamometer split between the two pulling rigs, the team was able to move the module with minimal effort.

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Dillon Devices Used for British Antarctic Survey

SWISS airline demonstrates the role of Dillon Dynamometers in aircraft maintenance

SWISS airline demonstrates the role of Dillon Dynamometers in aircraft maintenance

A video produced by Swiss International Airline’s (SWISS) Technical Division shows how the Dillon AP Dynamometer and bootstrap kit is used to lift the company’s 2.5 tonne engines and measure stress on the hoists and mounts.

SWISS serves over 100 destinations in 43 countries, carrying more than 16.5 million passengers a year.  In addition to their fleet of 91 aircraft, the SWISS Technical Services division is one of the leading maintenance, repair and overhaul providers in the regional aircraft sector. Qualified specialists service all of the aircraft in the SWISS fleet at regular intervals, all of which involves the use specialist equipment such as the dynamometer featured in the video.  

The video, which shows an engine being completely overhauled, shows how the engine is removed using bootstrap equipment. The engine cradle is positioned under the engine then lifted until the mount point can be attached to the engine. Once the fuel and electrics etc have been disconnected, the engine mount bolts are loosened and the engine is removed ready for maintenance. The process is reversed when hoists these huge engines back into position.   

The critical factor when removing and replacing engines, whether for maintenance or replacement, is pre-tensioning the hoists used to lift the engine. Too little tension can mean that the weight of the engine causes it to drop at the point when it is disconnected, while too much can damage the pylon and mounts. With engine mounts alone supporting the entire 2.5 tonne weight of the engine, plus in-flight forces adding further stress, ensuring that they are not subject to undue stress is a critical safety measure.

Originally designed to measure the tension on telephone wires, the Dynamometer has proven to have limitless versatility as a tension and weight measuring instrument. It is used for such diverse jobs as suspended weighing; mounting cables for bridges; adjusting tension on guy wires; field testing chain, rope, wire—anything requiring precision force or tension measurement.

Watch the video to see how the AP Dynamometer is used by SWISS to pre-tension the hoists for aircraft maintenance. 

SWISS airline demonstrates the role of Dillon Dynamometers in aircraft maintenance