Hello everybody. Perhaps not a very large demand for a thread specific to crackfilling/sealing. But I do have some questions about some of the equipment used in our industry - specifically kettles (for melting and applying tar/crackfiller). I'm not sure if Kettles could get their own thread. But we have several from several different manufacturer's: Cimline, Bearcat and Crafco - And we've had issues with all of them in one way or another. I would like to get other folk's input regarding these issues. Specifically, I'm looking to see if anyone has had any issues with the newer Crafco models (post 2010).
Not sure about craftco but I've been around cimline rubber melters the last few years with the pump/wand system. Minor issues regarding the safety switched on the wand going bad. We also use an older craftco (Mid 90's I'd guess) and the only real issue with that one was a likely user inflicted short in the heated hose, price one of those some time if you need to get your heart rate up.
Bearcat mght have some good ideas, but their service sucks, big time. We had two brand new machines and within 500 hours they had burnt up the hydraulic system twice. Everything from the pump to the motors, control valve, all the hoses, you name it. I used a small temperature logger to prove a point before they would come look at them. The hydaulic tank would get so hot you could tell the oil level by the burnt line on the decal that was burnt black. Crafco is just a bit ahead of them at least service wise. Their double walled tank for heat transfer oil doesn`t seems to be as quick to heat up material as the Bearcat does. Bearcat and their chipbox is another nightmare also. Almost forgot about Crafco routers. Crafco will stand behind them, WAY behind them. Month old machines with drums coming apart and their response was, oh well, more than once. Real pieces of junk.