New Keder Roof Fabric Panel Puller Ideal for Clearspan Tents
Wide keder roof fabric panels, pulled by hand, cause strain as workers work hard to complete clearspan tent structure installs. Maybe you’ve tried a forklift or tele-handler to reduce the workload. But that approach eliminates the sensitivity required to pull fabric panels without damage, including tearing. That’s why Tent OX introduced a new keder roof fabric panel puller….the OX Roof Panel Puller. It pulls roof fabric panels with the sensitivity of a hand pull and the speed of a machine.
The easy- to-use OX Roof Panel Puller allows you to slide a set of wheels into the clearspan manufacturer’s tensioning bar and run cables from the wheels to a center rope that pulls the assembly. The wheels roll up the rafters, over splices, transition over the crown, and move down toward the winch fitted the green Tent OX machine on the other side of the tent. If the panel hangs up, the operator will easily feel resistance and can pause until it is cleared.
Typical Causes of Keder Roof Fabric Panel Puller Failures
Resistance encountered during keder roof panel fabric pulls is usually caused by these factors:
- The sheer width of the structure where the rope travels across larger surfaces. A huge increase in the pull strength is required when moving from a 20 M to a 40 M structure.
- The keder is old, or the aluminum is dirty, and the grit provides friction.
- An aluminum rail is bent and has gone unnoticed. This is common at splices.
- The flat face of the keder tries to move across an inline splice in a straight line.
- A loose valance (between 10” and 18” in size) flops across the purlins, and particularly the ridge line.
A Better Way to Pull a Keder Roof Fabric Panel
Designed for and tested on multiple clear-span structures that use keder technology, the OX Roof Panel Puller replaces between 4 and 6 crew members struggling to pull a roof fabric panel with a single person at the machine.
As you can see, the OX Roof Fabric Panel Puller is very compact. It attaches in moments to your Tent OX machine and is ready to go in seconds. When the line is wrapped just twice on the drum, it offers the operator extra sensitivity to feel hangups of the keder sliding in the channel. This is especially useful when traveling across a splice or over the crown.
Shorten Installs on Clearspan Tent Structures
The OX Keder Roof Fabric Panel Puller attaches to a Tent OX machine in under one minute. After attaching the puller and connecting the hydraulics, fire up the Tent OX and follow these steps:
- Center the puller with the roof fabric panel to be pulled
- Prepare your roof panels for pulling and install feeding wheels, rollers and ropes
- Wrap the rope a few times around the pulley and begin pulling!
A powerful hydraulic motor and an advanced design pulling system combines strength and sensitivity in a very compact package.
This tent install shows two panels that have already been pulled over the structure by an OX Roof Panel Puller attached to the green Tent OX machine shown at right.