Manufacturer and supplier of diamond tools and equipment Diamond Products introduced the DP 75 H electric wall saw to the African market this year and hopes to establish the saw and its technology as an accepted product on the South African market.

The saw, which is manufactured in Germany, comprises a 750-mm-diameter blade, which can cut reinforced concrete and masonry to a depth of 320 mm; and a high-frequency motor that can be disconnected from the machine without the need for any tools in less than two minutes to reduce the carrying weight for the operator.

The saw tracks are composed of a torsion rigid aluminium profile, with stainless-steel taper gibs. Power transmission is achieved by an oil-lubricated gear, with an integrated overload clutch in its rotating arm.

“Both the blade and the feed operations are electrically driven by a three-phase 380 V motor, which eliminates the need for costly, bulky hydraulic power packs on site,” says Diamond Products director Brian Clark, noting that the bulk of wall saws sold in South Africa over the last ten years are hydraulic.

“The electric motor is a high-cycle motor, which provides greater watts to increase the power of the saw without sacrificing its light weight. The saw is easily portable, making it suited to the African market where more and more jobs are done in confined spaces,” he explains.

Clark says the company decided to intro-duce the German-manufactured saw into South Africa because of its fast set-up, which provides improved productivity, and its electric design, which eliminates leaks that occur when many hydraulic wall saws are used.

“This is becoming an environmental chal-lenge on site, which can be avoided by using an electric saw,” says Clark.

The first saw was sold for use in the construc- tion of a multistorey building in the central business district of Gaborone, Botswana’s capital city.

“The concrete slab on the first floor failed to meet the required standards and needed to be removed. As half of the building was already built, a nondestructive method of demolition was required.

“Diamond sawing offered a suitable solution. Cost and time were important, as any delays in the construction could be costly to the client. The DP 75 H was chosen for the project, given its portability, ease of operation, value for money and its ability to cut quickly,”

He notes the company expects the main mar- ket for the DP 75 H to be specialist saw and core-drilling contractors servicing construc-tion and infrastructure companies that are working on power stations, roads, bridges and building upgrades, as well as maintenance work on large production facilities.