Van Thiel Fittings

J

Joescaff65

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Lads for years in my opinion the servicing of traditional fittings has always been a labour of love in our industry, so much so in fact many a friendship has been strengthened at the rack doing this dastardly deed .... any opinions on the Van Thiel fitting (Wedge type) ? I know they are not commonly used in the UK and probably a good few reasons why. I already know they are awkward feckers that weigh a fair bit and can be susceptible to vibration .... all and any opinions within reason please from past or present users as i have to provide feedback to the suits regrading the possibility of offshore/petrochem use.

Thanks in advance
 
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Cheers amigo , yes Van Thiel used in Holland :) there's got to be a connection somewhere lol
 
Hi I'm new to the forum. We have a few thousand of them in our stock so use them quite a bit. Never had any problems with vibration. As already stated there is a knack in using them. You have to open them completely to slide them on the tube and they fall open so don't support the ledger when open which can cause problems in certain jobs
 
The Van Thiel coupler used to have loose wedges when I first came across the in Holland and the scaffs had a pouch full of wedges,
When striking the wedges were just knocked out and on many occasions just fell to the deck or ground.
Van Thiel has also developed a captive wedge which was much better but when the fitting unraveled it was around a foot long.
We used them for a while at BOW as they were the fitting originally attached to the extendable transom units.

To be honest I never really got to like them but only in the same way you never get to like an ugly bird, Nothing much wrong with them and they had the same loadbearing capacity.
 
Ah, the intermediate transoms used in conjunction with ready-lock at the standards? Used this t & f 'system' many moons ago with Lyndon. Never realised it was the much maligned Jean Claude Van Damme fitting. I do now though. Cheers Alan. ;)
 
Yes they are a big fitting and easy to use. Same principal just remember to protect thewedge.
Cloggies love them, especially Harsco. A lot of British scaffs loath them. For striking they speed up the process a little.

Joescaff, if you head on to You Tube, you will find the Harsco video relating to this fitting. There is also a pdf out then explaining alg.
 
Hi Joe…

This proposal by the suits to change over from status quo couplers to Vanz requires due diligence and a lot of questions…

Firstly, given that they will be in service in one of the most environmentally challenging Regions of the Globe, do they comply with British Statutory requirements, associate Instruments and British Standards ???.

Service Coz who Tender for North Sea Contracts are being told by Client to trim back costs and be more effective and proactive stance in finding strategies, hence, making the Service Co more economically attractive to Client.

The only benefit ( so far ) that I can see is, elimination of the servicing of Traditional couplers threads ect…which is usually done during down time on an Installation…

In these modern times Fiscal considerations are very important, however, not at the expense of, Strength, Reliability and Rigidity…

Question to the Forum

In all honests, If you had the choice of Traditional Couplers or Vanz which would you chose and WHY ???

Best regards always

Gar...
 
We hav quite a few in stock and use them a lot and never hav any probs with them but when it comes to hanging scaffolds and stuff like that we always use the traditional double.
 
Hi Derry…

Thanks for the input…interesting comments…WHY don't your Organisation use Vanz for Hangers and complex Scaffolds ???

Garry...
 
We never had any issues with them. We use them quite a bit and they r a good fitting once u get the knack of them. It mite b stupid but we trust the traditional double more.
 
Hi Derry

Thanks for the honest answer, and its not stupid putting your trust in a threaded coupler…Vanz could well be deemed sufficient for certain access structures, however, I have my reservations using the in the North Sea…

Garry...
 
Gar
the vans are used offshore in the Dutch Sector and any issues with meeting the required standards are non existant as the fitting will be EN approved and until the European Referendum the BS will have to suck it up;)
 
Thanks for that old bean…what is your personal view on the Vanz Bro ???

FRA…gar...
 
Never used wedgie fittings.... I wouldn't knock them either...each to their own. Where I'm currently working, we've had to scrap a lot of fittings ( brand new ones) copies of prescos..... A Couple of turns on the nailspan, and it spreads like margarine.... The good old real mc coy is being replaced by the copies....I think is part of the norm now....fitting manufacturers don't want fittings to last forever....
 
Anto said:
Never used wedgie fittings.... I wouldn't knock them either...each to their own. Where I'm currently working, we've had to scrap a lot of fittings ( brand new ones) copies of prescos..... A Couple of turns on the nailspan, and it spreads like margarine.... The good old real mc coy is being replaced by the copies....I think is part of the norm now....fitting manufacturers don't want fittings to last forever....
Click to expand...

There all Chinese now even the British manufacturers (If that's the right word) have factories in Asia.
 
interesting thread this,as ive never seen a vanthiel fitting. googled it?Where would you use the paralell fitting? double standards?? I see the gate on double swings down,would make fitting ledgers 2 handed job.
 
I preferred the separate wedge ones to the welded wedge ones. Easy and quick to use and handle once you had the knack.
Also good for using as a beam clamp as no gravlok were available in the Dutch sector then apart from the odd one left in barely accessible places on old jack up rigs that we picked up from time to time.
 
Frederik
U can rest ur ledger on top of fitting until u get the one side done up. If ur using vanthiel tube ur ledger can hang of the end once u hav ur first one in place. It's really handy once u use them. They r really quick to strike. The tubes are great no sleeves
 
@ Anto…yip, each to his own opinion…far be it my intention to de-value the Van Thiel wedge coupler, just giving due diligence as I would with any another Scaffold Component parts...

---------- Post added at 04:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:05 PM ----------

@ HSWT…hows it hang in Bro ???

Cant seem to locate Van single couplers, have you came across them ???

Best regards always

Garry...

---------- Post added at 04:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------

@Derryscaff…

Aye, easy to strike…

Quote from Van Thiel website…

Quote: The Theil wedge coupler is always easy to remove by a simple hammer strike. End Quote…this started sounding alarm bells when I read it, accidental impacts that may dislodge the wedge and or unauthorised removal would be made easier to a non-Scaffolder…OR, do they have fail safe locking device ???…

Garry...
 
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