Gomaco has launched the world’s first bridge deck finisher with a 3D guidance at the Word of Concrete show in Las Vegas, an update to its C-450 cylinder finisher.
With this update, the company created smart hydraulic cylinders, with 15 inches of stroke, for a vertically adjusting undercarriage fitted with a 3D mast with prism and a slope sensor.
Gomaco says the 3D system controls vertical movement of the rear cylinder to keep both cylinders moving at the same ratio to each other.
The system takes a series of measurements while the machine is moving, with the prism, slope sensors, long-range Bluetooth radios and 3D computer processing the data to feed to the smart cylinders. The cylinders in turn make adjustments determined by the calculated position of the bottom of the finishing drum, or the top of the concrete surface.
The new C-450 can pave from 12 feet wide to 104 feet wide with transitional framework and features Gomaco’s three-point finishing system composed of the auger, cylinder and float pan.
The current C-450 model is capable of paving widths from 12 feet (3.7 m) to 104 feet (31.7 m), with transitional framework. Its pin-connected sections provide fast setup time and versatility to fit the requirements of the project. It features GOMACO’s patented three-point finishing system with an auger to level the concrete, a cylinder to consolidate and finish the concrete, and the float pan to seal and texture the surface.
Gomaco reports it first started testing a 3D-guided cylinder finisher on a SL-750 slope cylinder finisher placing base material on a test track in China in November 2014.
