Champion reamers are the choice for a Mississippi River bridge renovation project. The purpose of the project was to remove and replace deteriorated and damaged cantilever floor beam sections at 64 locations.
The project was awarded to heavy highways contractor Civil Constructors, Inc.
The number of holes to ream: 2,500.
Champion’s hex shank XL86 bridge reamers were used and were determined to be preferable to traditional taper shank bridge reamers.
According to Eric Loomis of Civil Constructors, Inc., “We experienced failures of other brands reamers with hex attachments and conversions. The strong integral hex head on these Champion reamers is bulletproof. These reamers performed beautifully with the use of cutting oil as a reaming aid. We were able to have these reamers re-sharpened which added even more value. We ended up using about 1/2 of the total reamers we had planned on using at bid time. These reamers out cut our previous brand 2 holes to 1.”
The project was completed in two stages, with phase 1 done in 9 1/2 weeks, and phase 2 in 15 weeks. Champion XL86 bridge reamers are available from 11/16 to 1-5/8” diameter. They are designed for aligning and enlarging holes in heavy-duty structural steel. The reamer features a hex shank, which is engineered to enable use in impact socket power tools.
