Harper Turf TV40
DPD team members: Ricky Heflin, Ron Major
This is a 24 hp turf vacuum that can be towed with a small tractor or golf cart. It was a clean-screen design aimed at a slightly different market than Deweze’s previous machine. This vacuum has large capacity, high performance, yet uses no hydraulics and requires nothing of the towing vehicle except a hitch. All functions can be operated without leaving the tractor seat. An optional ground-driven broom expands the applications.
Steco Trailers Smoothside
DPD team members: Chris Bartel, Jess Davis
This all-aluminum trailer was designed for the very competitive refuse transfer market. It utilizes interlocking extruded aluminum beams for the sidewalls, and is smooth inside and out.
Cobra Pickup/Laydown Machine
DPD team members: Jess Davis, Chris Bartel, and Ricky Heflin, Marc Davis
This is a unique machine to handle tubing for a workover rig. It takes the pipe off the rack and “hands” it to the workover rig. It automates one of the most dangerous jobs in the oilfield, allowing the heavy, awkward joints of tubing to be manipulated via the radio remote control from the comfort of a pickup cab.
Harper Turf TV35
DPD team members: Ricky Heflin
This is a self-propelled 24 hp turf vacuum that that has high-dump capabilities. It was a clean-screen design that expanded Harper’s market in the turf industry. This vacuum has large capacity, high-dump hopper, hydrastatic drive system, and a low-profile rotary broom.
DPD also performed the testing for ROPS structure on this machine.
Fast Fusion MFT20
DPD team members: Ricky Heflin, Jess Davis
This is a unique machine designed to field-weld and force-cool plastic pipe in a continuous pipeline. It is self-propelled and can be equipped with fusion machines to handle poly pipe from 4” up to 20”. The Caterpillar engine drives Eaton hydrastat pumps and Berco tracks. DPD did the design, the customer did the drafting, and we continue to be responsible for design maintenance, including redesign to accommodate EPA Tier 3 engines.
The MFT20 was awarded the prestigious 2006 NOVA award for for innovation by the Construction Innovation Forum. Six awards are made for product that “represent proven, significant advances which have had positive and important effects on construction.” www.cif.org
Fast Fusion MFT20 T4
DPD team members: Ricky Heflin, Chris Bartel, Jess Davis
The is a significant redesign of the successful MFT20 that includes a Caterpillar Tier IV compliant engine, along with numerous changes to enhance manufacturability and simplify the frame. It still welds and force-cools the same sizes of poly pipe up to 20″, but includes the FastLoad feature on the front boom, better air conditioning, and an improved operator’s station.
The MFT20 was awarded the prestigious 2006 NOVA award for for innovation by the Construction Innovation Forum. Six awards are made for product that “represent proven, significant advances which have had positive and important effects on construction.” www.cif.org
Fast Fusion CoolPack
DPD team members: Ricky Heflin, Todd Wood
Fast Fusion identified a market for the weld-cooling feature of the MFT series, without the enclosure. We designed a series of stand-alone weld-cooling machines that include diesel engines, screw compressors, and rubber tracks.
Fast Fusion MFT12
DPD team members: Ricky Heflin, Jess Davis, Chris Bartel, Todd Wood
This machine is similar to the MFT20, but smaller and lighter. It is self-propelled and can be equipped with fusion machines to handle poly pipe from 4” up to 12”. It is designed to fit in a 40’ shipping container for overseas shipping. The Caterpillar engine drives Sauer hydrastat pumps and Berco tracks. DPD did the design and all documentation.
Fast Fusion MFT36
DPD team members: Ricky Heflin, Chris Bartel, Jess Davis, Todd Woods, Derric Drake
The largest Fast Fusion machine can weld up to 36″ poly pipe, and utilizes a Cat 175hp engine driving a stack of Eaton and Danfoss pumps, Berco track components, a 185cfm screw compressor, 240v generator, and McElroy fusion machine. DPD designed the machine and supervised the building of the prototypes in Fairview, OK. A redesign 3 years later brought this machine up to Tier IV emissions standards.
Southwire Bendstation
This innovative product solves many conduit-bending problems for electricians. DPD worked with the inventor to develop and prototype these products, including providing patent illustrations and working with the patent firm to secure two patents. Several variations are made, spanning from 1/2″ EMT conduit up through 1″ Rigid, and these are good sellers for Southwire.
Electrical Contractor magazine presented the Bendstation with their SHOWSTOPPER AWARD at the 2012 NECA show.
Southwire PROJAX
Another innovative, industry-changing tool for electricians, the PRO JAX uses the power of a cordless drill to lift reels of wire weighing up to 6000 pounds easily. Designed and prototyped in Fairview, Oklahoma, this product was one of the key products that resulted in the manufacturer being purchased by an industry leader in the electrical contractor tool business.
STECO Scrapper
DPD team members: Chris Bartel
The Scrapper is a unique solution to the problem of loading scrap steel into shipping containers. It can be loaded from above with a loader or crane, and the payload pushed into a 40’ container, with no manual labor and no additional equipment. It’s equipped with Deere diesel power and electronic weight measurement. Chris Bartel is co-inventor on the patent for this product.
Offenhauser Flywheel
DPD team members: Jess Davis
This is a good example of what we can do with reverse engineering. A vintage race-car restoration shop needed to adapt a 5-plate Tilton clutch to fit a vintage Offenhauser engine in a 1960s Indy car. We used direct measurements and supplier dimensions to help them design a flywheel, and the CAD file was used to program their CNC mill to make the part. Also, we got to do something with “Offenhauser” in the title block of the drawing.
Flowboy 4000 Asphalt Trailer
DPD team members: Jess Davis, Stephen Seymour
This was developed as a new trailer design for Flowboy that incorporated design features from the 8-axle unit and the 5000. A major part of the design was finite-element analysis of the frame. Flowboy was bought out by Highway Equipment just before this product was to be prototyped.
Lamunyon Substructure
DPD team members: Chris Bartel, Jess Davis
This substructure, or base, for an oil well drilling rig was designed to utilize an existing mast and rotary table. The customer’s ideas for a unique folding outrigger system and fold-down work platforms were developed for ease of transport. Fabrication was done by contract welders at the customer’s facility.
CTI/Iron Wolf RotoTrimmer
DPD team members: Jess Davis, Ron Major
This is a large, loader-mounted rotary-drum rock grinder. We worked with CTI on an ongoing basis to design and document the various cutters and engine power units. Horsepowers range from 350 hp to 600 hp, and cutting widths range from 6 feet to 12 feet. We also developed CTI’s part numbering system and their Bill of Material system.
CTI/Iron Wolf Tree Slasher
DPD team members: Jess Davis, Ron Major, Ricky Heflin.
This variation on the CTI Rototrimmer is used for land clearing in northwest Canada. The project included hydraulic push bar, housing door, and a special push frame/tilt mechanism to fit a Cat D6. The power pack mounted to the dozer’s ripper mounts. This product was designed, drawn, built, delivered, and in service in 12 weeks.
Southwire Cable Stripper
This is a good example of rapid brainstorming. The customer had devices for stripping various types of cables, but needed a different approach to deal with larger cables with tougher insulation. We talked through a number of concepts, and quickly hand-sketched a possible approach, and followed up with a simplified SolidWorks assembly model. This was enough to get the project started, and the manufacturer and project team took it from there to a sellable product in a very short timeframe.
Mertz Boxer
DPD team members: Jess Davis
This was a new clean-screen design mini-skid-steer loader equipped with rubber tracks and a 24hp Honda engine. It competed originally with the Dingo, Ramrod, and Kanga products. We designed the loader arm system, the rubber-tracked undercarriage, and assisted in the hydraulic system design. This product was the first rubber-tracked ride-on mini-skid on the market, and that configuration has since become the standard in the industry. It was also the first on the market with hydraulically-adjustable track width. The Boxer product line is now owned by Morbark.
Party King Grills
DPD team members: Jess Davis
Making Tailgating easy is what Party King does. We support them with designs that are easy and economical to build, and work with their schedules and their manufacturers overseas.
Lamunyon Drilling Rig 3
DPD team members: Jess Davis
We worked in conjunction with Lamunyon’s staff to design the mast and substructures for this new, clean-screen design. Hook load capacity is 750,000 pounds, and the entire rig can be rigged down, moved, and rigged up in less than 2 days. The mast telescopes, and is self-trailered with a 5-axle air suspension system, and nearly every component of the 24-foot wide substructure is hydraulically folded.
Flowboy 8-axle Asphalt Trailer
DPD team members: Chris Bartel
This product was developed by Chris when he was the chief engineer at Mabar, Inc. It was an extremely heavy-duty horizontal-discharge asphalt trailer with 50-ton capacity. It was road-legal even for Michigan’s bridge laws. Production was done at the Mabar plant in Fairview.
Fox Products 412 Tractor
DPD team members: Jay Bartel, Ron Major, Jess Davis, Ricky Heflin
This was a project to develop a small 4-wheel drive tractor with a front-end loader and rear 3-point hitch and box blade. Designed to compete against the Case 570 and the Deere 210, it features a Caterpillar drivetrain. We were responsible for the design of the entire tractor including the loader, ROPS, and operator’s platform.
Lamunyon Rig 2
DPD team members: Chris Bartel
This project involved reverse-engineering the 3 mast sections on a drilling rig, to facilitate shop-building a new section to replace one that was bent. The challenging part was sorting out the intended dimensions of a 60-foot long structure that was very complex, welded up crooked, and subsequently damaged.