Swing Pedal Controls- draglines & electric face shovels

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The Owen Slim Line Swing Pedal is our leading product. When we launched it
in 2007 it was an outstanding success and it is still today. It is the preferred product for many leading mining companies from around the world.

We believe that this new design will save many thousands of dollars in lost production due to breakdowns and cumbersome servicing techniques.

After much thinking ‘outside the square’ we came up with a swing pedal that
is a completely different principle and design to any pedal we had ever seen.

We are proud to offer it to the Mining/Construction Industry.

check out the benefits

Owen Custom Swing Pedals are innovative in design and features and built tough. With the ergonomic design and workplace health and safety approved function and application, all dragline and electric face shovel operators will love this groundbreaking swing pedal control. Owen Custom Products Slimline Swing Pedal, The original in the market!

view our Video Below

solid state

ELECTROMECHANICAL

solving the problems

evolution of the swing pedal

Back in 2005 a friend of ours who owns an engineering works approached us and asked if we would be interested in discussing the possibility of designing and manufacturing a device for the mining industry. He’d had a meeting with someone who had taken this equipment to his workshops and wanted him to do it. As they weren’t supplying him with blueprints, he decided against it and rang us.

What was needed was a device designed and manufactured to fit an encoder switch assembly to a B.E. Pedal. On the way back from the meeting, we knew we could do it and immediately set to work to get the first one done.

This B.E. encoder switch assemblies were then quickly supplied to the mining sites who had been struggling for years with antiquated equipment. Because these devices were so old, a lot of the parts had been discontinued and they were constantly ‘band aiding” to keep them going.

One day an old Marion pedal was sent over to the work shop and we designed a similar system that would adapt to it.

When the B.E. Pedal was in the workshop (weighed in at around 50 kgs), we thought that this device was a massive overkill. All it had to do was drive the encoder/or resolver switch assembly, which would still be under the floor and require a cherry picker to still come in, to enable the engineers to climb in to service the machine. We had issues with the safety of doing this.

We then decided to build a “prototype” pedal with switch gear and encoder /or resolver built into pedal assembly . This would be “In cabin” rather than under the floor. We proved that this concept would work . This original prototype didn’t have heel cups as we were told that they weren’t necessary, however feedback from the mine sites indicated that they preferred them and so they were added as part of the design.

Later on, we were shown a Gessmann pedal which had been shelved due to lack of interest. The fact that they had gears to reverse direction meant that backlash was a serious issue. If ever the switch needed to be replaced it was almost a total dismantle to get at it.

These pedals were stripped down and re- engineered to make them more practical. We then decided to design and manufacture a new swing pedal system from the ground up to eliminate all the problems that were being experienced by the mines.

The simplest way to get rid of all backlash was to eliminate the gears and go to a rocker arm system that was only one moving part. We then took out a patent on this device. To remove the pedal, simply unplug the cables, unscrew the 4 bolts and the unit is out.

The switch gear can be easily removed. The switch and/or encoder unit, the wiring harness and military spec sockets lift out as a modular assembly.
Later versions of this electro mechanical model have positive return to neutral.

We then went onto design an arm system that went onto existing consoles to work as an integrated unit. Mine sites can now have either a custom built arm system to suit their own consoles or a floor mounted system.
The game changer for us was when we attended a Mining Expo in Las Vegas as part of a Mining Delegation with the Qld State Government, to get feedback from the US market.

What we found was that they weren’t using resolvers and preferred +-10V. As we wanted to be able to export to the US, we set about designing a Solid State swing pedal that can be set up to emulate either a resolver, potentiometer or +-10V.

These were successful from the word go and there have been no issues with them. In the US this is the preferred swing pedal system. The first company to convert their draglines to this solid state system was Peabody, others then followed.

Not long after this CAT contacted us as they were designing new draglines for the Indian market. The cabin design was completely different from the usual as the layout was designed around our pedal system which in this case was fitted with encoders. We were able to redesign to accommodate this.

The Solid State Swing Pedal design won the Engineering Excellence Award for Qld and was Finalist for Engineering Excellence Awards for Australia.
“The judges have commented on the preparedness and initiative of this business in applying technology to successfully develop and manufacture a product beneficial to one of our major export industries. The judges were impressed by the resulting simplicity for installation and long-term maintenance, as well as the magnitude of the extent of the adoption of this business initiative.”