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Module 10 · Track 3 — Equipment

The Rig
Masterclass

Every system on Alchatek's high-pressure injection rig — generator to gun tip. Power-up, the PMC control panel, the PHX-40 proportioner, hose heat and FTS diagnostics, MixMaster Pro setup, live injection, waste handling, shutdown, and the field troubleshooting that keeps a $100K+ rig earning. Combines the full Equipment Masterclass and the Injection Trailer review into one course, taught by Colt, Alchatek Technical Training.

12 LessonsPlural-ComponentHigh-PressureMasterclass + Rig Review Combined
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After this module, you'll be able to power up the rig in the right order, read the control panel and pressure gauges, set up and water-verify the MixMaster Pro, run a controlled injection, shut the system down correctly, and diagnose the pressure, supply, and hose-heat problems that account for nearly every rig service call.

Key Takeaways

One machine, one chain: diesel generator → compressor → refrigerant dryer → PHX-40 proportioner → heated hose → MixMaster Pro. Learn the chain and every problem has an address.
Color code is law: A-side = red = ISO, B-side = blue = resin — drums, labels, and plumbing all the way through the rig.
The Y-strainer is the first check on every rig — pressure problems start there, and a packed strainer means the hoses are likely crystallizing too.
Standard injection runs 1,250–1,500 PSI on the fluid gauges — read those, not the hydraulic ram gauge.
Water is your safety net on the gun: verify water through the block before anything, burst it between pauses, and use it to confirm drilled holes.
Hose heat has exactly three culprits: the black power wire, the transformer setting, or the purple FTS cable. Kill power before touching any of them — the hose carries 20 amps.
Lesson 1

The Rig at a Glance

The rig is a self-contained mobile injection plant. Inside the trailer: a diesel generator (with a guarded fan — mind the "NO LOOSE OBJECTS" warning), a Rolair compressor feeding a blue refrigerant air dryer, drum racks for both materials, and the PHX-40 hydraulic proportioner (Polyurethane Machinery Corporation) that meters and pressurizes the two components before they travel down the heated hose to the MixMaster Pro gun.

Everything is color-coded end to end: A-side is red and carries ISO; B-side is blue and carries resin. Red drums, red labels, red plumbing; blue drums, blue labels, blue plumbing. The coding exists to make cross-connection nearly impossible — respect it when you re-plumb anything.

Safety equipment lives inside the rig: fire extinguisher, first aid kit, and an emergency eye-wash station mounted above the control panel. Know where all three are before you need them.

Inside the rig aisle
Inside the rig. Drum racks, plumbing, and the control station — a complete injection plant in a trailer.
Lesson 2

Power-Up Sequence

  1. Generator first. Let it come up to running temperature for a minute or two before anything else loads it.
  2. Compressor on — let air build while the generator warms.
  3. Breakers on, in order, after the generator is at temp. Don't slam the full electrical load onto a cold generator.
  4. Know your quirk: some panels trip a breaker the moment shore power or the generator connects — check the reactor breaker before assuming something's broken.
  5. Heaters on (A, B, hose) and let material come up to temperature while you stage the job.
Shore power works too. In the shop, the whole rig can run off building power instead of the generator — same breaker discipline applies.
PHX-40 proportioner detail
The PHX-40. Inlet pressure and inlet temperature gauges on each side feed the piston — the heart of the proportioning system.
Lesson 3

Material Systems & Drum Pumps

Stainless-steel air-driven drum pumps sit in the drums and feed each side. Material enters the PHX-40 through ball valves, past the Y-strainer, and registers on the inlet pressure and inlet temperature gauges before the piston strokes it down the hose. Supply pressure from the stick pumps runs roughly 115–200 PSI — that's all the feed pressure the proportioner needs.

  • Lube every thread that ISO touches — fittings seize permanently when ISO cures in dry threads.
  • The A-side glove rule: touch the A, those gloves are trash. ISO contamination transfers to everything you touch next. Swap gloves, every time.
  • Drum changes are where contamination happens — grease the bung adapter, keep the area clean, and never let A tools touch B.
  • If a drum pump won't cycle: the common quick fix is a stuck check ball at the pump foot — push it up gently to free it. Beyond that it's an air-motor or fluid-section rebuild; most contractors keep a spare pump instead of rebuilding in the field.
Lesson 4

Y-Strainer & Pump Lube — The Two Telltales

Two checks tell you everything about how a rig has been treated. First, the Y-strainer — the inline screen ahead of the proportioner on each side:

"That's the first thing I check on a rig, and the first thing I tell a contractor to check." — Colt, Alchatek Technical Training

A clean strainer means clean supply. A strainer packed with debris means crystallized material is moving through the system — and the hoses are probably part-blocked too, which is why that contractor keeps burning through injectors.

Second, the pump lube. The lube system sits behind the reactor and keeps ISO from setting up in the pump. Fresh lube (LW-197) looks clear or slightly milky. As it absorbs ISO it darkens and thickens — gelled or pink means overdue; a rock-solid lube bottle means the rig isn't being maintained at all — treat every other system as suspect until proven otherwise. The system is self-priming: dump the old bottle, fill with fresh, done.

Lesson 5

The Control Panel & Pressures

The PMC Hydraulic Series panel is the rig's nerve center. Left to right, know every control: MAIN POWER (yellow rotary), A / B / HOSE heater controls with digital temperature readouts, CYCLE COUNTER (with countdown mode for batch work), PRESSURE BALANCE CONTROL (dial, 300–700 range, with OFF and RESET), PUMP RETRACT/NORMAL, MOTOR POWER, CONTROL POWER, and the red EMERGENCY STOP — which is for emergencies, not routine shutdown.

1,250–1,500PSI — standard injection
≥70°Fmin material temp
~80°FB-side target at the gauge
300–700pressure balance dial

Below the panel, the PHX-40's dual fluid gauges are your real reference: run standard injection work at 1,250–1,500 PSI, and before any job confirm temperatures are up — at least 70°F, with the B-side target around 80°F (warm material around 100°F on a running rig is normal). The hydraulic adjustment knob lives on the backside of the machine: clockwise raises pressure, counterclockwise lowers it — and you watch the fluid gauges while adjusting, not the hydraulic ram gauge.

Control panel with hand on dial
The PMC panel. Heaters, cycle counter, pressure balance, pump direction, and the E-stop.
Control panel wide
Working the panel. Fluid gauges below tell the truth — read them, not the ram gauge.
Lesson 6

Hose Heat, the Transformer & the FTS Cable

The heated hose is its own electrical system, and when hose temperature misbehaves there are exactly three suspects: the black power wire, the transformer, and the FTS cable.

Kill power before touching hose wiring — every time. Hose heat switch off AND generator off. The heated hose carries 20 amps at 120 volts; treat it like the live circuit it is. And before connecting or removing the gun, open the recirc valves and bleed off fluid pressure.
Lesson 7

Gun Setup — MixMaster Pro

The MixMaster Pro is a water-purge injection gun: a water line runs to the gun block so you can flush the mixing chamber on demand. That makes water your first checkpoint:

  1. Verify water flows through the gun block before anything else. No water = no safety net when material starts reacting in the block.
  2. Bleed system pressure (recirc valves open), connect the red and blue hoses to the gun, valves back to run.
  3. Test shot into the waste tote. You're checking mix quality, color, and both sides flowing evenly.
  4. Size the injectors to the job — the demo gun shipped with 0.5 injectors and got swapped to 0.70s after the test spray showed the flow was lean. Test, then size; never assume.
  5. Keep the water supply clean — a water line full of trash sends that trash straight into your gun block.
Lesson 8

Injection — Joints & Slab Lifting

Drill your holes, then verify each one with a water burst — if you drilled through, water comes out the far side. No water through means a blocked or short hole, and finding that out with foam costs a gun.

  1. Seat the gun (or the mechanical packer for slab work) in the hole.
  2. Shoot in controlled bursts, watching the slab or the joint — material or movement tells you what's happening.
  3. Pausing more than 3–5 seconds? Hit the water. A quick burst — as fast as you can flick it — purges the block before material can set. You have roughly an 8-second working window with hot material in a hot block.
  4. Mid-shot, prefer short material pulses over standing on the trigger — minimal water, minimal waste, maximum control.
  5. Verify your work: walk the joint or slab edge after — reacted foam at the edges shows the fill path.

Housekeeping: B-side drips clean up with brake cleaner. And the purge water amount is tiny when you're doing it right — don't let water-in-the-ground worries talk you out of purging.

Joint injection with MixMaster Pro
Joint sealing. Gun seated in the drilled hole, short controlled bursts, foam and water visible at the reaction point.
Outdoor slab lifting demo
Slab lifting. Mechanical packer at the slab edge — same discipline, bigger lift.
IBC waste tote labeled TRASH
The TRASH tote. Every purge, every test shot, every gun clearing goes here — never on the ground.
Lesson 9

Waste Handling

The waste protocol is simple and non-negotiable: an IBC tote, labeled TRASH, travels with the rig. Test shots, purges, and gun clearings all go into the tote — never onto the customer's ground, and never into a random bucket that ends up tipped in a truck bed.

  • Purge the gun into the tote before any cleaning or breakdown step — always in that order.
  • Line cleanup containers with trash bags so cured waste lifts out instead of becoming the container.
  • Gloves that touched the A-side go in the trash with the waste — not back in your pocket.
Lesson 10

Shutdown Sequence

  1. Shut the material valves at the back of the machine.
  2. Bleed off system pressure through the recirc/pressure valves.
  3. Cut air to the stick pumps with the pressure valves open.
  4. Disconnect hoses (pressure already bled — Lesson 6 rule).
  5. Panel, in order: PUMP off → MOTOR POWER off → CONTROL POWER off → MAIN POWER off.
  6. Heaters off, then compressor and generator down last.
The E-stop is not a shutdown button. It exists for genuine emergencies. Routine shutdown walks the panel in order — that's what protects the pump and the electronics.
Lesson 11

Gun Cleaning & Solvent Soak

  1. Purge first — into the TRASH tote, until the gun runs clear. Never skip straight to soaking a loaded gun.
  2. Place the gun block in the solvent soak drum (lined with a trash bag for waste containment).
  3. Hit exterior buildup with spray solvent; wire-brush cured foam off the front end.
  4. After soaking: lubricate the front end before reassembly — same discipline as every Alchatek gun.
  5. Walk the finished work with the customer while the gun soaks — foam at the slab edges is your proof of fill.
Gun soaking in solvent drum
The soak drum. Purge, then soak — solvent keeps the block serviceable between jobs.
Lesson 12

Field Troubleshooting — Pressure & Supply

Almost every rig problem is a pressure story. Read the two fluid gauges and work the list:

  1. Y-strainers first. Always. A packed strainer explains low pressure, starved supply, and chewed-up injectors all at once.
  2. A and B a few hundred PSI apart (300–400)? Supply problem on the low side, or a constriction at the hose end — most often fixed with a nozzle size change (e.g., 205 → 207) on the low side.
  3. One side at 200 PSI while the other spikes to 2,500? Blockage or no supply on the low side — period.
  4. Stick pump acting erratic — odd noises, intermittent stroking — confirms a supply issue, not a proportioner issue.
  5. Quick supply test: open both hose ends into containers and run the stick pumps — equal, steady flow means supply is good and the problem is downstream.
  6. Routine reactor maintenance beyond that: Y-strainers, pump lube, compressor and generator oil changes, and system flushes as needed.
"If the Y-strainer is completely full of debris, the hoses are likely crystallized too — and that contractor is going to keep burning through injectors until both get fixed."— Colt, Alchatek Technical Training

Vocabulary

PHX-40
PMC hydraulic proportioner — meters and pressurizes A and B at ratio; the heart of the rig.
MixMaster Pro
Alchatek's water-purge plural-component injection gun.
A-Side / B-Side
A = red = ISO; B = blue = resin. Color-coded through the entire rig.
Pressure Balance Control
Panel dial (300–700) governing proportioner operating pressure, with OFF and RESET positions.
FTS Cable
Purple thermocouple line running the hose length — tells the system the hose temperature. Fragile, ~$100, keep it ~50 ft back from the gun.
Hose Transformer
Sets hose-heat power to match hose length (150–300 ft) — must be re-set when hose sections change.
Y-Strainer
Inline screen ahead of the proportioner — the first check on every rig.
LW-197 Pump Lube
Keeps ISO from setting up in the pump. Clear/slightly milky = fresh; gel or solid = neglect.
Refrigerant Dryer
Removes moisture from compressed air before it reaches the system — moisture is ISO's enemy.
Mechanical Packer
Injection port device seated in drilled holes for slab-lifting shots.
Cycle Counter
Panel display tracking pump cycles; countdown mode supports batch jobs.
TRASH Tote
IBC waste container for all purges and test shots — it travels with the rig.

Knowledge Check

Score at least 4 of 5 to unlock module completion.

Q1. Your rig is showing pressure problems. What do you check first?
The hydraulic ram gauge
The Y-strainer — and if it's packed, expect crystallized hoses too
The generator oil level
Q2. A-side and B-side fluid pressures are reading 300–400 PSI apart. What's the usual fix?
Crank the hydraulic knob until they match
Replace the PHX-40
Check supply on the low side, or step the low side's nozzle size (e.g., 205 → 207)
Q3. What's the correct routine shutdown order on the control panel?
PUMP off → MOTOR POWER off → CONTROL POWER off → MAIN POWER off
Hit the EMERGENCY STOP — that's what it's for
MAIN POWER off first, then the rest in any order
Q4. The hose shows ambient temperature, and the machine is pushing a continuous ~20 amps down the line. Most likely cause?
The Y-strainer is clogged
The cycle counter needs a reset
A scuffed or broken FTS cable — and kill hose heat AND the generator before touching any hose wiring
Q5. You're mid-job and need to pause for more than a few seconds. What does the MixMaster Pro's water purge do for you?
Nothing — water should never touch the gun
A quick water burst flushes the gun block before material can set — use it on any pause over 3–5 seconds
It cools the slab so the foam rises slower
Saved — your progress is updated on the Training Hub.
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