An 18-year-old Power Curber 6700, belonging to Larry Chitwood of Chitwood Construction wowed his dealer, Sam Howard of Delta Equipment Service, during a recent visit.

“He couldn’t believe it,” said Chitwood. “He said it was the cleanest one he had ever seen.” We’re persistent in making sure that when the day’s pour is over, the machine is cleaned up.

Five years ago, Chitwood had the machine re-painted and re-detailed. It also has helped that his machine operator, Tom Benton, has been on the job with the Power Curber 6700 for its entire 18 years.

The factory stopped production of the 6700 model in the 1980s. After taking on additional work in the last couple of years, Chitwood Construction, Ponco City, OK, upgraded its curb machine to a Power Curber 5500-B.

Before it arrived, however, the crew got sentimental and posed with the 6700 for a picture on what Chitwood called “the last pour.” He said, “We were pretty attached to the 6700, but the 5500-B is a lot more versatile.”

According to Chitwood, the new machine will save up to 50 percent of the time required to set up hand forms for radius work. With the 6700, he could pour only a 25-ft. (7.6 m) outside radius. The 5500-B will pour a 2-ft. (.6 m) radius.

“Before, we would do the straight run part of the island by machine and come back and do the radius work by hand,” Chitwood added.

The Oklahoma contractor also likes the transportability of the 5500-B. “The 6700 required an over-width permit every time we moved it out of town,” he said. The 5500-B moves at legal highway width.

According to Chitwood, the hopper/sensor set-up also is greatly improved. “What we got is exactly what we need,” he said. The machine weighs less than 17,000 lbs. (7,701 kg) so there was no need to purchase a larger truck or trailer for hauling.

Chitwood Construction has a long association with Power Curbers. In 1971, Chitwood bought the company for which he worked. He started with Power Curber extruders, models 2400 and 700 and moved to slipforming in 1982 with the 6700.

“The reason that I keep going back to Power Curbers is that the personnel is great,” said Chitwood. “The people are wonderful.”

(This article appears courtesy of Power Curbers.)

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