World Champions Weld and Solder with Leister Equipment

Author: Roland Beeler, Head of Business Line PRF, Leister Technologies AG, Switzerland

As head of our Plastic Fabrication, Roofing & Flooring business unit, I am naturally involved in the IFD World Championship for Young Roofers.

And when the IFD asked Leister if we would like to be a sponsor, we didn't have to think twice. We are proud to support young professionals. In addition, it is important to us to be committed to the roofing industry and the promotion of young talents in the roofing trade.

IFD Roofing World Cup in St. Gallen at the Olma Exhibition Center

Teams of two roofers, no more than 28 years old, compete every two years at the IFD World Roofing Championships and fight for victory. This time in the city of St. Gallen, world-famous for its Abbey Library.

For those that don't know: IFD is the abbreviation for the International Federation of the Roofing Trade. Their purpose is

• to serve as a permanent bond between the members belonging to it,
• study common professional problems and derive insights for individual members or the organization as a whole,
• to safeguard and support the common economic, business, technical, social, cultural, and other professional interests of the members on an international level.

For years, the teams of the Austrians and the Swiss have been dueling in the sealing of flat and pitched roofs, each time offering a neck-and-neck race. But it has never ended as happily as this year for both teams. Because this time there was a double victory: Austrians and Swiss shared the first place on the podium.

Also something special and therefore worth special mention: for the first time young female roofers participated in the IFD World Championships.

And for Germany, a mixed team competed with Julia Peetz and Matthias Kremer. The two won the bronze medal in the metal roof category.

Participants from Eight Countries

At this year's World Roofing Championships, teams from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Estonia, Lettland, England, Hungary and Poland, competed against each other. A total of 27 teams were at the start.

Exciting Competition

In the competition in the waterproofing category, the new TPO plastic waterproofing membrane SikaRoof AT from the Swiss company Sika AG was used. This new waterproofing membrane is very flexible to use and has a large welding window. In addition, this waterproofing membrane contributes to sustainability because it does not contain plasticizers. The handy TRIAC AT hot air gun from Leister was used by all teams and impressed with its safe and reliable welding.

Swiss Win World Championship in the Categories Pitched Roof, Metal Roof and Facade

The Swiss made life very difficult for the other competitors, as they also took the world championship titles in the pitched roof, metal roof and facade categories. Germany was also on the podium in every category. The other ranks were shared by Poland, Hungary and Austria.

Here is the ranking of the world-champion teams in the waterproofing category:

1st rank: Austria Patrick Jäger-Nemec and Fabian Mächler

1st rank: Switzerland Simon Amrein and Dominik Schwab

3rd rank: Germany Tim Leidig and Lukas Röttig

Leister sponsored a TRIAC AT hot air gun for each of the winners. We congratulate all of the teams and the winners.

Novelty: Soldering with Hot Air at the Tinsmith Competitions

For the first time, the participants in the Spengler competitions soldered electrically with hot air, i.e. without gas and open flame. For this purpose, they used the Leister TRIAC AT hot air gun with the soldering iron kit. There were several good reasons for soldering with the soldering iron kit:

• more safety (no fire hazard as with open flame soldering)
• precise soldering thanks to exactly adjustable temperature
• no too high temperature, which heats the metal too much

The following teams won the world championship title in the metal roof category:

1st rank: Switzerland Lucas Löpfe and Andeas Wirth

2nd rank: Hungary Andras Mark and Norbert Vlkosky

3rd rank: Germany Matthias Kremer and Julia Peetz

Afterwards, Lucas Löpfe came to the Leister booth and said: “Soldering with hot air is an ingenious invention.” Many other participants, supervisors and roofers also visited our booth and tried out soldering with the TRIAC AT and the soldering iron kit. All of them were very enthusiastic. Perhaps soldering with hot air will change the industry in the long term. Because apart from higher work and material safety, there are no environmentally harmful emissions when soldering with hot air as there are when soldering with an open gas flame.

Many participants who visited our booth also found the UNIDRIVE 500 semi-automatic welding machine very cool. This is especially because it is designed for all overlap welding applications on flat and pitched roofs.

Many Thanks for the Good Cooperation

We would like to thank IFD and Jannone AG, Leister service and sales partner in Switzerland, for a good and trusting cooperation. And, of course, we can well imagine being a material sponsor at the IFD World Roofing Championships again in two years. Because we aim to support the roofing industry and young roofers.

Links

International Federation of the Roofing Trade (IFD)

Leister's service and sales partner Jannone AG from Switzerland