Why Minitap?

Minitap was designed and developed by utility services contractors to deliver a super compact hot tapping solution across the wide variety of conditions experienced in field operations.

Minitap has been proven in hot tapping on the following pipe materials using diamond or tungsten carbide cutters:

• Cast iron
• Ductile iron
• Steel
• Reinforced concrete
• Asbestos
• PVC “Blue brute”
• MDPE

Valve adaptors, cutters and pilot drills conforms to standard dimensions, and can be ordered to suit the user’s requirements.

Minitap uses a standard hydraulic power pack (20 Liter/minute hydraulic output) as this provides a safe and dependable propulsion solution without the added risk of electrical devices in the workspace.

This allows Minitap to be used in difficult to access work areas as the hydraulic power unit provides a mobile standalone power source.

Patented Technology

History and Development

With an ever-increasing number of utility services competing for space in the typical residential and commercial underground verge area, it is becoming increasingly difficult for service contractors to install hot tapping connections into existing utility pipes.

During 2016, Minitap was designed to allow for large offtake (<150mm/6 inch) hot tapping in standard low pressure (<1,000 Kpa/ 145 PSI) water, gas, and other utility services pipes.

The design objective was to move away from the typical design featuring an elongated drive shaft, to a compact design which enabled contractors to fit the machine into confined areas between other service pipes.

A prototype was developed during 2017, and after extensive testing, it was launched successfully to the Australian market.

Minitap has been proven in the field having completed thousands of hot tap connections in a wide variety of conditions. During 2019 Minitap was awarded a patent in Australia (Patent Number: 2019338427) and in 2022 that was followed by a patent award in the United States of America (Patent No.: 11,248,729 B2).

The unique design has also been registered in the United Kingdom and Europe. UK Design Registration No: 6366105, EP Design Registration No: 015061376