|
Don't Toss That Used Rotary Feeder
One of the important services Precision offers its customers is rebuilding rotary feeders. Unlike Precision’s modular PMV rotary valve which features replaceable parts, feeders are fabricated units. When feeders wear – usually in the rotor and barrel – they can be rebuilt to like-new condition at a significant savings. Precision has been remanufacturing feeders, including competitors’ models, for over 30 years. We service customers throughout North America, providing the same warranty for rebuilt feeders as for Precision’s high-quality new units. The remanufacturing process starts with the complete teardown and inspection of the feeder, which is then cleaned up before rebuilding. The barrel is repaired and re-bored, or skimmed, with just enough of the original surface machined off to remove any wear marks. After machining, the housing barrel is re-chromed. The rotor ends and blades are replaced with new material and then machined to the original factory tolerances, precisely fitting the refurbished barrel. Finally, the feeder is reassembled with refurbished end bells, new bearings, new brass end-seals, and new knives. The rebuilt feeder is inspected, tested and painted. Read more here. |
In This Issue of UpTimesPrecision's Machine Shop Capabilities Rotary Valves for Extreme Environments Manufacturing Process Innovation
Meet Precision's Shop Superintendent, Bill Peters
Precision Machine & Mfg., Inc.
info@premach.com
|
|
|
|
Our Machine Shop Loads 16 TonsWith one fist of iron, the other of steel, our mills and lathes handle material weighing up to 33,000-lbs.
Our state-of-the-art machine shop features a full range of fabrication capabilities including automated robotic welding, along with some of the largest, most powerful computer numerically-controlled (CNC) machine tools available. Because the PMV valve is rebuilt by simply replacing parts, tolerances are critical to ensure proper fit of new parts manufactured years after the original valve was machined, assembled, and sold. Consistently holding three decimal place machining tolerances requires skillful operators and the best materials, but mostly it demands modern CNC machine tools which can guarantee repeatability of dimensions.
Precision maintains an array of large capacity equipment, investing $1.5 million in new machines within the past three years. The CNC mills in Precision’s manufacturing facility can handle material weighing up to 33,000 pounds with table travel up to 118”x78”x63”, and its lathes can turn shafts up to 126” in length and a 31” swing. Precision machines virtually any material including various grades of steel, stainless and other alloys, but also plastics and other non-metallic solids. We have the experience, the skilled craftsmen, engineers, and equipment not only to build PMV rotary valves, rotary feeders and screw conveyors to the tightest tolerances in the industry, but we also have the capability to handle your custom machining needs, whether a production run or a prototype model. See Precision's Capabilities PowerPoint Presentation for a comprehensive list of equipment. |
|
|
|
|
Product Feature: Precision Rotary Valves Designed for Extreme Environments
Precision Machine & Mfg.’s modular PMV® rotary valves are available in Severe Duty and Ultra Duty versions for use in extreme industrial environments where typical valves do not last. Precision’s Severe Duty models not only use piloted, flanged roller bearings to withstand radial thrust loading, but barrel sides and rotor are made from a 500 Brinell hardened alloy machined to three-decimal place tolerances. The barrel sides and end wear plates are plated with RW-90, an exclusive chrome-like alloy, that lasts longer than chrome. For the harshest environments, Precision's most durable valve is the Ultra Duty PMV. These valves are treated using our advanced metallurgical process for use in plants where coatings, such as hard chrome, are not desirable or when extreme wear has been a problem for other rotary valves. |
|
|
|
|
Manufacturing Process Innovation: How Precision Stays Ahead
Precision continually develops and upgrades its tools and processes with the latest technology to improve our products and reduce cost in a competitive marketplace. One such innovation is the transition to laser cut steel parts from flame cut. This change, implemented in stages over the last year, has reduced the need for premachining valve parts, without compromising quality. Because of the closer tolerances offered by laser cutting, quality has actually improved as cost is reduced. Also, laser-cut parts include tabs which help simplify the assembly process for rotary feeders so parts literally are guided together, further reducing labor costs. Manufacturing innovations at Precision, the brainchild of Gene Pape, Manufacturing Engineer, are a team effort supported and implemented by Gene, and Matt Clearwaters, Sales Engineer. It’s one more way Precision stays at the top of its game. |
|
|
|
|
Precision's Shop Superintendent, Bill PetersWe must play. We must play. We must eat.
Bill played bass guitar, French horn, piano, sax, and sang, too, but as talented as that, the competition in the professional music world is stiff, with many years “paying your dues” for not much compensation. Bill had plans that began with a girlfriend whose mother worked at a Salem start-up real estate lock company that grew to become Supra. He needed a regular job. He impressed her by taking one at Supra as an apprentice machinist. The year, as they say in music retrospects, was 1971. Bill took to machining, earning his Journeyman Certification from the State of Oregon in 1980. He moved on to six years with Salem Equipment and 10 with Schrieber Machine. Read more about Bill here. |
|
|
|
|
Machine Shop Info
|
|
|
|
|
Precision manufacturing of
our unique, modular PMV rotary valve, as well as rotary feeders and screw conveyors
requires large, modern, high-end machine tools.
Bill Peters started college
with the intent of becoming a professional musician. A professor at his college
arranged for free recording sessions at a professional recording studio in Los Angeles,
at late off-hours, of course, but even that was cool about the experience.