Fife Engineering's Blog

Urgent Response

fifeengineering — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:47:40 +0000

One of the hardest areas to cover for a sub contractor is breakdown work when response time is critical. Recently one of our customers had large guillotine blade holder, weighing over 2 tons which had cracked, this item is very important and production stopped immediately.We dispatched one of our engineers who was on site within the hour to assess the repair requirements, it was decided to remove the holder transport it back to Fife Engineering that day for repair. A complete reconstruction of the cracked end was undertaken and the holder was returned repaired and strengthened within four days.

areas marked for rebuilding

begining the rebuilding process strengthening the fabrication

rebuilding the skin

rewelding the reinforcing plate

finished reconstruction

installing holder at customers site

Understanding your needs

fifeengineering — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:08:27 +0000

Fife engineering will come to your facility and discus your requirements. We will fully understand your needs before presenting our report / quotation. As a responsible sub contract engineering company we will maintain a dialogue with existing and prospective companies on the status of your project, whether this be at the surveying stage our during any part of the manufacturing process.Our aim is to give our customers the confidence to approach Fife engineering with any engineering problem or need.

Precision and General Fabrications

fifeengineering — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 08:17:19 +0000

Just a reminder to all our customers, Fife engineering is able to fabricate both small and large fabrications to customer specifications. We have highly qualified personnel in both welding and machining disciplines and we can produce complex fabrications to high tolerances. Fife engineering will also take on machine refurbishment, and new build to customers drawings and requirements.

almost finished

Finished

Shut down and Maintenance

fifeengineering — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:21:17 +0000

Just a short reminder to all our customers. If you intend to perform any preventative maintenance or you are having a shut down at any time this year please feel free to contact us to assist with any repair requirements. Here is abrief reminder of some of the services we can provide.

Site visits to assess requirements
Machine stripdowns and rebuilds
Fabrication work
Refurbished components
Manufactured components

All of the above are carried out by highly skilled engineers, who are more than capable of providing you with precision engineered components as good if not better than the original.

Keeping you safe

fifeengineering — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:00:14 +0000

During these times of uncertainty for sub contract engineers the need for flexibility and the ability to step outside your comfort zone, whilst looking to develop new business is paramount.

Gone are the days when Fife Engineering only did rubber covered and steel rollers it has had to look to other business sectors and understand their requirements to still be thriving during these trying times.

One area we have had success in is the manufacture and installation of safety guarding on production lines. Understanding the varied requirements of our customers we have been able to fabricate guarding which comprises of the physical steel mesh guard complete with gates fitted with dead locks and safety cut off devices all interlinked and fitted to our customers instructions.

Fife Engineering recently completed a full machine guarded system which is over 13 meters long 6 meters wide and 2 meters high. The system had to be flexible, allowing the workforce segmented access to the machine whilst still in production and yet still providing a safe working environment.It had to be robust enough to handle the occasional knock from 15 ton coils of steel.

Our solution provided a bespoke system which fulfilled the customers requirements for safety and flexibility and was installed with the minimum disruption to his production schedule ,so much so that we are currently working on a second project and will finish installation the early part of this year.

Conveyor Belt Drive Roller

fifeengineering — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:15:32 +0000

Production lines all over the world have a number of common key components to assist with mechanical handling of their finished or part finished items. These are rollers and conveyors.

If the product is conveyed it would usually be via a belt which is driven by a roller,Known as a conveyor belt drive roller. In most cases this roller will be rubber covered, and depending upon the conveying system and type of belt some conveyor rollers will also be grooved. The grooving performs a number of functions such as gripping and centralising the belt. The groove can be produced either by using C.N.C capability or manually by hand depending upon the complexity of the groove specification.

Fife engineering has recently refurbished a conveyor belt drive roller for an international confectioner. Our customer depends on us to supply a roller that meets both his specification and food hygiene regulations. The rubber therefore has to be FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved for use in an environment where it may come into contact with food.

After sourcing the rubber Fife Engineering bonds the rubber to the prepared steel stock by a vulcanising process. After vulacnising the roller is proof ground in preparation for grooving. Once the roller has been grooved it is finish ground, cleaned and inspected.

Hand grooving

Finish grinding

Finished groove pattern

Maintaing high standards of welding.

fifeengineering — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:56:33 +0000

As our customer base continues to grow the demands on Fife Engineering skill level increases, no more so than in our welding ability.

We are well known for producing high quality rollers and precision engineered components to the highest standards, but more and more our customers contact Fife Engineering with projects that require high quality welding.

So much so that we have invested a high percentage of our resources to maintain our welders qualification to BS EN 287 (ASME IX). We are working with Lloyds Register and The Welding Institute (TWI) to assure our welders continue to maintain their high standards and are currently qualified on a range of materials including,

50D
RQT
Mild Steel
Stainless steel among others using various welding techniques on a wide range of material thickness from 3mm to 70mm for open and closed butts and 5mm upwards for fillet welds on tube or plate.

Laminating Rollers

fifeengineering — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:54:12 +0000

Glue Manufacturers are constantly re-formulating glues and adhesives, mostly as a result of customer demands. Given that there are glues and adhesives for paper, laminates, wood, and various textiles etc, it is understandable that as new glues come on line then a new range of rubber and silicone covered rollers must also be available to apply these glues. This process is known as laminating.

Fife Engineering is at the forefront of rubber and silicone roller manufacture for the laminating process. With a range of Neoprene’s and Nitriles for PVA glues and several high quality Silicones and EPDM Silicones for hot melt polyurethane glues Fife Engineering is able to offer the correct roller for your laminating application.

Finish grinding

Final inspection

Mobile Climbing Wall.

fifeengineering — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:37:55 +0000

This year Fife Engineering have manufactured two mobile climbing walls. We were commissioned by a local climbing wall manufacturer to look at the possibility of attaching a climbing wall to a mobile trailer. After many hours of head scratching we had an initial design, which was acceptable to our customer, and began to fabricate the framework.

The design involved several engineering disciplines fabricating, turning, milling, welding and hydraulics which eventually saw the framework raised into the air. There were several elements to consider, which we identified during the manufacturing of the first mobile climbing wall, which stood seven metres high when raised. We had to consider the overall weight to identify the correct hydraulic cylinder to fit, this also dictated the correct trailer to manufacture.

Stability and safety were also key factors in the design, these factors dictated which materials were used and the foot print of the wall when in its raised position.

Mobile Climbing Wall in its transporting position

Here you can see the Cliumbing Wall begining to be raised into the air.

Here you can see the Climbing Wall being raised into its up right position.

The Mobile Climbing Wall, up right and ready for use!

Let Fife Help You Care For Your Rollers

fifeengineering — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:05:01 +0000

How hard are you being hit by the credit crunch not to mention the recession? After weeks and weeks of doom and gloom and little prospect of better times for quite a while yet we’re all looking for ways of getting that “extra mile” out of our machines and equipment. If only we could make this or that last a little longer before replacement or refurbishment! Well maybe we can add a little feelgood factor to the equation.

Lets’ talk about rollers, yes rollers and in particular your rollers. Did you know that you can get more out of them by merely storing them correctly and did you know that by not fitting and handling them correctly you will shorten their lifespan considerably. So maybe you store them on the floor in your office, or maybe you lean them up against a wall balancing only on the journal end? Or do you lie them on the shelve without supporting the journal ends. All these methods of storage will not only shorten the working life of your roller but in many instances will damage the roller or cause serious “flat” on the surface.

Rollers are essential components in your production and we can help you get the best out of them by passing on a few handy tips regarding handling and storage.

Keep all your rollers in a controlled environment and do not expose them to extremes in temperature variation.

Never store your rollers outside or in direct sunlight as surface finish will be impaired and performance compromised.

Coated rollers are fragile and usually expensive components and should never be placed flat on the floor but should be supported using V-Blocks upon which the journals can be supported. We can supply V-Blocks if you wish.

Larger rollers are heavy and are best left in their purpose built transportation boxes until required for use.

Always leave the Fife Engineering protective covering on the roller until you are ready to install the component.

Never leave your rollers stacked on the floor or hard surface or lying against one another as this will result in “flat” spots forming on the roller surface. If this happens your roller will probably need to be reground.

The above are but a few handy tips to help you get improved performance and longer life out of your rollers. Fife Engineering will be happy to visit your site/plant and offer advise on roller storage and handling. A little time and thought taken upon receipt of your roller can save you money in the long run and let’s face it we all need all the help we can get at the moment!

A little story to ponder on! Back in the summer (if you can call it that) we were asked to manufacture some mobile shower fabrications. Yes you may think it a strange request but in the end they were a great success when used strategically placed at the Great North Run in October. So when the going got tuff, the tuff took a run through shower!! And ………..

everyone had a great day and lots of money was raised to help so many people.

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