Marine Crane Drum Weldment

In order to complete this project, we sought to stretch the limits of our Mazak 350 M live tooling lathe to give us the competitive edge on pricing to compete against other shops that would generally require the use of several different machines to produce the same results. This approach allowed us to produce a high quality precision machined finished part within the customer's cost requirements.

Method & Approach

With the use of our custom turning tooling we were able to turn the required 18" diameter, whereas standard machines only allow for turning up components up to 16.5" in diameter. Coupled with our stub length live tooling Motors, we were able to turn-mill the 847 inches of ball grove that wraps the part.

Our 90 degree right angle heads Mill drill and tapped features in the face of the part which accurately located the starting point of the crane cable. Our experienced operators completed the programing of the turning and milling operations entirety on the shop floor. All materials procured for this project require the highest standards including all welding to meet the MIL-STD-248 standard.

Project Challenges

One of the key challenges with this project was the use of the MIL-STD-348 standard. This is a defense standard used by the United States military that establishes uniform engineering and technical requirements for military-unique or substantially modified commercial processes, procedures, practices, and methods.

Another unique challenge was one that gave us an opportunity to be innovative in our approach. As mentioned previously, the large 18" diameter part would have typically required specialized machines that would have increased the project's cost, however our custom turning tooling allowed us to complete the job without issue.