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Hi Folks,
The following interesting, informative, useful and blatantly self-publicising articles can be found in this email...
In October last year we celebrated our 10th anniversary, which for engineering companies is not long. We have come a long way in these ten years and are now able to offer customers a wide range of engineering services all under one roof. Being the relatively new kids on the block has its benefits - we have a purpose designed workshop, with new and well maintained precision equipment. In fact we do not believe there are any cons - in terms of experience, as with any service industry, our experience is about the experience of the staff we employ - one of the key reasons for our success.
I hope you value some of the information in this update, and we look forward to assisting you with your engineering problems in the near future.
Mark Lovegrove - General Manager
Gaulin High Pressure Pump Heads Refurbished
When the barrels became worn in Fonterra's Gaulin high pressured piston pump heads, AIE undertook an overhaul that some people said was not possible - and saved Fonterra 85% on replacement costs!
Repairs on the three solid stainless steel barrels had previously been attempted by welding but this had been unsuccessful. The costly alternative was to replace the heads with brand new ones - or get our engineers to put their thinking caps on and find an innovative solution.
Not only were the inserts big and heavy, (to put it in layman's terms) they also had to withstand pressures of 10,000psi and temperatures of 178 degrees, with minimum stock leakage and risk of contamination to the product.
AIE's CNC machining centre had the capacity to machine the heads weight and size, as well as the machining tolerances. The solution was to machine out the existing worn barrels and to produce accurate threaded inserts that could withstand the high operating pressure. Our experienced team of engineers made a hardened blank template of the inserts to test the seating tolerance on each cylinder of the heads.
Not only did the new inserted barrels replace the worn surface, they also incorporated a seal for the piston which had originally been a separate part - this reduced some of the clearances so the seals actually worked better and saved our clients money in lost product.
So in summary we took on a job people said was impossible, saved our client's money, improved the machine and its profitability - oh and we did it during their shut and at short notice!
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Kiwi Engineerity Saves Ice Breaker Ship a Long Ride Home
 When the Nathaniel B Palmer ice breaker was dry-docked for repairs by VT Fitzroy Ltd at their Auckland dry dock, they found some serious problems. Seals to the propeller shaft had leaked and some of the anodes that protect the vessel from corrosion were failing, leading to rust badly eating into the rudders. Seals that kept seawater from the prop shaft bearings had also failed.
Marine Services Project Engineer for V T Fitzroy, Steve Lister, said that the repair problem posed two major issues for the company. "Being an icebreaker, everything about the Nathaniel B Palmer fits into the area of super heavyweight," said Mr Lister.
"The other major concern was to minimize dry-dock time for the owners. The challenge for the repair exercise was where to find a skilled engineering workshop with the capacity to machine the bearing journals on a 12.8metre, 27,000kg shaft, to the strict tolerances of American Bureau Shipping Standards, and in the shortest possible time."
The search ended at AIE's doorstep.
 After further discussions it was obvious that days in disassembling could be saved if AIE could machine the shaft with the propeller hub still on it. This raised the element of weight up to 40 tonne and a length of 15 metres but that was not an issue for us. We were well aware of the high cost of keeping the ship out of active duty so we did what we could to accommodate this – meaning we designed and built a lathe that could fit, complete with drive unit and created supports for the shaft and hub to allow us to achieve the machines tasks to the required high tolerances.
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Manufacture and Sleeving of Press Rolls for Carter Holt Harvey
 When your client has enough confidence in you to allow you to do something risky that, if it goes wrong, would have huge cost and time implications, you know you are doing something right. Two such instances recently occurred with Carter Holt Harvey Tasman.
Firstly, AIE were called on to produce a major piece of pulp machine press section equipment that would traditionally be sourced off-shore - and by major we are talking 13,000kgs, a diameter of 1.155m and an overall length of 6.3m.
The stubs and shell of the roll were both made from forgings that had been shipped in from the US - any mistakes would be time-consuming and costly. The roll was balanced to G1 specifications in a short time frame and shipping frames were made to ship the roll overseas for covering.
 The second job was the stainless steel sleeving of worn cast iron press rolls - to get them back to a usable diameter and provide a working surface with a longer duration. Spun-cast stainless steel sleeves were produced in France. We pre-machined the original rolls, then fitted the sleeves over the original iron rolls by heating up the sleeves.
The investment in technology and equipment at AIE enabled us to hold the rolls vertically while keeping close control of surface temperature of the sleeve and the roll - there were no second chances on this kind of a job.
After the shrink fitting we then accurately pitch grooved the whole roll.
According to AIE's Managing Director Paul Raethel, "We were privileged to be given the opportunity to take on jobs of this calibre. Not only did it allow us to prove our capabilities, they were also excellent learning and team building experiences that no amount of training can match".
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Living and Working in Eastern BOP - the Lifestyle Centre of NZ!
Lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle - here are just a few reasons why we love living and working in the Eastern BOP.
 Roger, our roving Business Development Manager, originally from Invercargill says living in Kawerau is handy to lakes, the sea - it's so central that it doesn't take long to go anywhere you want and it's also been a good place to bring up my family."
Jim Molesworth, one of our CAD Draughtsman and Fitter/Machinists, living in Whakatane. I enjoy camping surfing and fishing. I love the fact that I can drive for 10 minutes and be at a deserted beach.
Louise Mitchell, our Office Manager, having lived in Wellington for 13 years now lives in Whakatane. "Living here is much more of a relaxed lifestyle than Wellington, which I really enjoy. It's also small enough that you'll always bump into friends when you go out and you can't beat the weather!"
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New welding machine expands build-up capabilities
You may know AIE as a specialist in heavy machining, but did you also know that we have a specialist welding unit?
We have recently bought a new Miller 800 automated welding machine for rotational build ups. It can automatically build up anything from a 20kW electric motor journal with a diameter of 40mm to anything up to 4m in diameter.
 It can push up to 2.4mm wire and has been specially customised to deal with a wide variety of specific build up procedures, including mild steel, high tensile steel and specialised hard facing. Because the machine still does need an experienced human operator, the skills of our welding team are critical to achieving a high quality build-up. Our welding team have ASME IX 6-G and NZS 4711 tickets. Karl Duxfield, our welding and fabrication team leader, also holds tickets to a number of specialty procedures including duplex and martensitic stainless, which he trained for in Sweden.
When set up correctly the machine is able to produce a particularly smooth finish, which means minimum machining is required after the build-up. The pulsing unit helps to minimise the distortion from the welding process. The machine can be used for MIG, TIG, and MMAW processes. It is set up with a rotary manipulator which can handle shafts up to 14 metres long weighing up to 40 tonne depending on support configurations.
The Last Word - Engineer Identification Test
Strangely enough engineers are the butt of a number of cruel and hugely unwarranted jokes - here is one to prove that engineers do, in fact, have a sense of humour.....
Engineer Identification Test:
You walk into a room and notice that a picture is hanging crooked.
You...
A. Straighten it.
B. Ignore it.
C. Buy a CAD system and spend the next six months designing a
solar-powered, self-adjusting picture frame while often stating
aloud your belief that the inventor of the nail was a total moron.
The correct answer is "C" but partial credit can be given to anybody
who writes "It depends" in the margin of the test or simply blames the
whole stupid thing on "Marketing."
Have a great day, and thanks for taking to time to find out more about what AIE can do for you.
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If you would like to update your details please send an email to 
mark@aie.co.nz .
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