MechChem Africa February 2019

Local engine remanufacture saves time

As South Africa looks to make greater use of natural and landfill gas in the generation of electricity, it’s a reassurance to the market that the country has world-class engine component remanufacturing capacity to optimise the lifespan and reliability of these generating sets.

“ M aking more use of gas as a power source is an exciting prospect for South Africa, both in terms of its reason- able cost and its lower environmental impact. Equally positive is that the expertise and state-of-the-art equipment to remanufacture theseengine components alreadyexists in the country,sodoingtheworklocallysupportsthe economy, reduces turn-around times and cuts costs,”saysAndrewYorke,operationsdirector of Metric Automotive Engineering. Henotes thatwhilenatural gas is generally a clean burning fuel, landfill creates a much harsher environment for an engine, as it is difficult tocontrol the level of contaminants in gas that emanates fromanyparticular landfill. This significantly reduces the intervals that the enginewill require betweenmaintenance interventions.

“The relatively poor quality of gas requires advanced ignition monitoring systems in the en- gine, but the wear rates remain high due to the highly abrasive post-com- bustion residue, de- spite filtering of the gas,” he says.

Heating of the head prior to valve seat sleeve installation.

altogether when it comes to diesel engine component remanufacturing. What is important is that the machining centres provide consistent accuracy levels resulting in a superior quality remanufac- tured engine block. Each centre has the ca- pacity tohandle6.5m long blockswith ease. Yorke notes that operating two of these large three-axis computer numerical con- trolled machining centres will enable the company to offer a faster turnaround to its customer base. He does caution, however, that thenatureof block repair is a significant remanufacturing process and not simply a ‘skim over’. “These are not light repairs which take only a few hours,” says Yorke. “This type of machining, which will see the block being returnedback toOEMspecification, is done over a number of days depending on the condition of the block,” he points out. This equipment is complemented by the company’s almost 50-year track record in remanufacturingdiesel engine components, a capability that has long been acknowl- edged by all engine manufacturers and their distributors who work closely with our company. q the engines is usually between 1.0 MW and 10 MW. The company also provides custom- ers with service exchange units, to enhance efficiency in the maintenance process and reduce downtime. “Service exchange units allow customers to have remanufactured components like cylinder head assemblies readily available to take to site when worn components need replacement,” he says. “These engines are

“With natural gas, for example, cylinder heads will need to be replaced every 20 000 to30000hours.Withengines burning landfill gas, however, they could require attention as early as every 5 000 hours.” Metric Automotive Engineering has al- ready been conducting work for customers in the both the natural gas and landfill gas segments, where the generating capacity of

Second extra heavy duty CNC for Metric Automotive Metric Automotive Engineering recently commissioned its secondRottler F109extra heavy duty multi-purpose CNC machin- ing centre to meet a significant increase in demand for quality large diesel engine component remanufacturing. components is a result of engine users placing greater emphasis on scheduled refurbishment programmes. He says this is an attempt tomitigate against unscheduled downtimecausedbymachine replacements, which can have catastrophic results.

Andrew Yorke, operations director of Metric Automotive Engineering, says the increased demand for large diesel engine

“The trend where operations wait for engines and their components to reach the point of failure before attending to

much needed repairs or refurbishment is start- ing to wane,” say Yorke. “This is apparent across the earthmoving, con- struction, mining, power generation and railway sectors as we see more accurate condition mon- itoring starting to be implemented.” The Rottler F109 machining centres at Me t r i c Au t omo t i ve Engineering’s facility in Johannesburg are two of only 18 operatingworld- wide and place the com- pany in another category

Increased demand from customers has seen Metric Automotive Engineering add a second Rottler F109 CNC machining centre to its facility.

10 ¦ MechChem Africa • February 2019