Edition 10 / 2013

Your Safety is Our Number 1 Priority

www.hofmannengineering.com

News Designing, Engineering, Manufacturing and Refurbishing Precision Equipment

2013 – Edition 10

3 Alice Street, Bassendean (PERTH) Western Australia 6054 Ph: +61 8 9279 5522 Fax: +61 9 9279 9386 www.hofmannengineering.com [email protected]

Established 1969

Hofmann Engineering has provided a reminder of the capabilities of the Australian precision engineering indus-try by turning out an eye-catching gear for use in China. Manufactured at Hofmann’s Bassendean facility, the forged steel mill gear is believed to be the world’s big-gest, boasting an external diameter of 13.2m and weigh-ing 73.5 tonnes. It will transmit 17,000kW when driven by two 9 tonne pin-ions, also made by Hofmann Engineering. The completed gear set is bound for the grinding mill of an unidentified copper mine in China.

The company’s initiatives have included development of a price competitive process to use forged steel for gearing, enabling the company to make stronger, longer life prod-ucts than made by conventional cast steel methods. In addition to the 17,000kW double pinion SAG mill gear shown in the picture Hofmann Engineering designed and manufactured the most powerful single pinion ball mill gear – pinion set ever build. This 10.1m forged steel ball mill gear for a Canadian mine is driven by a single 9,000kW pinion. By Holger Fritz

*Congratulations* Congratulations to all staff who have reached milestone anniversaries with Hofmann Engineering, especially to: 25 years: Mark Hofmann; Emanoil Tataru-Sibu; Andy Sykes 20 years: Mylles Bates; Troy Freeman; Dan Coraga; Val Lukjanowski; Chris Johnston; David McGladdery 15 years: Jamadagni Torvi; Colin Mackay 10 years: Raymon Beattie; Brett Allender; Simon Woolford; Rudy Keswick; Jason Gallacher; Ashley Bernard; Martin Gonser; Peter McEniery

WORLD’S LARGEST FORGED STEEL GEAR MADE IN AUSTRALIA, EXPORTED TO CHINA



Hofmann Engineering Pty Ltd (Bendigo) was awarded the contract for the supply, fabrication, trial assembly, surface treat-ment, shop assembly and delivery to Sparks Road in Henderson (Western Australia) for two sets of Bogies and Equalisers for ThyssenKrupp. The project spanning over two years utilised all three Hofmann facilities in Australia with Bendigo and Metaltec covering the bulk of the machining and fabrication components. All of the com-ponents were then transported by road, rail and sea to Perth where the team commenced stage 1 of the assembly at our Bassendean workshops. The com-pleted sections were then transported to Sparks Road for final assembly and hand over to the customer. The logistical requirements of the pro-ject as well as the vast amount of ob-jective quality evidence logging re-quired proved challenging to overcome. All three facilities worked hard as a combined team to achieve the end re-sult. By Stephen Turner

In February 2013 Hofmann Engineering’s Service division located in Antofagasta Chile was awarded a major gearbox overhaul of the complex 495HR hoist trans-mission. The contract was awarded by a major Chilean copper producer. This transmission is one of the most complex gearboxes used in the 495HR Shovel fleet and has seen several service challenges throughout its history. The decision to award this rebuild to Hofmann Engineering was based on the current outstand-ing installed performance of Product Improved Hofmann Engineering transmis-sions. Due to the mine having 4 Hoist Transmissions at risk of failure a first priority delivery was requested. Well supported by our team in Perth, Australia and Sen-ior Supervisor Colin McCormack, our Chilean Technicians worked in conjunction with the mine maintenance & reliability personnel to achieve the required delivery. Achieving the required 45 day turn around proves Hofmann Engineering South Sudamerica’s commitment to their customers in achieving complex rebuilds in shorter lead times than the current market standard of 6 months. The upgraded bearing design (from Australia) was incorporated in the Chilean rebuild to elimi-nate the known failure associated with this transmission throughout the Shovel users world-wide. By Aldo Tapia

BREAKING PARADIGMS IN SOUTH AMERICA

Z FILTER Z05 PROJECT Hofmann Engineering was recently involved with the com-plete design, Development & Manufacturing of Z05 Filter-ing machine Prototypes for Z filter Pty. Ltd, Canningvale, WA. Z-Filter is a unique system for transporting and processing free-flowing materials. In its simplest form, it is an ideal de-watering and filtering system, which is continuous and self-cleaning. Z05 machine is a compact, high-throughput system, easily adapted for different applications, including minerals pro-cessing, algae & biological waste processing. Hofmann Engineering has utilised its well developed de-sign, development, Project Management & Engineering expertise across all sites on this important project. By Theo Lemonidis

ALL BOGIED OUT



Hofmann has been involved for many years in the repair and refurbishment of Dragline Walking Eccentrics. The knowledge and experience gained from repairing cracks and building up worn surfaces and drive connections; in conjunction with knowing the practical application, has allowed Hofmann to design and build Fabricated Eccen-trics using high quality forgings and positive heavy weld-ing techniques. The current design is applicable for the Marion / Bucyrus /CAT brands of spline driven eccentric. The eccentrics are designed by Hofmann, F.E.A. analysed and 100% built in-house at Hofmann’s Perth facility.

Through the use of Quenched and tempered, clean, quali-ty forgings, and the interlocking hub to outer ring via full penetration welding supplies positive, solid drive during the Dragline walk application. Hofmann also supplies the traditional Cast Version as well Offering the full Eccentric services of:

• New Cast

• New Forged Steel Fabricated

• Refurbish and repaired Hofmann are your one stop alternative to ‘keep you walk-ing’ By Colin Mackay

FORGED STEEL—FABRICATED ECCENTRIC

Hofmann Engineering established its Bendigo manufac-turing plant in 2010 after taking over the former Bendigo Ordinance Factory (ADI) Heavy and Precision Engineer-ing Facility from Thales Australia. The remarkable pro-gression has been recently capped off by the establish-ment of a new purpose built road, eight metres wide and capable of carrying loads of up to 200 tonne. Named ‘Bushmaster court’, the road was officially opened by the Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional and Rural De-velopment Peter Ryan on Monday 26th August, 2013. Founding Directors John & Erich F Hofmann were on hand for the cutting of the ribbon. Significant investment in training and plant & equipment has enabled this site to manufacture Mill Shells in excess of 180T and up to 13 metres diameter. Refurbishment and manufacture of mining and defence components are of focus for the site. Examples include the manufacture of a complete tub for a Marion 8050 dragline (scheduled for completion in 2014) as well as shafts up to 35mts long & 1.8m diameter for commercial and naval ships. By Sam White

HOFMANN BENDIGO - A NEW ADDRESS

Opening of Bushmaster Court (Left to right): Cr Barry Lyons, Thales Australia’s Chris Jenkins, Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, and Hofmann Engineering’s Executive Director John Hofmann.

The Hon. David Hodgett—Minister for Manufacturing—Vic (front 3rd from left) alongside Hofmann Directors John Hofmann and Erich F Hofmann (4th & 5th from left) along with Hofmann Bendigo Employees



Hofmann Engineering now offers brand new & refurbishments for your caterpillar Dipper handles complete with retract and takes-up mechanism. We are now in the process of manufacturing a brand new handle for a customer in South America adding to our ever expanding parts list. This handle is product improved to eliminate the typical failure mode by accommodating a rede-signed spreader and stop design. Other notable product improvements are full pene-tration welding and blending of all high stressed areas to AS1554 part 5. We have used a specially designed and sourced forged alloy tube with superior mechanical properties. We strongly believe this will be another success story once it’s in its home. By Pradeep Palanisamy

NEW CAT 7495 DIPPER HANDLE FOR SOUTH AMERICA

VRM GEARBOX REPAIRS - CEMENT INDUSTRY

HOFMANN SERVICE EXCHANGE

Reacting to the market demand through the tough economic times Hofmann Engineering is providing economical alternative service exchange solutions for Mobile equipment. Hofmann exchange transmissions 340008 & 389117 for O&K, TEREX, BUCYRUS & CAT hydraulic excavators enable customers to minimize the total cost of operating their mobile equipment while maintaining peak productivity and reliability. Over the progression of a machine’s

lifespan components must be replaced in order to ensure continued optimal performance. Within these transmis-sions key components are replaced with Hofmann product improved and reconditioned parts which reduce operation-al costs without compromising quality. Fatigued and dam-aged components that are delivered to our rebuild facili-ties for disassembly and inspection are assessed against Hofmann Engineering’s precise reusability guidelines. All reconditioned exchange components come with a same-as-new warranty, available on-demand to customers, re-ducing scheduled and unplanned downtime. Individual parts that can be reused are assembled and tested to our latest factory specifications and are ready to begin their new life. By John Shaw

MINIMISING THE TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

Hofmann Engineering recently completed a complete re-furbishment of a 66 tonne VRM (Vertical Roller Mill) gear-box demanding High operational reliability & Very long service life. These gearboxes are a critical piece of equip-ment for a cement mill operating 24/7 with only one annu-

al shutdown. Service lives of these gearboxes are para-mount and our long-term experience in the field helped in an incredible turn-around of this gearbox back to service in high precision. This gearbox was tested in our state of the art live test bed prior to despatch. By Pradeep Palanisamy

Edition 10 / 2013

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Transcript of Edition 10 / 2013