Portable machining companies like to quote a fast response time to your initial call. Arriving on the scene with milling equipment, boring bars and lots of people, they might provide a good impression at first glance. And yet, consider this: the success of a portable machining company is judged by how fast they can complete a job-not how quickly they can get started on it. Remember, after reviewing the machine and meeting with your employees, fixturing is the next priority. Fixturing on site, done well, is key to ensuring a successful repair. That’s why Field Systems is the leading portable machining company for so many industries. Our superior fixture design and manufacturing processes means we can complete on site repairs quickly, and with the right field machining equipment.
For steel mill field machinery repair, outage maintenance, and more-get the solution that the leading international steel mills have been relying upon for more than 30 years. With everything from line boring gear boxes to table roll pockets, knife block seats on shears to mill stand bottom pads, Field Systems has the answer for all your steel mill portable machining needs. We do coupling bolts holes, and cylinder, crane pin, coiler roll, table bores and more. Get the professionals who specialize in success-call us today for answers that will increase your efficiency, solve problems, and increase production, fast.
Since 1978, Field Systems has been the answer when the work piece cannot be taken apart for an easy fix, and you need a solution, fast. Our in situ machining is the answer, with custom machine tools that are designed to mill, bore or drill your damaged equipment while still in place, quickly and efficiently. Save thousands of dollars in lost revenue by getting your machines up and running again as soon as possible with our help. The experts at Field Systems are the portable machining pioneers, for more than thirty years.
The greatest thing about
portable machining is that the scenery is always changing and this project was no exception. This venerable Chicago office tower had a chiller tube flange and flange cover that were severely eroded.
Unlike power plants and steel mills where overhead cranes run wall to wall, we had to haul our machine over this step in order to reach the crane. A wood ramp was quickly manufactured which allowed our massive tool to overcome this small obstacle - Every day is different.
The severe erosion of the flange is visible, here.
The flange cover was sent to the FSM shop and machined there.
The machining is in progress.
We like our setups rigid, and this is no exception.
This is the completed machining of the flange. Note that we did not go to entirely 100% clean up, per the client's direction. This chiller should run unfettered, for another several decades to come.
One of our perennial clients operates a massive hammer forging facility which specializes in forging exotic alloys such as Niobium, Hafnium, Tantalum, and Vanadium. When this venerable forging supplier requires on site machining, Field System Machining is proud to be their go-to vendor.
In the video above, Field System Machining is performing on site machining to restore to level the hammer forge anvil base. Field System Machining has performed
In Situ Machining,
On Site Machining,
Field Machining and
On Site Machinery Repair to the metals industry for over thirty-four years.
One of our ace machinists is pictured above, depicting exactly how dirty a person can get while on site machining.
Field System Machining performs on site machining projects for the metals industry, including but not limited to on site machining steel mill machinery, forging machinery, tube mill machinery, iron making machinery, extrusion machinery, material handling machinery, and metals handling machinery.
In the photograph, above, you see the beautiful surface finish provided by Field System Machining's On Site Machining services.
In the photograph, above, you see a closeup of the portable milling cutter performing flawlessly on the metal hammer forge anvil base. Field System Machining never met a hammer forge we didn't like. Portable milling and portable boring services to the metals industry is one of Field System Machining's core competencies.
Every now and then we have a steel mill outage
portable machining project that, while important, does not stretch us to the extreme limits of machinery, fixture design, men, and compressed time. In this most recent episode of Field System Machining's continued
steel mill machinery repair dominance, we simply drilled thirty-two two inch clearance holes, allowing scale clean out from the plate mill heat treat leveler line.
We specialize in the
difficult portable machining jobs but we can handle the easy ones, too.
Field System Machining recently completed on site machining and shop machining of the male and female main mill twin drive motor forge couplings. The coupling was worn and weld repaired prior to machining. The machining project required two portable machining setups to re-machine the motor end of the coupling, as well as horizontal boring mill machining of the drive end of the coupling. The coupling required tapered fits with radii and tapered fits needing eighty percent contact. Field System Machining has completed
steel mill turnaround in situ machining since 1978.
Above is the condition of the main mill drive motor end, prior to machining.
In the photograph above, the
on site machining of the steel mill main drive coupling motor end is being face cut.
Above you can see the beautiful finish of the motor end coupling, prior to machining the tapered keyway.
Above you can see the second
portable machining setup necessary to complete the in situ machining of the dovetail keyway.
In the above photograph you get an idea how massively rigid was the setup to machine the dovetail.
Above is a nice closeup of the tapered fit being machined into the main motor coupling, motor end.
Above you can see the beautiful results of the steel mill main drive motor end coupling, ready for its mate!
Above is a video of the machining of the steel mill main drive motor coupling.
Above you can see the progress of the weld-repaired drive end of the twin motor main mill drive coupling, which was machined in our shop on our vertical boring mill. Field System Machining repairs machinery weighing up to 40,000 pounds in our Chicago - area machine shop.
Steam turbine overhaul and turbine repair services are core competencies for Field System Machining. We perform major
steam turbine nozzle repairs, reblade and rebucket stationary and rotating elements, disassemble, clean, repair, and set overspeed trip governors, perform major diaphragm repairs, turbine case split line machining, repair erosion shields, overhaul valves, and handle any other steam path repair component necessary to put a steam turbine back on line.
In the video, above,
Field System Machining is machining the weld-repaired steam turbine nozzle.
In the above photograph are the results of blue checking the steam turbine nozzle to shell fit. Field System Machining has repaired steam turbines including steam turbine nozzles since the 1970's.
Steam path repairs are a core competency of Field System Machining.
In the photograph, above, you can see that the diaphragm retainer bolt holes were badly damaged, with some of the holes cracked partially into the ligament, and some like the upper right hole having material entirely missing.
Above is the condition to which we restored the turbine shell diaphragm retainer bolt holes. In addition to repairing the holes, the customer requested that the holes be machined one inch deeper, and tapped back to original size. This 1940 DeLaval turbine shell is going back into service well-repaired and ready to run for another decade or so, before overhaul.
In the video, below, you can watch the successful setting of the steam turbine governor overspeed trip switch.
When you approach your next steam turbine outage, call Field System Machining. Our pricing, accuracy and time to completion rival any supplier in the turbine overhaul industry.
Field System Machining was recently hired to correct a bearing rotation problem in a single leaf
bascule trunnion bridge located on a state road in a high water vessel-trafficked area.
This bascule bridge required
on site machining to stop a bearing from rotating inside it's race. The bridge construction company had two options--pull the bearing, or modify the bearing using anti-rotation pins. The latter option was chosen due to time and cost.
In this photograph, above, we see the
field machining fixture plate fitted up to the bridge bearing, in preparation for drilling anti-rotation pin holes.
As is common performing on site machining bridge projects, the evelator does not always travel to the floor where the work is going to take place. On this project the general contractor provided rigging support from a barge-mounted crane parked next to the bridge. The bearing room pictured above was one flight of steps away from the elevator. The contractor's on site crew was highly efficient at loading our machines into the bearing room.
In this photograph you can see the FSM manufactured hydraulically powered, numerically controlled boring machine.
Field System Machining has designed and manufactured portable and shop machining tools since 1978, and we are getting pretty good at it.
The challenge of this project was that the bearing race was roughly twice the hardness of the bearing, and the holes (two holes, each 1.2670" x 5.2500") had to be centered half into the race and half into the bearing. Keeping the carbide end mill plunging straight into the hole without walking required great care in fixturing, tooling and execution of this project.
In the video above, we see the bascule bridge being raised. Being from Chicago, the city with more movable bridges than any other, we just love bascule bridges. The world's first bascule bridge was not only built in Chicago, it is still there, and it still works!
The Cortland Street Bridge.
Custom hardened pins were manufactured by Field System Machining and ground to size after field measurements were called into the shop.
Field System Machining specializes in one-off, custom on site machining solutions, where no off-the-shelf on site machine tool exists to handle the project. Field System Machining has set the possibilities curve in on site machining since 1978.
Field System Machining portable machining solutions include machining vessel sealing flange faces to restore flatness. Sealing face leaks result in lost energy, lost product, and lost productivity. While field machining is not inexpensive, lost manpower productivity and product productivity is expensive and over time, these losses will consume and exceed the cost of fixing the sealing face.
In this photograph we see one of the two vessels requiring machining to the flange sealing face. This critical surface requires a flat surface to properly mate up to the overhead product connection. These surfaces, through heat and pressure, lose flatness over time.
On Site Machining can restore these surfaces to day-one, factory smooth finishes.
In the photograph, above, we see the portable flange facing machine in place, and cutting away. The complexity of this job is not getting the machine to cut the flange, but getting the machine trimmed out so that the flange is machined level to earth. This requires shooting optics to trim in the machine.
Here is another view of the
portable machining of the vessel sealing surface, in action.
In this photograph we see one of the two vessel flanges completed. Both vessel sealing faces were machined in twelve hours. Whether you require
pressure vessel machining, portable machining, on site machining, in situ machining, in place machining, on line machining or other machining, on site, Field System Machining sets the possibilities curve. If it absolutely, positively has to be machined in place, on site and on time, Field System Machining will get you there.
To learn more about on-site machining, read this article.