Hodge Clemco has supplied a heavy-duty machine, for peening rail items for the London Underground network.
The size and weight of the products offered a real challenge for the customer in handling and processing the parts. Hodge Clemco provided a solution with a heavy-duty turntable bogie assembly which allowed the parts to be loaded outside the enclosure using a job crane or forklift. The bogie/table assembly then runs on low friction wheels which guides the workpiece into the cabinet.
Once inside the blasting chamber, the turntable can be rotated manually by hand, although power rotation devices are available as an optional feature.
This machine is designed to use, clean, and recover a peening quality shot. This material is propelled towards the surface in a controlled manner to achieve the required intensity, after which the material is vacuum recovered into a regrader for cleaning and then deposited into the pressure vessel for reprocessing. Verification of the machines parameters are carried out using regular Almen strip tests and the media is also routinely monitored manually using a sieve analysis procedure. This type of peening machine is also available with a choice of automated nozzles and component manipulators and high spec media reclassification systems.
The air inside the chamber is continuously cleaned using a specification reverse pulse dust extraction system. Any captured dust particles are deposited into a bin arrangement for easy disposal.
