An Express Service from Giant Forging Press

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An Express Service from Giant Forging Press

A giant forging press is back making the wheels for France’s world record breaking TGV trains – and doing the job better than ever thanks to Sheffield-based DavyMarkham.

Bob Rae writes in the Sheffield Star:
The 6,000 tonne press has produced millions of railway wheels, since it was made by the Darnall firm more than 50 years ago and installed at the Dunkerque plant of Valdunes.

But, turning out wheels at the rate of one about every 3 minutes was starting to take it’s toll - prompting a panic email from the French firm to DavyMarkham managing director Kevin Parkin.

“We made the press back in 1956 and the French had carried out a number of repairs” says Mr Parkin.

This time, however, the press needed more than a bit of welding. Fatigue failures of the press’ forged steel columns had stopped it being used for long periods and temporary replacement columns were starting to develop significant cracks, so Valdunes decided to track down the original manufacturer.

“They sent us an email, asking if we were still in business” says Mr Parkin. “I rang them, dropped everything and went to see them. We redesigned the press and it is better now than it has ever been. We joked that it came back for a 50 year service. It’s fantastic that this has happened.”

The job was perfect for DavyMarkham’s newly launched, dedicated reconditioning service, which specialises in bringing old equipment up to modern standards for, in some cases, as little as a tenth of the price of a new machine.

The Prince of Wales Road firm used the modern technique of Finite Element Analysis to analyse the press and recommend design changes to extend its service life.

It then designed and manufactured eight new bearings and matched bearing supports, remachined the 70 tonne top and bottom press tables and managed the production of four new 0.7 metre wide and 11 metre long steel columns.

DavyMarkham drew up the specification for eight custom-made Superbolt tensioners. The Sheffield firm also provided technical support and inspection services during the three week re-building process.

Firms from across the continent were involved in the refurbishment , making it an exercise in pan-European cooperation which the original team that made the press in Sheffield would not have dreamed possible.