The new grinding machine will be used to grind the outside diameter of seamless pipes, which vary in length from 5m up to 12m, with diameters from 200m up to 1,200m (as long as the weight does not exceed 15 tonnes). The grinding machine grinds the outside casing to give a smooth, flat finish to the pipe. The machine is 2.5m wide and 4.5m high, weighs approximately 70 tonnes and has a 16m travel for the grinding heads.

Wyman-Gordon manufactures a range of Class 1 rotating parts for military, civil and industrial gas turbines applications. These products include gas turbine engine shafts, structural and landing gear forgings for military and civil aircraft, as well as manifolds, sphere tees, valve bodies and seamless pipes for the offshore oil and gas industries. The Livingston plant employs around 275 staff and the plant covers 477,500 square feet.

The new grinding machine is part of a significant capital investment expansion project at Wyman-Gordon’s Livingston site. The plant boasts one of the world’s largest ‘clam shell’ furnaces, which is used to heat treat the seamless pipes.

After visiting CNES’ workshop facilities in Scunthorpe, representatives from Wyman-Gordon were confident that CNES had the technical know-how and experience to manufacture the grinding machine. In addition, CNES’ Scunthorpe Machining Workshops are fully equipped with heavy duty cranes and lifting gear, plus excellent machining facilities, which would be required to carry out the machine build. The majority of the new machine (in terms of weight) is in the rails and travelling beam, which had to be lifted in one piece, and so heavy duty lifting gear was required.

CNES received a contract from Wyman-Gordon to build the new grinding machine back in May 2007. The machine was built and ready to ship in November 2007. Delivery and installation – also undertaken by CNES – took place in December 2007 at Wyman-Gordon’s factory in Livingston. The grinding machine has since been placed inside an acoustic chamber at the plant and has just completed commissioning.

Chris Morris of Wyman-Gordon says: “The new grinding machine should cut lead times considerably for process pipe. The working relationship between CNES and ourselves has been excellent. So much so that off the back of this first job, we’ve given CNES additional work, which includes the manufacturing of new safety staircases and platforms for our works. This job is totally unrelated to the grinding machine work but we felt we should give it to a supplier that we could trust.”