Pentre Kovo completes two major refurbishment projects

Our team in Czechia have demonstrated their versatility by repairing both corrugated shipping drums and process reels.

The engineering team, led by production manager Vaclav Kusa, have repaired the drums for a Belgian manufacturer of high-end copper and aluminium products. The project has specifically focused on warped flanges - the discs at each end of the drum that contain and protect the wound product.

These flanges measure 2550-2650 millimetres in diameter, and span a mix of ages. They were manufactured by both Pentre Kovo and other companies.

The 630-millimetre process reels have been repaired for a multinational power cable manufacturer, cutting out and replacing damaged bosses - the hub at the centre of each flange that carries the reel on its shaft and takes the brunt of the wear in service.

The bosses were cut out using precision plasma cutting, before a new one was welded in and machined true. The plasma technique relies on an electric arc which ionises a gas as it is forced through a fine nozzle, producing a jet that's hot enough to melt steel and fast enough to blow the molten metal clear of the cut.

The replacement design carries a replaceable insert, so the wear surface can be swapped out in future without cutting into the flange again.

"Our core focus is the design and engineering of new reels and drums," said Pentre Operations Director Kevin Diskin. "But projects like these show what our engineering teams can do when a customer's existing assets are worth saving rather than scrapping. As sustainability becomes an ever-bigger part of our industry, that capability matters more each year.

"Plasma lets us remove the damaged boss precisely, without disturbing the rest of the reel structure - fast, accurate and with a narrow, controlled heat-affected zone. It is a well-proven technique, and the innovation here is in what we put back.

"Designing in a replaceable insert was a deliberate choice. It means the next refurbishment is quicker and cheaper than this one, and it extends the working life of a high-performance reel that would otherwise be nearing the end of its useful service."