Yes, you read that correctly. It’s Christmas time here at CanTorque.
We just took possession of our next piece of equipment: a CNC Lathe! And we couldn’t be more excited!
The machine itself will offer a whole new dimension to our in-house capabilities. But before I discuss what it will do for us and our customers, I want to describe the process of actually loading and unloading the machine because that’s very impressive.
Our new lathe was purchased from another machine shop in Edmonton, Alberta. Buying locally allowed us to see it in action and check all its functions to avoid purchasing a lemon.
First of all, credit for making this purchase and transportation easy needs to go to my partner in the machine shop, Mr. Bernd Hornauer, who spent many, many hours planning and scheduling to ensure that problems were identified and eliminated before they manifested.
Unfortunately, I never took a picture of where this machine was located in the seller’s shop but suffice it to say that it was a very tight fit.
Our rigging crew showed up exactly when they said that they would and had the machine out of the shop in less than an hour.
The original plan was to have the unit sent straight to CanTorque but Mother Nature had other plans that superceeded ours: with a major snowstorm that also included freezing rain. Safety prevailed and it was decided that the trucking company would store the machine in their shop nearby until after the Christmas break.
The trucking/rigging companies were both excellent and equally meticulous to Bernd. They both stopped by the shop to inspect drive access, door openings, etc.
The day before the formal arrival we took temporary delivery of the largest forklifts that I’ve ever seen:
Due to a scheduling conflict I wasn’t actually able to see this monster work.
Within very short order we had the machine offloaded and in position. The next step was to get the machine connected to power.
Fortunately, we have a very good friend who is a nationally certified red-seal electrician who had things connected later that evening.
Of course, we’re always a bit anxious until we go through our checklist and see the machine work for the first time:
Did a few quick function tests to make sure that everything travelled properly, the ATC (automatic tool changer) would index, etc.
Everything worked perfectly!
Now, we need to order tooling as well as material for our commonly made parts.
The lathe has a very large chuck that will allow us to turn larger OD materials as well as a smaller chuck for smaller pieces. It has a bed of about 30″ and a 22″ swing, there’s not much that we won’t be able to do.
What can we make for you?
You can call us on 780-436-2000, email info@cantorque.com, fill out our contact form or launch a chat/video conference (please be patient; if we’re not at the computer, it will take us a few min to respond)