DA Design Automation – The (Very) Last Line in Flood Defence?
When fire, flood or theft leaves the North in need of window and door repairs, the insurance industry trusts Martindales. But when Martindales’ needed precision engineering help to maintain its service, it turned to us.
It seems like a long time ago now, but before the pandemic hit, Yorkshire, Lancashire and North Wales homeowners were fighting a battle of a very different kind – against rising floodwater.
The water may have subsided but the damage remains. And that’s where Martindales has been helping. As the UK’s leading provider to the insurance industry, the Bolton-based company has been replacing damaged wood and UPVC doors, windows, conservatories and garage doors. But whilst Martindales custom-makes its products to ensure true like-for-like replacement – taking them from raw materials to the finished patio door or stained glass window – there are some items that occasionally need a little extra engineering.
“Some of the doors we replace might be 100 years old,” explains Martindales MD Andrew Martindale. “If you need a new lock or a window catch, you can’t simply go out and buy one.”
Instead, Martindales turns to DA Design Automation: “We’ve used DA for years to make small components in ones and twos, machined from solid materials.”
But our latest project for Martindales was far more critical than usual, and on a much grander scale.
The super-large mastic gun
Martindales uses an extruder (a piston in a cylinder) to ensure its double glazed units are sealed. It is essential to the business, but the extruder was leaking sealant and the only available replacement was in Australia. Not only was the cost of the unit an issue; at almost a tonne the shipping costs were too. And if the company couldn’t manufacture its windows, residents wouldn’t be able to return to their homes. The company asked us what we could do to help.
Martindales had a one week shut down planned and we used that week to refurbish the extruder. “It was like a super-large mastic gun,” explains our director, John Morris. “The bore had been damaged so it was unable to squeeze the hot rubber liquid into place under pressure. We had a new liner made by specialists in Birmingham, sourced new bespoke seals because you can’t buy them off the shelf, then relined the bore instead of replacing the entire component. We project managed everything and worked to extremely tight tolerances.”
One of John’s biggest challenges were the stand-off shafts. “We couldn’t remove them as they’d seized into the 18 year old machine,” he recalls. “That’s the problem with old machines – you have to work with what happens.”
DA Design Automation did just that, and now the extruder is back in use, and back helping Martindales support its flood-hit customers.
“They’ve done us a good job and saved us money,” says Andrew Martindale. “We always give DA unusual projects but they are always able to cope. They’ve never let us down.
Having someone nearby was really useful too. We like having that face to face contact. I’d definitely recommend them – they’re invaluable really.”
To explore solutions to your machining, design and manufacturing challenges talk to us.