Metal Stitching - The Metal Surgery process

Our Company is named after our proprietory process for repairing broken ferrous and non-ferrous castings by ‘stitching’ the metal together.

The Metal Surgery process consists of locking together fractured castings by drilling holes at right angles to and across the line of the fracture, joined to conform to the shape of a nickel key.

Individual layers of nickel keys are inserted into the apertures and peened into a metal to metal condition which becomes almost integral with the parent metal.

Holes are then drilled along the line of the fracture, then tapped and filled with nickel screws, each screw biting into the other. The result is a pressure tight joint and restores lost strength to the casting.
 

Key Benefits are that existing, hard to replace castings can be repaired, while repairs can also be carried out in-situ, minimising downtime.

The pictures below show recent repairs to the main winding wheel (made in 1894 and impossible to replace) at the National Trusts Levant Mine Museum in Cornwall