Petrochemical precision

With its head office and modern manufacturing plant based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, X:CEL Superturn (GB) specialise in the production of high quality precision machined components and specialised joints and gaskets.

Although serving customers in the power generation, aerospace and construction sectors, the company's output is predominantly destined for the demanding global petrochemical industry. X:CEL Superturn has earned a reputation for producing high quality components for down hole drilling and both surface and subsea applications, and now supplies several of the world's leading oil and gas OEMs.

After purchasing X:CEL (GB) in 2007, Sheffield Superturn – established in 1983 by present managing director, Andrew Taylor – continued to establish its strong global supply chain and in July 2009 X:CEL Superturn opened a sales office together with a large stocking warehouse facility in Houston, Texas.

Wayne Adcock, X:CEL Superturn's quality manager, comments: “As failure in the field of any of our joint and gaskets could have catastrophic financial and environmental implications, we undertake the most rigorous quality control checks, both throughout the manufacturing cycle of our components and at the final inspection stage.

“To help facilitate this, we frequently invest in our quality control equipment and having recently identified a need for a flexible and accurate diameter measuring gauge that could be used on components located on our machine tools, we set about carrying out research on the options available Having thoroughly evaluated the market, we eventually requested a demonstration of Gagemaker groove diameter and groove width gauges from Bowers Metrology.”

Bowers Metrology stocks a wide range of Gagemaker equipment. Gagemaker's groove diameter/width gauges are able to accommodate diameters from 2.6 inch to 13 inch and groove widths from 0.34 inch to 1.5 inch. Optional rails extend the range of diameters able to be measured from 13 inch to 36 inch.

The face groove gauges accurately measure the ring groove diameter and width at the critical sealing point of the face groove, whilst the gauge indicators display actual deviation from a preset master dimension. The Gagemaker BX-1000 can be used for a range of applications, including the measurement of straight or tapered groove diameters, shallow bores, and hole locations.

Now in regular use, X:CEL Superturn's large diameter gauges are helping to maintain the high quality standards of the company's rings, gaskets and seals. “As our new Gagemaker instrument is proving to be very accurate and easy to use, it has taken away a potential bottleneck from our large capacity CMM, and is being used both in-process, with the measured component still located in the machine tool, and for final component inspection,” continues Mr Adcock. “We're very pleased with the Gagemaker products and will be purchasing further units in the near future.”

Bowers Metrology
www.bowers.co.uk