Making chips in no time

Replace or repair? A question faced by many business owners. At De Beleyr-Engineering, on the other hand, it's an and-and story. The company has focused on the repair market since its inception, but it also uses the expertise it has built up therein in various sectors to produce new pieces entirely to customers' specifications. Flexibility is the key word in production, and that includes continuous investment in new machines. The recent addition of the XYZ RLX lathe with ProtoTRAK control makes it possible to get pieces back to as good as new (or even better) in no time.

Turning, milling, wire and spark erosion, thermal spraying and grinding...: De Beleyr has everything to finish pieces to perfection. But the most striking process is thermal spraying. In this process, droplets of molten material are atomized at high speed onto a substrate to become solid there and form a coating. Few companies have mastered the finer points of this process so well. 

"It's a technique that allows us to make components stronger and more resistant to wear. But it takes know-how to link the right coating to the right application with the right methodology. After all, thermal spraying can be done in different ways: wire spraying, plasma spraying or HVOF (high velocity oxygen fueled)... By offering everything under one roof, we can always offer our customers the best possible solution for their parts," explains manager Matthieu Vuylsteke.

Short on the ball with strong team....

In this way, De Beleyr-Engineering puts its slogan "we make your parts better" into practice every day. For the repair market, from which the company has historically grown, but meanwhile also for new parts. Vuylsteke: "To manufacture them in advance with better (specific) properties. A small additional cost, of course, but one that is very easily recouped in the long term because of the longer life of the pieces, and which also fits in perfectly with today's sustainability principles. Because these coatings can actually be repaired and replaced ad infinitum." 

In order to really make a difference in the repair market, De Beleyr-Engineering does everything in its power to be short on time. No obvious feat, when you know that it often involves single pieces, each of which must undergo its own sequence of operations. "Every day there are about 300 different pieces crisscrossing the production floor here. Our rock-solid team of 27 employees ensures that they are finished to perfection at every stage, without losing the overview. That is what makes us so strong as a company," Vuylsteke emphasizes.

...and strong machines

But this requires a high-performance machine park at the same time. Crispyn Machines can call itself one of the house suppliers. "What they promise, they also deliver. If a machine breaks down, which inevitably happens one day, I can trust that they will be here in no time to solve the problem." When De Beleyr-Engineering recently chose a new conventional lathe, it also had its eye on a teach-in lathe from XYZ with ProtoTRAK control. Vuylsteke: "A machine that immediately charmed us. We saw the potential to run it as a backup in production. That is, it would be on standby for urgent repairs." 

The ProtoTRAK control proves to be a huge asset in this regard. "A unique control, which allows the operator to quickly see what he is programming and make chips in no time. The help function is also a huge plus, because even those who are not so familiar with this control immediately find what they are up against and can continue machining. It combines the convenience of conventional with controlled power. A real added value in our production."

ProtoTRAK control intuitive and fast

Due to the dimensions of the XYZ RLX 425 x 2000 with turning diameter of 480 mm, clearance of 80 mm and 2,000 mm between centers, the machine also gives De Beleyr-Engineering the necessary flexibility to the pieces that can be placed on it.

"A full-fledged CNC control is too complex for much of this work. This is where our operators really assert their expertise. After all, for a lot of repair work, they can't start from an elaborate technical drawing. With the intuitiveness of the ProtoTRAK control system, it takes no time at all to program it and get it done. The machine does perfectly what we expected of it," Vuylsteke concludes.