Projects

Cranford Engineering makes bespoke parts for national manufacturers and for local businesses. Undertaking metalwork of all kinds, we have the knowledge to be able to take your project from design to completion – but if you just need a little specialist help, we can offer that too. For example, we have been involved in restoring the world’s first man-powered flying machine and helped develop a waterless egg cooker as demonstrated on Dragon’s Den.

Drive Couplings

Here are a pair of drive couplings that we made for a customer who was building his own Aston Martin based sports car.

He had Audi running gear and a big V12 Aston Martin Engine. He was linking the two and building fantastic Aston-like bodywork. We designed and made these drive couplings from scratch. There was a 52mm version and a 96mm version.

Motorcycle Fuel Rail

This client discovered us on the internet. It turns out he was less than 3 miles away in Chessington, Surrey. His project was the conversion of a 750cc Kawasaki motorcycle over to fuel injection and the problem was two fold: Firstly he needed to swap the fuel tap out for a feed and return plate. We carefully measured the fuel tank and then made up an aluminium plate with two pipes welded into it.

Secondly he needed to add a fuel delivery rail to his set on 4 in line chokes. He left it with us and the next day, we supplied him with a fully welded fuel rail in mild steel. It has a tube at each end and four connectors positioned using a digital readout.

Turbo Adapter Plates

Part way through adding a turbo to his sports car engine, the project suddenly stopped. There were two vital parts missing:

 The first was a spacer, 10mm thick in mild steel made to match an existing gasket. 

These two photos show the gasket and spacer on top of each other . You can see that thanks to precise measurements and very accurate waterjet cutting the part is perfect.

 

The second issue was a bit more complicated….

They needed a spacer plate to link one shaped hole to another. A round into a square. No problem for us. We modelled it in 3D CAD, profiled it on the waterjet cutter and finish machined it on the CNC milling machine.

Stage set: “Le Corsaire”

We have recently been asked to produce the frame-work for a stage set for the English National Ballet. They are running a production of  “Le Corsaire”, and touring a number of venues from 22nd October 2013 to 15th February 2014. We had to design and build an aluminium super-structure on which the performers could dance whilst being moved around the stage. The super structure was then clad by the very clever people at ENB to make it look like a ship. This photo shows the ship outside our workshop when it returned briefly for a modification. You can see it in-situ on the official website…  http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/lecorsaire/ I took my family to see the show, we all had an amazing time.

Boiler Plate Machining

An office interiors company called us up and asked if we could machine a round boiler plate to take a custom heater element. The boiler plate was 500mm in diameter and 25mm thick and required a central hole and an array of bolt holes.

We measured the positions of the bolt holes to find they were pretty random in position and size despite appearing to be evenly spaced. We quoted the job and won the contract. Each hole position was accurately determined and noted. we then drilled the boiler plate to suit. Finally we bored the central hole to clear the heater elements and the job was finished. As the customer had already paid the pro-forma invoice, he collected the job an hour or so later. Start to finish from enquiry to delivery was less than 12 working hours.

 

Specialist Machining

Here’s a shot of us machining a machine part for a very successful local company. 

They were struggling to get the parts they needed in time for a large production run. 

We came to the rescue by offering a very fast delivery. The company was delighted with the products. Enough said.

Rapid prototyping projects

Rob came to see me a few days ago. He said he had a little project and that we’d been recommended to him. He was very cross that a rapid prototyping firm had completely messed up his job. He showed me the drawings and a machined part and I had to agree -The part did not match the drawing. 

He asked me if I could make a prototype for him and I started straight away. We agreed that I’d model the part in 3D and once approved, I’d quote it and then make it within a week. Here it is …. all done. I can’t tell you what its for because it’d be unfair on Rob. I can tell you that it was machined from solid pieces of Nylon 6.6 and that everything fitted and worked first time and on time. Rob is very pleased. It’s not 3D printing but it is rapid prototyping.

By the way… we have a very close working relationship with a company offering accurate  parts 3D printed in a clear acrylic type material. We got some done recently and they were very impressive.

 

Vintage car parts

We have customers that are involved in servicing, restoring and race preparing vintage racing cars. Some of these cars are worth millions of pounds. These are cars for which spare parts are just not available. The manufacturing base that would have produced the cars in the first place may have been closed for decades and spares have long since been exhausted or in some cases never even produced.  

We have the flexibility in our manufacturing operation to reverse engineer or design replacement parts from scratch. We can even style the parts in the same theme as similar parts of the same vehicle. Here is a pair of replacement oil breather caps for a 1953 Aurelio Lampredi designed engine fitted to Ferrari’s 375 Mille Miglia F1 racing car. The CNC turning and thread cutting was done on our 550 Harrison Alpha and the undulating grip was machined on our Takumi Seiki vertical machining centre. See this video.

 

Ronart

For over thirty years Ronart kit cars have been built by the factory and by enthusiasts. 

One such enthusiast, Mario Zuccarello, has owned a Ronart for the last ten years. He’s been painstakingly working on the project to get it roadworthy and looking great. It’s still work in progress but he’s now pretty close. 

We helped him along the way by drawing up and CNC milling the Ronart Logo in two panels that he later mounted in the exhaust system. We did the easy bit. Mario finished them to an excellent standard.

Steering wheel centre caps

Custom designed and made steering wheel caps for the Ronart

We specialize in bespoke projects so CALL us to discuss how we can help you with yours.  01372 272380

 

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