For over 60 years, we’ve supported many industries, including automotive, energy, aerospace, and defense, by providing high-precision parts and specialty tooling. We always strive to expand our expertise and capabilities, and to this end, our business is constantly growing. We are currently looking to take on more customers in the Canadian Nuclear Industry, so would like to offer some of these types of work we do to support them:
Precision Grinding:
A manufacturing process used widely across many industries. it is used to fabricate and finish metal parts with very high tolerances. The process can accommodate each client’s specific needs to tightly control ID and OD as well as hard to maintain flatness and parallelism specs. It guarantees accuracy, which is very important for industries that require tight tolerances and high quality, like nuclear and aerospace. LLMT offers multiple grinding capabilities and machines, including Haas Multigrind from Germany, Studer, DCM, and ABA surface grinders.
Hard Milling:
A specialized machining process that allows our shop to mill steel parts with a Rockwell hardness (Rc – a measurement of an object’s resistance to deformation) of 60Rc+. This process suits highly accurate face details on tools where grinding is unsuitable or sink EDM would be too costly or time-consuming. LLMT offers multiple milling capabilities with machines from Makino, Okuma, and a brand new 5-axis Roeders mill on the way.
Hard turning:
Working in conjunction with milling, hard turning is utilized for cylindrical objects and takes standard “soft” turning to the next level. Often more efficient than grinding when dealing with complex forms (multiple steps or contours), hard turning can be cost-effective and efficient when utilized with the right projects or feature requirements.
EDM (Wire and Sink):
Electrical Discharge Machines use a series of electrostatic discharges in conjunction with a wire or shaped electrode (wire and sink, respectively) to cut, remove or shape materials. We use EDMs for:
- Cutting hard materials (where conventional machining is not an option)
- Cutting sharp internal corners (through or blind)
- Producing geometrics that requires fine precision
- Four-axis and taper cutting
- Making complex 2D shaped parts (wire) or 3D (sink) where milling would be too labour intensive.
As mentioned, we utilize EDMs with machines from Makino and FANUC. Like other industries served, we can potentially minimize manufacturing costs and reduce risk while making high-quality parts for our customers.
Quality Control:
Our quality of work is second to none – High Quality is what Little Lakes is known for. We have been audited by our current nuclear customers to N299.4 for standard, non-code work and have been approved to N285 for Class 1 – Pressure Boundary work by select companies. These audits conducted by our customers, or their third-party auditors have shown that our quality system can support the specific needs and requirements that go into producing parts for the nuclear industry. N299.4 and N285 are international testing and inspection regulations developed by the CSA Group.
N299.4. is the quality assurance program that ensures parts and services supplied for nuclear power plants are controlled and traceable between the customer and supplier.
N285 lists general requirements for pressure retaining systems and components in CANDU nuclear power plants. It ensures that manufacturers comply with the design and construction of pressure-retaining systems and components.
LLMT is also proud to be a part of the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCNI), a group of members promoting and shaping the supply chain for nuclear energy worldwide.
The nuclear industry has some of the most critical material and tolerance requirements. Our qualified processes and expert team can produce precise and expertly finished parts or specialty for many nuclear equipment applications. Following in-depth quality assurance protocols, we guarantee precision parts and tools produced on-time and to your exacting specifications.
Contact us today at:
John D. Window
(519) 271-2835 Ext 240
johndw@llmt.com