SANDMARK has been manufacturing and supplying shafts of all sizes to a range of customers since the past decade. In particular, large shafts that have demanding requirements is a SANDMARK core competency.
The first step to manufacturing large shafts is the production of ‘blanks’. Blanks can be produced using either a casting, forging, or, in some cases, fabrication process. The choice depends on a variety of factors such as material, size, functional requirements, and product specifications.
Castings are a common process for producing blanks. Because of the high functional demands of these products, the castings should be of very high quality with no defects. An excellent casting process for manufacturing shafts is cylindrical casting or spin casting. No weld-repairs are allowed for these cast blanks.
Forged blanks are much stronger than castings, but there are limitations to the size of forged blanks that can be commonly produced.
The secondary operations for the blanks are typically precision turning and grinding operations.
As a final step after the secondary operations, the shafts may be dynamically balanced based on their functional requirements.
Some shafts are comprised of dissimilar materials that are welded together. The welding specifications for these shafts are very tight and each part is subjected to intense quality control at each process step.
