General Engineering and Machinery Repairs

You do not need a drawing. You do not need to know what the material is. You do not need to know what the part is called. If you can put it on our bench, we can measure it and make it again.

This is the work we do most often, and the work people ring about at the worst possible moment — when a boat is on the hardstand, a header is halfway through a paddock, or a production line has stopped.

No drawings? Normal.

Most parts that come through the door have no drawing and never did. The machine is thirty years old, the manufacturer is gone, the agent wants twelve weeks and a fortune, or the part number does not exist any more.

Here is what we do instead:

1. We measure the old part. Every diameter, thread, bore and length that matters.
2. We work out why it failed. A part that snapped was undersized, the wrong material, or badly heat-treated. Knowing that means the new one is better.
3. We model it in Fusion 360. You end up with a proper CAD file, which we keep — so if it ever breaks again, the second one is quick and cheap.
4. We machine it. In a material chosen for where the part actually lives.

If the part is in pieces, bring all the pieces. If it is worn rather than broken, bring the mating part too if you can — a bush is only right if it fits the shaft.

What we remake and repair

• Shafts — snapped, bent, worn or picked up. Drive shafts, pump shafts, spindles, stub axles.
• Bushes and bearing housings — worn oval, spun bearings, ovalled bores.
• Re-sleeving — a worn housing bored out, a sleeve pressed in and machined back to original size. Cheaper than replacing the whole component.
• Brackets and mounts — cracked, bent or badly designed from the factory. We will make the new one stronger.
• Pins, pivots, linkages and levers — the things that wear out on any machine that moves.
• Threads repaired or recut — damaged threads cleaned up, or a component remade with a fresh thread.
• Custom brackets and adaptors — for fitting one thing to another thing that was never meant to fit it.
• Machinery parts generally — if it is metal, it was machined once, and we can machine it again.

The machining is done here in the workshop. If the part cannot come off, we will come out and measure it — anywhere in Port Stephens, and out to Newcastle, Beresfield and Thornton. On-site repair work we arrange through the mobile welders we work with and manage as one job.

Who we do this for

Boat owners and marine trades around Port Stephens — shafts, brackets, stainless fittings, bits that live in salt water and eventually give up.

Farmers and earthmoving contractors — pins, bushes, linkages and the bracket that broke on a machine the dealer no longer supports.

Maintenance fitters — the ones who already know exactly what they need and just want it machined properly and back quickly.

Anyone with a machine that has stopped.

Make it better than it was

If something broke, it broke for a reason. We will tell you what we think that reason was, and where it makes sense we will improve the replacement — a bigger radius where it cracked, a proper heat-treated 4140 instead of whatever mild steel it was, 316 stainless instead of something that rusted out, a thicker section where the load actually goes.

We will not spend your money gold-plating a part that was fine. But if we can make it last twice as long for the same price, we will say so.

How fast?

Honestly, it depends what else is in the shop and whether we have the material on the shelf. What we will not do is give you a date we cannot hit.

If your machine is down, ring — do not email. Say it is a breakdown. We will tell you straight away where you sit and whether we can help today.

We will tell you the same day whether we can fit it in, and when. If we cannot, we will say so straight away so you can ring someone else — and usually tell you who.