OUR SERVICES

Services Summary

At DK Machine we have broken the complex process or grinding and finishing spherical parts down into its simplest parts. For each part of this process, we have developed time tested and proven procedures and equipment that allow us to manufacture these parts quickly and efficiently, that most machining or grinding shops will not touch due to the high precision required. We began down this road in 1985 to fill a local need in the rebuilding of balls and seats for the large ball valves that are used in the local Pulp & Paper industry, but we quickly learned that there was a much wider need for our services. To this day we continue to find new industries that benefit from precision grinding of spherical surfaces:

1. Valve ball and seat reconditioning- While we do not provide complete ball valve rebuild services, we can repair rebuild or recondition the valve ball and seats as required to facilitate rebuilding of the entire valve assembly and thru a relationship with a local valve rebuild shop, we can offer turn key rebuilding services by having them handle the assembly and testing portion.
2. Valve ball and seat manufacturing- With solid process and custom equipment in place for the repair of these parts, it was only a matter of time before we began to manufacture new valve balls and seats. While we still provide repair and rebuild services, it is often more economical to start with new parts Our business has now shifted to largely manufacturing new parts including the honor of providing these parts to support our US Naval fleet. We manufacture new parts from any materials, including new castings if necessary and we can provide parts finished with any type of surface coatings or finishes required.
3. Spherical Bearing components- One sector that revealed itself to us after developing our spherical grinding processes was the spherical bearing sector. We manufacture nearly any shape of part that includes a spherical surface- not just valve balls, but spherical bearings for the aerospace, automotive and oil & gas industries, hydroelectric facilities, wind turbine manufacturers along with seismic and oceanic movement isolation systems. If your part includes a spherical surface that needs to be held to a tight tolerance- you need to call us today
4. Solid spheres and other balls- In the fluid control industry there is also a need for solid or hollow spheres made of any variety of materials. These may be used in directional flow control (check valves) or liquid level control (hollow float balls) and while some of these applications can use standard off the shelf commodity balls, some require more strict material certifications such as NACE DFARS or any other governmental or private sector compliance, and some require a higher level of precision that cannot be purchased in a commodity product. The same holds true for various spherical roller applications or virtually any application that requires a full ball- either solid or hollow- manufactured to precision tolerances. Make your life easier and make DK Machine your only source for these products right away.
5. General Machining- Don’t forget, we can also handle all your general machining needs, even if they do not require precision spherical work. Or shop capabilities include turning capacity up to25” diameter X 40” long with live tooling and Y axis available on multiple lathes, and both vertical & horizontal spindle milling machine capacity of 41” X41” X 53”. We have the latest in computerized machining equipment including 3D C.A.M. software for program creation. Along with our CNC machining capabilities we have a full complement of traditional manually operated machines for secondary operations or tooling/maintenance needs. Let us quote your general machining jobs today.

Repair & Refurbish

At DK Machine we understand that the budget and/or the schedule sometimes will not allow for manufacture of brand-new components. We have developed a great working relationship with a local shop that can provide a variety of spray welding techniques and materials to build your worn parts back up so that we can provide exceptional quality refurbished parts for any industry. We can make your old spherical bearings or ball valve components like new again and often times by including hard facing technologies we can ship them back to you better than they ever were so that you can forget about that next scheduled teardown.

We commonly work with all the tough materials that many shops won’t touch; Inconel®, Hasteloy®, Stellite®, Monel®, Titanium, Zirconium, Waspaloy® and many others are just everyday occurrences here. We have the tooling and programming expertise to make machining these tough alloys a walk in the park. Along with these difficult to machine alloys, we also work with some of the toughest coatings and surface finishes in the industry. While we do not do any coatings or plating’s in-house, we have developed solid relationships with trusted and approved suppliers for any type of severe service coatings, platings, and other surface treatments. We are very familiar with High Velocity Oxy Fuel (HVOF) applied coatings like Chrome Carbide, Tungsten Carbide and many others. We commonly finish spray & fuse and laser clad coatings of many materials as well as more traditional chrome plating, Teflon® coatings or any number of PVD, CVD diamond-like coatings or other vapor deposited hardness or lubricity enhancing coatings. Similarly, we do not perform heat treating or non-destructive testing here but rather leave that to the experts who specialize in only that. This philosophy allows us to focus our efforts on what’s most important to you; high precision machining and grinding of your valve balls and seats or other components for the gas & oil industry.

Many years ago, we developed strict procedures to adhere to the US Navy regulations and requirements for quality assurance and part traceability. These procedures are so efficient and foster such an environment of quality that we decided to implement them across all jobs that pass thru the shop so that all our customers can reap the benefits of assured quality that they provide. Written procedures for everything process in the shop ensure you will benefit from our systems designed to satisfy the requirements of the US Navy including MIL I45208A. All our quality systems are audited regularly by our own employees and regularly scheduled external audits by the Navy and their sub-tier suppliers. These audits ensure that we are consistently exceeding quality standards. We also maintain tight working relationships with inspectors from sub-tier suppliers who are in our shop regularly to perform in process and final inspections. This allows us to stay up to the minute on any changes required in our quality assurance program.

DK Machine has developed a series of equipment to perform fully automated and semi-automated grinding and lapping of spherical parts. This highly specialized equipment allows us to provide that perfect seal or bearing surface much faster and more consistently than our competitors. Our unique lapping equipment eliminates part distortion and heat which provides your parts with a rock-solid sealing or bearing surface that is dimensionally stable and assured to provide a long service life. We can provide a top-quality seal or bearing surface to your specifications weather you need one piece or a thousand.