One segment of the Transrapid points is 26 metres long.
The parts are filled with gravel to absorb vibrations. (Photo: Fischer)
When the Transrapid flits through China, Richter Maschinenfabrik
has contributed quite a lot to make it possible: The points,
weighing many tonnes, are made by it in Hessisch Lichtenau.
Hessisch Lichtenau · They like it when jobs are
really heavy. "Preferably ten tonnes upwards", says Joachim Kraus,
authorised signatory of Richter Maschinenfabrik AG. The company in
Hessisch Lichtenau (Werra-Meißner District) is a specialist for the
machining of large steel parts. The most prominent heavyweight in
the production hall at the moment are points, on which the
Transrapid Maglev train will flit from Shanghai to Pudong. Eight
will be made in Hessisch Lichtenau, each comprising three 26 metre
long, 60 tonne heavy segments. The points can swing up to 3.5
metres to the side - a mobility which, without joints, comes from
the material only.
These hunks are something special, even for the Richter
employees who are used to working with large dimensions. Not only
because they are milling and drilling for the North Hessian
showpiece project, the Transrapid. Not only because they had
already written on the wind the original job for the planned
Hamburg-Berlin route, which wasn't built after all. But also
because the project requires a precision which can be looked on as
a real challenge.
The long steel segments's slide blocks and skirt plates on the
at the top and side are milled. Then the 60 t colossus is carefully
placed on its back. Then the threaded holes and milling for the
slot guideways. The so-called stator packs are fastened in them
later. They create the magnetic field which pulls the train.
Measuring points show the machines the way. The piece has to be
precisely aligned. A right-angle must be a really right angle. An a
parallel must be parallel: More than 1 mm deviation over the 26 m
length is not allowed. Each cut, each drillhole must fit precisely.
Corrections are hardly possible.
Around 5,500 hours will be spent on working on the eight points
before they start their journey at the end of February. Their way
leads to Thyssen-Krupp in Hanover first. Then they will travel by
ship to China. The company will earn hardly anything from the job.
Director and sole shareholder Axel Richter will instead be left
with the prestige - and hope. After all, the Metrorapid and plans
for a link for Munich's airport have not yet been taken off the
table, unlike the Berlin - Hamburg line.
Heavyweights such as the Transrapid parts secure a place for
Richter in a market niche. A 12 metre diameter drilling head
intended for the construction of a motorway tunnel is stored in the
138 metre long factory hall. The gigantic steel housing near it
will hold the gearbox of a frigate some day. A few metres further a
moulded workpiece gives off enough heat to fry eggs. It was heated
up very slowly to 600°C in the garage-sized furnace and then cooled
again. This was to remove the stresses after welding. It is now
standing in the factory hall, still 100 °C hot, until it has
reached room temperature again.
Richter's customers are machine makers. The three shift
operation requires large investments. A computer-controlled boring
mill which is also used for the points cost three to four million
DM. The plant will last around ten years before it will have to be
replaced.
Welding, drilling, milling, assembling: This scores
points among the customers who don't want to have to transport
their enormously heavy workpieces to a different supplier for each
production step. Richter is also setting its hopes on a new type of
press which a manufacturer, together with Dortmund University, has
developed for the automobile industry. With a force of 10,000
tonnes, it will be capable of dealing with the toughest materials.
In Hessisch Lichtenau the blank will be wound around like a spool.
In large format of course: More than ten tonnes of steel wire fit
on the cast iron body.
Source: HNA, Barbara Will, Photo:
Fischer
