About the project
The MV “Aburri” was designed specifically for McArthur River Mine operations. Its dimensions are 79.95m by 18.5m with a draft of 3.5m and a capacity to carry 3,200 tonnes. It self-loads and discharges concentrate at an average of 900 to 1,000 tonnes per hour.
SLE Engineering was contracted to manufacture a new propeller shaft for the vessel. The vessel was due for an out of water survey and a spare replacement shaft was required.
As the propeller shaft was almost 6 metres in length and 152.4 mm in diameter the machining was carried out on SLE Engineering’s 6 metre bed lathe. By using our Mimic tracing attachment we could accurately machine the 12:1 tapers for the coupling and propeller. The shaft was then transferred onto our horizontal borer to cut the keyways. As this shaft had to be transported to our client’s site it was packaged in a timber crate.
