MANUFACTURING
Two individual factories form Calder’s Chester facility. Both combine state of the art plant and equipment with skilled production operatives to create the products for which Calder is justifiably renowned.
Calder’s building products factory focuses on lead and associated products for the construction industry. With two 60 tonnes melting pots, an 18 tonnes per hour rolling mill producing flat sheet or coil, lifting capacity from four cranes, three slitting machines, an auto saw capable of 150 palletised and bar coded pieces every hour. This factory produces lead products that grace buildings of every type across the World.
Lead is indisputably one of the great building products. For centuries it has been used to cover the roofs of cathedrals, churches and public buildings and there are countless other applications of lead sheet on houses and offices, historical buildings, as well as private houses and offices.
The UK market is the largest in Europe for lead sheet and Calder hold a significant market share.
From lead sheet to custom flashings and decorative fixings, the architectural applications of Calder’s high performance building products are almost limitless.
Calder’s second factory is dedicated to the manufacture of a staggering range of specially engineered lead products, covering a broad spectrum of sectors. Within it almost every conceivable process to which lead can be subjected takes place. From extrusion, rolling, pressure die casting, forging, traditional casting, shot spinning, fabricating to precision machining.
Calder’s machine shop contains the latest 4 axis machining centres and a range of other CNC and manual machine tools which allow us to produce a wide range of components to precision tolerances.
We also have a dedicated robot cell for the production of precision components for use in nuclear medicine and ultra fast Carlo Salvi cold heading machines enabling the cold deformation of wire, from 2mm to 6mm in diameter, for the production of 3 million precision forged components per week. In addition to this we have a forging press that allows us to forge larger components.
The fabrication shop has three heavy duty extrusion presses that allow us to extrude a wide range of components from lead wire to chevron bricks for lead shielding. An LVD industrial laser cutting machine capable of cutting mild steel up to 16 mm thick, stainless steel up to 8 mm thick and aluminium up to 6 mm thick, a CNC 135 tonnes brake press machine 3 m long for bending long panels and complex shapes and an advanced welding station.
Our large fabrication department allows us to construct a range of cabinets, rooms and safes finished complete or ready for onsite assembly from a broad range of engineering materials as well as lead.
Our specialist lead spinner enables us to produce lead shot for a range of uses.
We have our own joinery facility for the manufacture of lead lined doors, windows and screens for our healthcare customers as well as a bonding press which enables us to produce lead lined plaster board and plywood board for shielding applications.
Heavy raw materials and products can be manipulated and moved safely with 5 tonnes and 10 tonnes capacity cranes, as well as a pair of 2 tonnes vacuum lifters and a fleet of 3 tonnes forklift trucks.
Our casting facilities range from high speed casting machines for small components to 60,000 kg melting pots allowing us to produce any size casting or lead fill required. An ultra sonic degreasing plant and a lead wool machine complete the most capable lead facility in the World.
