One of the services our expert engineers at In-Situ Machining Solutions (UK) Ltd provide is high-quality orbital machining. The quality of this service has helped our company become a leader in industrial repair and is guaranteed to repair the damaged crankpin diameters and remove ridge wear before your engine is permanently damaged.

Our on-site machining engineers are highly trained and equipped with a wealth of experience in preventing crankshaft bearing failure and fixing ridge wear. The advantages of choosing our specially trained teams are their expertise in orbital turning, machining, grinding, superfinishing and polishing operations. Still, they can also carry out these operations with unique equipment developed in-house that significantly limits the impact these repairs will have on your engine whilst preventing crankshaft failure.

Ridge wear (or Cam Effect) will inevitably develop over time. Medium-speed four-stroke engines could experience this problem once they have exceeded 60,000 hours of operation. However, poor maintenance and impurities within the oil can dramatically reduce this timeframe. This cam wear will become visible when a raised band emerges around the circumference of the crankpin diameter itself. Without any action to fix it, this visual change is an early indication of crankshaft wear as well as the eventual failure of the crankpin bearing. Cam Wear normally occurs on all of the big end journals on the crankshaft and can be rectified by crankshaft polishing or crankshaft grinding, depending on how bad the cam wear has become.

Ridge wear creates an uneven surface, which in turn will eventually result in big end failure. Engine failure is undesired at any time because it’s a significant loss in expenses for repairs and lost productivity. Allowing ridge wear to persist, however, can damage the conrods and force them through the main engine crankcase doors resulting in significant damage to the engine block.

In the crank pin journal, many factors can cause long-term wear on the crankshaft journal. For example, abrasive impurities left in the lube oil can generate a wear pattern.