Kendo, Inc.

09/14/2024

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's a*s came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' as*es.)

09/12/2024

This is the overpass at the Union pacific rail yard in Laramie Wyoming. It is beautiful, yet very industrial looking.

The riveted construction of this bridge is reminiscent of a bygone era. You may wonder why certain things are riveted when they just could be welded. in many cases this is the reason:

Predicting failure in riveted assemblies is extremely reliable. There’s less room for error. Good welds, however maybe worth their weight in gold but there are many reasons why failure in welded structures is more likely: simply stated, there are more things that can go wrong. With stick welding, you could have the wrong stick type, wrong voltage, current, or welding at the wrong speed, or even improper pe*******on. With gas welding (MIG or TIG) you could be using the wrong shielding gas, current, voltage, or speed. Going too fast or incorrect wire type could result in inadequete weld pe*******on. The long and short of it is that strength of a welded structure could just come down to whether the welder was having a good day or not.

With riveted construction assembly process simply has much less variables. This is another reason why airplanes utilize so many rivets.

Welding technology has advanced to the point where generally speaking welds can be stronger and more reliably replicated yielding vast time savings-yet there’s still some cases where the time honored tradition of riveted assembly still is the choice.

Here at Kendo, there is no job too small but there is also no job too big! We have the equipment to cut, bend, form, and weld the plate you need to turn your next large fabrication project into a reality!

Do you have a large fabrication job in the works? Do you have a welding question? Reach out to us and we will do what we can to help!

303-288-6711

09/06/2024

12/23/2022

It is that time of year again, and we take this time to reflect on the important things of this season and to demonstrate the employees our appreciation for them.

This year as in many years passed we are at the Blake Street Tavern, enjoying lunch and company.

08/19/2022

Today we are hosting our annual pig roast!

07/27/2022

"carbon free steel" sounds like a bad idea right??? -- unless you are talking about the environment. Not only does Hardox help your equipment by saving you time and money, investing in Hardox means you are also investing in the future of the planet!

Hardox wear plate is Carbon free -- meaning although it does contain carbon, the manufacture of this premium wear steel is carbon neutral. See the excerpt from SSAB:

"SSAB buys fossil-free iron ore pellets (1) from LKAB in northern Sweden. It is the largest and most modern underground iron ore mine in the world. The iron oxide ore is reduced to iron by removing the oxygen. This has traditionally been done using coal and coke in the blast furnace process. However, this step will now be done using hydrogen gas through the HYBRIT process. Fossil-free electricity will be used to produce hydrogen from water via electrolysis. The byproduct of this process is water, not CO2. The end result of the HYBRIT process is solid iron briquettes (2).

These solid briquettes, called “sponge iron” are then melted in an electric arc furnace (3). That liquid steel is cast into fossil-free steel slabs (4). Across the entire process, from mine to final steel plate, only fossil-free electricity and fuels will be used – resulting in fossil-free steel (5). These steels are then used to produce end products, with no carbon dioxide emissions. SSAB is the world’s first producer of fossil-free steel. In 2026, fossil-free Hardox® wear plates and fossil-free Strenx® structural performance steel will be produced using this technology."

SSAB, Swedish steel manufacturer of high-strength wear and structural steel. Hot and cold rolled, sheets, plates and coils, steel tubes and profiles, steel piles and more.

07/01/2022

(warning: machinist humor) Did you hear about the guy who applied for a job running a lathe? They turned him down.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL JOKE DAY EVERYONE!

06/22/2022

Here a Industrias Baco was able to extend service life of its dump truck beds by 30% by using HARDOX® 500 TUF. You may think paying a premium for wear steel might not be worth it if you only get a 30% additional service life...

In most cases it is ABSOLUTELY worth it when you factor in two additional key variables: 1. the cost of down time. 2. the cost of labor in the rebuild process.

In this case the 30% service life extension means means every 3 rebuilds, you get one for free. Not only do you get that one "rebuild for free" but that last rebuild costs you ZERO labor and ZERO down time.

Discover how leading Argentinian manufacturer Industrias Baco changed its truck design and upgraded to Hardox 500 Tuf to differentiate its products.

12/23/2021

Annual Christmas party!!!!

12/07/2021

Manufacturing castings can be expensive. Casting a large brass piece can easily hit $5000. Here we had a customer Who used a textured paint roller to get a simulated cast brass effect on a steel part that we manufactured for him!