In this special 65th-anniversary edition blog, we sat down with our Application Engineer, Hatem Katil, to talk about how West End Rad is continuing to innovate and evolve our Canadian designed and manufactured aftermarket heat exchangers.
Q: What design or manufacturing practices does West End Rad use that other rad shops typically don’t?
Hatem: We use a 3D scanning system to scan the original unit and directly compare it to our design, ensuring all dimensions match the OEM specifications exactly.
This technology also allows us to reverse-engineer units more quickly and accurately, significantly reducing design time while maintaining precision.
Want to learn more about our reverse engineering? Check our our blog about Everything You Should Know About Reverse Engineering Your HD Heat Exchanger!
Q: How do we engineer our aluminum radiators to reduce common issues seen in heavy-duty industries?
Hatem: Our aluminum radiators are built using extruded aluminum tubes that are thicker and more durable than typical OEM tubes.
When a unit experiences a recurring issue, we conduct a detailed investigation by sectioning the OEM core, reviewing how it is mounted on the equipment, analyzing fluid flow and gathering direct feedback from the customer.
This process allows us to identify improvement opportunities for aluminum heat exchangers and determine whether failures are caused by external factors, such as mounting stress or connection design, or by internal factors like restricted flow areas or pressure buildup.
Q: What new techniques or materials are we using that increase efficiency or consistency?
Hatem: Our engineering team includes a dedicated production design specialist who also performs final quality checks before units leave the shop. This ensures that the manufactured unit matches both the customer’s original dimensions and the approved design.
Additionally, every core we produce is pressure-tested in-house to confirm it is leak-free. We continuously refine our assembly and brazing techniques to improve consistency, production efficiency, and brazing quality.
These ongoing improvements ensure our custom aluminum cores consistently meet and exceed customer expectations.
Q: In 2024, you reverse engineered oil coolers for Link Belt cranes, could you tell me more about that project and what challenges you had to solve?
Hatem: That project came to us after the customer had repeated failures with the OEM oil cooler on their Link-Belt crane. The OEM said there was nothing they could do to fix it, so we took on the job and investigated what exactly was causing the part to fail.
What we found was a consistent weak point in the design. The oil cooler just wasn’t built to handle the daily, heavy-duty workload the crane was seeing. That weak spot kept giving out, which led to failures and expensive downtime.
To solve it, we fully reverse engineered the cooler. We used 3D scanning to map out and pinpoint exactly where the failures were happening.
Then, we redesigned the unit with thicker walls and stronger tubes. The newly designed oil cooler can handle significantly higher heat and pressure.
Custom Heat Exchanger Engineering In Canada
At West End Rad, we can reverse engineer any heavy-duty heat exchanger OEM no matter the size or shape. Furthermore, we can custom manufacture you a stronger, longer-lasting cooling system from aluminum or copper-brass.
Or, if you’re looking for an aftermarket part that’s always ready-to-ship to you, you can browse our parts catalog for OEMs like Caterpillar, John Deere, Mack, Volvo and Peterbilt.
You can find more exciting content like this on our 65th Anniversary page
