Manufacturing

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 barcoded 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, forging, traditional casting, fabricating, and precision machining.

Calder’s machine shop contains a range of 3 and 4-axis machining centres other CNC and manual machine tools, allowing us to produce a wide range of components to precision tolerances.

We also have dedicated ultra-fast Carlo Salvi cold heading machines to produce precision forged small parts from 2mm – 6mm lead wire which we produce in-house. In addition to this we have a large 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. We have a CNC 135 tonne 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 bring together lead, steel and other components to construct a range of cabinets, shielded enclosures and safes finished complete or ready for onsite assembly.

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 lead wool machines mean we offer one of the most capable lead facilities in the world.