FROM UNCERTAINTY TO PRECISION:
ELIMINATING OUTAGE DELAYS

Having a portable metal disintegrator always available on-site is essentially an insurance against maintenance nightmares for a power plant. It is not just a tool to remove bolts, it’s the ability to guarantee the restart date after an outage.

HERE ARE THE BENEFITS

Zero Wait Time

You don’t have to wait 24–48 hours for a specialized contractor to arrive on-site. 

Rapid Extraction

Removing a seized M100 turbine stud with standard drilling techniques can take several shifts; ARES-500 can core it out in a fraction of time, keeping your outage schedule on track. 

Components like turbine casings or high-pressure valve bodies are irreplaceable in the short term.

Thread Integrity

Standard drilling often ruins the hole threads of the casing. Spark erosion is a precise non-contact process that protects the original threads, allowing you to simply screw in a new bolt without needing oversized inserts or welding repairs.

Stress-Free Removal

Since there is no torque or physical force, there is zero risk of cracks — a common danger with heavy drilling. 

Hardness Independent

Whether it’s a broken carbide drill, a Stellite-faced valve seat, or an Inconel stud, the electrical arc melts through them all with the same ease.

Precision in Tight Spaces

Portable units can be clamped directly onto the component, working in positions where a standard radial drill could never fit.

The cost of the machine is often recovered in a single successful intervention.

If the machine prevents a 12-hour delay in restarting a generator, the saved revenue alone covers the purchase price of the equipment several times over.

Autonomy

Your maintenance team gains the ability to handle “worst-case scenarios” without external help, ensuring total control over the outage timeline.

On-Demand Expertise

For plants without a dedicated internal team, Nuova Simat provides rapid-response on-site services. Our specialist technicians can be deployed immediately, guaranteeing the same precision and restart date certainty as an in-house solution.

Safety

Portable metal disintegration guarantees safety by eliminating the risk of drill bit breakage and thermal damage, protecting both the operator and the component’s integrity.

ON-SITE AUTONOMY VS. EXTERNAL OUTSOURCE

Feature 

On-Site Unit (Owned) 

Off-Site Unit  

RESPONSE TIME 

Instant. Your maintenance team starts the repair as soon as the problem is identified. 

Delayed. Requires the unit to be shipped
(can take days). 

DOWNTIME COST 

Minimal. Keeps the “critical path” of the outage moving. 

Extremely High. Every hour waiting for the machine (and team) arrival on-site is lost revenue. 

LOGISTICS 

None. The machine goes to the component. No cranes or trucks are needed for the part. 

High Risk & Cost. Massive parts must be dismounted, lifted, and shipped to a workshop if drilling fails or cannot be performed safely in-situ. 

RISK OF DAMAGE 

Low. The electrode never touches the threads. It preserves the original hole alignment and diameter. 

High. Drill bits often “walk” or vibrate, causing oversized holes, ovalization, or irreversible damage to the internal threads

MATERIAL CAPABILITY

Full. Handles Inconel, Stainless, and Carbide on-site. 

Limited. Extremely difficult and risky to drill through broken carbide or hardened taps without specialized equipment. 

FINANCIAL IMPACT 

High Initial Investment but pays for itself in few uses. 

Low Initial Cost but high “per-incident” fees and massive indirect outage costs. 

EMERGENCY READINESS:
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS 

During a scheduled shutdown, finding a broken bolt is a common emergency.

Having the EDM unit ready in your plant prevents a small mechanical failure from turning into a week-long delay. Imagine a seized M100 turbine stud discovered during a scheduled outage:

The “Drilling Failure” Delay:
Before calling for help, the maintenance team spends 12 hours attempting to drill the stud.

The bit damages the first two threads, and eventually snaps inside the stud. Now you have a hardened tool stuck inside a seized bolt.

External Outsource Delay:

It would take at least 24 hours for the rental unit to arrive on-site and set up.

Average Lost Revenue:

Let’s estimate $ 25,000 per hour (varies by plant size).

Total Downtime Added:
36 hours of delay
.

TOTAL $ 900,000 loss in a single incident.

Cost of Repair:
Additional fees for thread repair or oversized bushing due to drilling damage.

The "On-Site Insurance" Result

By using ARES-500 immediately, the stud would be removed in about 4 hours.

NET SAVINGS: Over $800,000 and a guaranteed restart date.

Equipment Payback:
The machine pays for itself over a single critical failure.

Outage Autonomy:
During “peak season” (Spring/Autumn), external contractors are often overbooked. Owning the machine removes the risk of being “next on the list”.

In a power plant, you don’t buy a metal disintegrator to remove bolts.

You buy it tobuy back time.

It is the only tool that turns a ‘catastrophic delay’ into a ‘minor scheduled task’.
CONTACTS

Nuova Simat S.r.l. Società Benefit| Cod. Fiscale e P. IVA 01591210495 | capitale sociale € 100.000,00 i.v. | codice SDI M5UXCR1

Quote request
ARES-500 ELIMINATING OUTAGE DELAYS