Handbook | Metro Jobs

What's changed

Not the shop
you knew.

A few years ago Metro Machining was two blokes in a workshop in Campbellfield with one lathe, one mill and one little line boring truck. The work found us faster than we expected, so we built to meet it.

Today we run three Victorian workshops across two sites, five fully self-contained mobile machining trucks, and a crew that has taken line boring and on-site machining from the Latrobe Valley to the Marshall Islands. We build our own on-site machining gear — boring bars, bearing mounts, on-site milling machines — so when a job needs tooling that doesn't exist, we make it.

This is the full account of what we can do now. If you knew us then, it is worth another look.

At a glance

Registered: Metro Machining Pty Ltd · ACN 165 059 941
Directors: Patrick O'Hara & Karl Hansen
Workshops: 3 — two Campbellfield, one Drouin
Mobile fleet: 5 Isuzu trucks incl. 4x4
Bore range: 40 mm – 1200 mm
Freight: 10 t dual cab crane truck · 5 m tray
Reach: Victoria · Australia-wide · international

Five things, done properly

What we do

01

Line Boring

On site and in the workshop. 40–1200 mm, bore welding, rotary ID welding, bearing alignment.

02

On-Site Machining

Milling, turning, flange facing, keyways, drilling and tapping in place — where the machine stands.

03

Machine Shop

Turning to 8 m, milling on a 6 m table, borers and presses. One-offs, obsolete parts and reverse engineering.

04

Mobile Welding & Fabrication

Crack repair, structural fabrication and boilermaking, bucket and attachment rebuilds, wear plate and custom tooling.

05

Cylinder Machining

Honing to 300 mm bore × 6.5 m stroke, barrel boring, rod and tube machining.

Made, not sourced

Parts manufacture
& reverse engineering

When the part is obsolete, the drawing is long gone, or the OEM quotes a lead time you cannot wear — we make it. Bring us the broken one, a drawing, or just the sample. We measure it, draw it and make it.

No drawing

We measure the sample and draw it

Obsolete

Gear nobody supports any more

One-offs

Single parts and small batches

What we make

Shafts, pins, bushes, housings and rollers
One-off and obsolete part manufacture
Component recovery and re-claiming
Custom tooling and attachment modifications

How it works

Send a photo, a rough size and the machine make and model
Or drop the broken part in — the sample is the drawing
We measure, draw and machine it in our own shops
Or get us over for a site inspection — no cost, no obligation
Fitted back up by our crew if you want it done end to end

What we can swing

Three workshops.
One company.

We outgrew one shed. Campbellfield now runs two separate workshops — a machine shop, and a purpose-built line boring and fabrication shop — with a third workshop in Drouin covering Gippsland. Machine work, line boring and fabrication each have their own floor, so jobs run alongside each other instead of queueing.

Campbellfield

Machine shop

Turning — between centres: 8 m
Gap / over bed / over saddle: 1200 / 850 / 600 mm
Milling — table / stroke: 6 m / 4.5 m
Vertical turret lathe: Yes
Horizontal borers w/ rotary tables: Yes
Sunnen cylinder hone: 300 mm × 6.5 m
Slotting machine: 8" stroke
Presses: 200 t + 100 t hollow
Liquid nitrogen — certified tank: 250 L on site
Forklift: 10 t

Campbellfield

Line boring & fabrication

Full line boring kit — bore range: 40–1200 mm
Rotary ID welding & bore build-up: Yes
Welding positioners & rotators: Yes
Open fabrication floor: Yes

Drouin

Gippsland

Lathe turning — between centres: Up to 5 m
Milling, radial drilling, boring: Yes
Welding positioners & rotators: Yes
Presses: 200 t + 100 t hollow
Liquid nitrogen — certified tank: 250 L on site

We come to you

The fleet

Five Isuzu trucks. Two bases. Every truck is self-contained — generator, tooling, welding plant and boring gear. Two are 4x4, which is how we reach logging coups, gas fields and off-road mine sites a standard truck simply cannot get to.

Campbellfield

4 trucks

Isuzu — mixed sizes incl. 4x4 remote-capable
On-truck bore range 40–800 mm
2 x 25 kVA gensets
Liquid nitrogen carried on board in dewars — −196 °C

Gippsland

1 truck

Isuzu — 25 kVA genset
100 t press on board
Liquid nitrogen carried on board in dewars — −196 °C
Full Gippsland & Latrobe Valley reach

Around our own machining

Fitting patrols. Lift and transport.

Our fitting patrols exist so more gets done with less downtime. HIAB cranes and V-MAC screw compressors on board mean we can strip, set up and refit around our own machining scope instead of waiting for someone else to free up — and when a job is better off in the shop, we come and get it.

1.5 t

Crane on the flat-bed truck

9 m

Reach — pick up and drop back

10 t

Forklift at Campbellfield

Built and kitted out in-house

Custom boring bars, bearing mounts and hydraulic power packs all built in-house — which is why our trucks carry gear you will not find on anyone else's.

Experience

The part you can't
buy off a website.

Cheap line boring gear is easy enough to order online these days. Doing it right is not. There is a fair bit of kit turning up on sites now in the hands of people who have never done the work — and a job done wrong costs you more than never doing it at all.

Our line borers have done this their whole careers, and some of our blokes have been in this niche for decades. It is not a sideline the workshop picked up last year — they were born into it.

A long span

Where alignment is won or lost over metres, not millimetres.

No datums to set off

Nothing square, nothing true, nothing to measure from.

An awkward mount

The setup nobody wants — in a pit, up a tower, upside down.

A queue behind it

Production work where every hour of ours costs you more.

Weeks on end

In whatever the site throws at you, and still to tolerance.

Back in service — or done twice.

That is the difference between a machine back in service and a machine that gets done twice. Below: the jobs that prove it.

Proof, not promises

Where we've
been

Anyone can print a capability list. These are the jobs that prove ours — machines too big to move, engines with no parts left anywhere on earth, and sites most crews will not go. Each one told straight, the way it happened.

Proof 01 · Shipped from Germany

Bucket Wheel Excavator

3

Sections shipped from Germany

20

Holes — one coupling pattern

0.03 mm

Clearance across all 20

The problem

A bucket wheel excavator arrived from Germany in three sections, and every joint had to be machined so the sections went together as one machine. The drive coupling circles had to be line-bored to tolerance — a 20-hole pattern sitting within 0.03 mm. The assembled sections were so big that getting them out again meant taking the shed walls down.

What we did

Machined the section joints so the three pieces assembled true
Line-bored the drive coupling circles to tolerance
20-hole pattern machined on site — 0.03 mm clearance
Took the shed walls out to move the finished sections

Proof 02 · HMAS Canberra

Royal Australian Navy

800 mm

On-site face machining

Afloat

The ship stayed in the water

Defence

Tolerance and sign-off standard

The problem

Defence work doesn't come to you on a truck. The MASTIS antenna mounting system on an amphibious assault ship needed 800 mm bore and face work — and the ship stayed afloat while it happened.

What we did

800 mm on-site face machining on the MASTIS antenna mounting system
Performed afloat on an amphibious assault ship
Machined to defence tolerance
Full on-site setup — no dry dock, no removal

Proof 03 · Republic of the Marshall Islands

Majuro — the studs became the fixture

11,400 km

Round trip from Melbourne

3 m

Above sea level — mid-Pacific atoll

0

Parts shipped in — sleeves made on the island

The problem

The head studs on a Pielstick power station engine were seized solid. Forcing them risked wrecking a one-of-a-kind block, and the engineers on site refused to try. No stud removal meant no face machining. No face machining meant no rebuild — and the island runs on this engine.

What we did

Sent a technician to Majuro ahead of the job to scope it in person
Designed and built a custom facing head in Melbourne — made to mount directly onto the seized studs
Bored the worn casing-mount holes oversize to accept new sleeves
Manufactured the sleeves on the island, in Majuro's old military machine shop
Pressed the sleeves in. Engine rebuilt and back powering the island

Proof 04 · Republic of Nauru

The island that needed its lights back on

9,440 km

Round trip from Melbourne

12 m

1970s GE diesel — repaired in situ

0

Parts available anywhere on earth

The problem

A critical GE diesel engine — 12 metres long, built in the 1970s — suffered a crankshaft journal bore failure. No OEM support, no bearing caps made anywhere on earth, and the engineers on site would not stake a 12-metre repair on one measurement system. Repair it in situ from first principles, or leave the island's grid leaning on its emergency generators.

What we did

Scoped in person, then made everything in Campbellfield — cast iron repair sleeves, and old spare bearing caps decked to suit
Built a piano-wire acoustic gauge to cross-check the laser tracker
Shipped it all ahead, flew in, confirmed block flatness first
Sleeves in, journal line bored to spec, caps fitted — engine returned to service

Proof 05 · Remote South Australia

Moomba Gas Fields

3,764 km

Round trip — Melbourne to Moomba

6

Machines through the repair queue

124

Bores restored on site

The problem

A critical onshore gas and oil facility in desert South Australia, with a fleet of earthmoving machines worn from preparing well sites and maintaining the desert road network. There is no resupply at Moomba — every tool, consumable, boring bar and welding setup had to be on the truck, and the whole program ran under strict oil and gas site protocols.

What we did

Mobilised interstate — fully self-contained for the duration
Operated under oil and gas site safety requirements throughout
Line bored machines front to back as required — full wear restoration
Client mechanics pre-stripped machines ahead of arrival so every day on site was productive
6 machines, 124 bores — fleet returned to service

Proof 06 · Victorian Highlands

Glen Valley High Country

1,600 m

Above sea level — 4x4 access only

100 mm

Hardened 4140 pin, machined same day

4 days

Call to completion

The problem

A custom-built excavator on remote logging operations suffered a structural failure at the boom-to-stick mount — snapped 100 mm pin, cracked boom and stick around the pin and bush mounts. The machine sat at up to 1,600 m on an access track no standard service truck could reach. It had to be repaired where it stood.

What we did

Machined a new hardened 4140 steel 100 mm pin in-house the same day, from dimensions the site mechanic sent through
Sourced OEM bushes and seals before mobilising — nothing left to chance
4x4 Isuzu in with the full kit — bore welder, line boring bars, liquid nitrogen
Structural crack repair on boom and stick; line bored 2 lines, 4 bores; pad welded and re-machined 4 faces
Freeze-fitted the stick bushes with liquid nitrogen — machine back in full operation in 4 days

GWO certified — wind energy, at height, on live assets

GWO-certified crews working at height on live wind assets — tower, nacelle and hub components. One of very few Victorian shops that hold it. The same crew, the same standard, just higher off the ground.

Few shops anywhere can show you a list like this.

Who we work for

Industries

Deliberately broad. When one sector slows another is flat out — which is why we are still here, and still growing.

Mining & Earthmoving

Bucket wheel excavators, buckets, dump and haul truck bores, pin and bush replacement

Wind Energy

GWO-certified staff — tower, nacelle and hub component machining and mechanical support

Power Generation

Pielstick and GE engines, turbine hall plant, Latrobe Valley and offshore

Water & Utilities

Pump, valve and pipeline equipment — on site and in the workshop

Marine & Defence

Frigate construction, Navy antenna bores, port and vessel plant

Forestry & Logging

4x4 mobilisation into coups — harvesters, forwarders, loaders, chippers

Quarries & Concrete

Crushers, screens, conveyors, agitator and batching plant

Rail & Infrastructure

Equipment repair, modification and fixed plant machining

Recycling & Resource Recovery

Shredders, granulators, conveyors and processing plant — on site and in the shop

Agriculture, Grain & Food

Grain mills and processing plant, general machining and on-site equipment repair

From first call to back in service

How we work

01
Send us a photo
A photo of the worn bore, a rough size, the machine make and model — and whether there is three-phase power on site or we bring a genset. Text it to Pat or Karl.
02
Free on-site inspection
Standing offer on any machine you're watching rather than fixing: one of us comes out, looks at it running if we can, measures the bores and assesses face wear, and tells you what it actually needs. No cost, no obligation.
03
Quote with the scope written down
What's included, what isn't, and what happens if we find more once it's opened up.
04
We bring the shop to you
Truck, tooling, welding plant and a crew who have done the job before. Most work is done where the machine stands — or we collect the component and bring it back.
05
Back in service
Bored to size and signed off, with a written report available on request.

Planned work

Send us the list before the shut.

Shutdown work goes wrong in the planning, not in the machining. Send us the list before the shut and we will walk the plant, measure what can be measured, and sort tooling, material and manpower up front — so your shutdown runs to a plan instead of a scramble.

01
Send us the list
Whatever is on the shutdown scope — parts you need made, repaired or supplied, manpower, components coming out. Early is better than complete.
02
On-site inspection
On site before the shut, with the people who know the machines. We look at what is running while it is still running, and measure what can be measured so the scope is built on numbers instead of guesses.
03
We make a plan and get everything ready
Then we manufacture and acquire everything the job needs — bushes, material, parts — and anything we can pre-machine is done and on the shelf before you stop.
04
We mobilise
Crews, trucks and tooling lined up against your window, ready to start the day the plant comes down.

When it cannot wait

Machine down? We move heaven and earth.

Our standard schedule usually runs about two weeks out — that queue is other people's committed jobs, and we protect it. When your machine cannot wait its turn, we sell priority in three tiers. Pick the one that matches what the downtime is costing you.

Tier 1

Priority slot

Jump the standard queue

The next available slot, ahead of the standard schedule. For urgent work where timing matters but a few days is workable. Quoted and invoiced like any other job.

Tier 2

Priority availability

A crew on your job within 24–48 hours

Guaranteed crew within 24 to 48 hours. For machine-down situations where every day of delay has a measurable cost. Runs on a do-and-charge basis — written approval before a crew mobilises, then time and materials as the job progresses.

Tier 3

Emergency response

Same day — overnight if that's what it takes

Immediate mobilisation for critical breakdowns where production loss, contract penalties or safety make every hour count. We break our own schedule, re-route crews and work through the night. Do-and-charge, on written approval — no crew leaves the workshop without it, no exceptions.

Urgency has a cost. Downtime costs more.

Priority is not a penalty — it is a choice we price openly. Moving committed jobs, calling crews in and reorganising the workshop at short notice all cost real money. Measured against a machine that isn't earning, it is the cheapest money you will spend. Say the word — Pat or Karl, day or night.

New — machine hire

The rental fleet

We build and buy on-site machine tools for our own crews — and now we rent them out. Every machine earns its keep on our own jobs first, so what you hire is proven gear, maintained by the people who use it.

Sygma MiniFacer One

Flange facing

Manual flange facing for pipework and plant flanges — compact, fast to set up, no power required.

Facing capacity: Ø 30 mm – 350 mm
Internal clamp range: 1" – 10"
Availability: For hire now

Metro-built on-site milling machines

Portable milling

The same machines our own crews run — built in our workshop because the right tool didn't exist.

Built: Designed and manufactured in-house, Campbellfield
Track record: Proven on our own on-site machining jobs
Availability: For hire — talk to us about your job

We're hiring

Real work. Serious customers.
Proper tradespeople.

We do the jobs where the plant's down, the part has to be spot-on first time, and the customer is waiting on us. The case studies above are the jobs our crew actually does.

"A small engineering company that has earned a big reputation."

"Masters of Machining" — The Australian Mining Review

01

Apply online

Tell us the rate you're after when you apply — everything's negotiable. Straight talk goes both ways.

02

A proper look

A structured technical assessment — on the tools, judged by the people you'd be working with.

03

A straight answer

Honesty is one of our four values. You'll know where you stand, without the run-around.

04

A real first 90 days

A structured first-90-days plan once you're in — probation as a runway, not a guessing game.

Win $500 when your mate sticks.

Know a gun tradie? Refer them — if we hire them and they clear their three-month probation, you pocket $500. Paid after they stick. Terms here.

See open roles & apply Refer a mate

Coverage

Two bases.
One crew.

Campbellfield covers Melbourne and the north. Drouin covers Gippsland, the Latrobe Valley and the east. You get whichever crew is closest or available — and however many sites you have and wherever they are, it is still one supplier, one account, one phone call.

Old hole not as tight as it used to be?

We'll have it back to size in no time. Call one of us — you get a director, not a call centre.

Metro Machining Pty Ltd · ABN 82 165 059 941

Email: metromachining@gmail.com
Quotes: metromachining.com.au
Campbellfield: 1/30 Onslow Ave, Campbellfield VIC 3061
Campbellfield: 3/32 Onslow Ave, Campbellfield VIC 3061
Drouin: 45 Roberts Court, Drouin VIC 3818

Innovation & Technical Excellence

"Think outside the box and get it done right the first time with passion"

Accountability

"Own it"

Honesty

"Straight talk"

Teamwork

"We win together"

Our core values — written by our own crew, both sites, every job

OurCapacity.

Not the shopyou knew.

What we do

Line Boring

On-Site Machining

Machine Shop

Mobile Welding & Fabrication

Cylinder Machining

Line Boring

Your hole is our goal.

On-Site Machining

We build our own machine tools.

Machine Shop

No drawings? No problem.

Mobile Welding, Crack Repair & Fabrication

Built, bored and pinned in the one shop.

Cylinder Machining

When the OEM quotes you twelve weeks.

Parts manufacture& reverse engineering

Three workshops.One company.

Campbellfield

Campbellfield

Drouin

The fleet

Campbellfield

Gippsland

Fitting patrols. Lift and transport.

Built and kitted out in-house

The part you can'tbuy off a website.

Back in service — or done twice.

Where we'vebeen

Bucket Wheel Excavator

Royal Australian Navy

Majuro — the studs became the fixture

The island that needed its lights back on

Moomba Gas Fields

Glen Valley High Country

GWO certified — wind energy, at height, on live assets

Industries

How we work

Send us the list before the shut.

Machine down? We move heaven and earth.

Urgency has a cost. Downtime costs more.

The rental fleet

Sygma MiniFacer One

Metro-built on-site milling machines

Real work. Serious customers.Proper tradespeople.

Win $500 when your mate sticks.

Two bases.One crew.

Old hole not as tight as it used to be?

Our
Capacity.

Not the shop
you knew.

Parts manufacture
& reverse engineering

Three workshops.
One company.

The part you can't
buy off a website.

Where we've
been

Real work. Serious customers.
Proper tradespeople.

Two bases.
One crew.