Taming Tough Bearing Challenges - Thordon Bearings

MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT
Chemicals, dust,
weld spatter, washdowns!
We focus on severe-service
maintenance
Vol. 25, No. 4
SEPTEMBER 2009
Robust guide wheels
excel in dirty conditions
Choosing lubricants for
frequent washdowns
Thermoplastic bearings
handle bacon plant’s assault
Compression packing
saves big for mill
How vibration analysis
ensures bearing reliability
Case study: Trudeau airport’s
baggage handling maintenance
Taming
Tough Bearing
Challenges
FOCUS ON CLUTCHES & BRAKES FLUID POWER BEARINGS

18
Machinery & Equipment MRO
F O C U S O N H A R S H E N V I R O N M E N T S
September 2009
Thermoplastic bearings
handle plant’s assault
Different bearings extend
maintenance periods substantially
for electric lifts in wet and salty
environment at Quebec bacon plant.
The roller wheels on the electric
forklifts used at the Olymel
L.P. bacon plant in Drummondville,
QC, were causing some
serious maintenance issues.
The roller bearings in the wheels were
constantly seizing after only a few
weeks in service. The operating and
service conditions for these electric
lifts are arduous, as the environment
is wet and salty.
The seals at the ends of the rolling
element bearings would become damaged
after exposure to the corrosive
mixture (salt in water), and the contamination
would cause the bearings to
seize onto the shafts. These seals were
not sophisticated in design (most are
O-rings) and could be easily damaged
when the packaged meat product, dirt,
tie wraps, plastic wrap or other contaminants
came into contact with them.
Replacing the roller bearings became
expensive and time-consuming, so
Marco Vachon, Olymel’s maintenance
supervisor, decided to try some new materials
manufactured by Thordon Bearings
after he heard about some good results
achieved at a nearby corrugated
box manufacturer, Mitchel-Lincoln
Packaging Ltd. of Montreal.
First, Thordon SXL was tested as the
actual wheel part (no roller bearings)
and the elastomeric polymer material
lasted 16 times longer than the original
combination of the wheel with rolling element
bearings.
To extend the service life, Olymel
then tried Thordon’s new engineered
thermoplastic, called ThorPlas. Thor-
Plas bearings were made and used to
replace the roller bearing element in
the previous wheel configuration, a feature
that was not possible with Thordon
SXL, as only ThorPlas was capable
of handling the higher pressures of the
application.
The conversion to ThorPlas roller
bearings in the wheels was done in August
2007 and almost two years later,
the bearings are still operating satisfactorily.
The electric lifts have performed
well in this period with no noticeable
wear or other issues to date.
Olymel plans to replace all the rolling
element bearings in its roller
wheels, as well as other applications,
using ThorPlas. An order for 24 Thor-
Plas bearings was recently placed and
another order for 48 is expected in the
near future.
Olymel L.P., based in St-Hyacinthe,
QC, handles primary processing, further
processing, and distribution of pork and
poultry meat products, with facilities in
Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. Its trade-
marks include Olymel, Lafleur and Flamingo,
and its products are sold in Canada
and exported to 60 countries around
the world.
MRO
Thordon Bearings Inc. designs and manufactures
environmentally friendly, highperformance
oil and grease-free bearings
and seals for marine, hydro-turbine, pump
and industrial markets. For more information,
visit www.thordonbearings.com.
Reader Service Card No. 420
Crashing Guns
Linear sleeve bearings
keep automotive welding
line running, putting
an end to linear
shafting and ball
bearing problems
caused by
welding slag
buildup.
The production line at a major automotive
manufacturer centres
around several machines, all
working together with production
staff to ensure high production
rates and quality. A kink in this chain
can halt production and greatly increase
costs to a staggering level. In this case,
the kink was a big one — crashing welding
guns on the manufacturer’s production
line — so help was called in.
When the manufacturer contacted
PBC Linear, a supplier of linear and rotary
motion solutions, the welding guns
were running on conventional linear
shafting and ball-bearing technology.
Welding slag particulate collected along
the shafting, causing the system to fall
off track and machine inaccurately.
The slag buildup also caused the bearings
to stall, seize up, and catastrophically
fail — resulting in unplanned downtime
and skyrocketing production costs.
PBC Linear recommended the use of
Top: Self-lubricating bearings
wipe away damaging
welding slag. Right: Accurate
linear shafting allows
for smooth motion.
ThorPlas engineered
(non-elastomer) thermoplastic
bearings are designed for industrial
journal bearing applications.
its Simplicity linear bearings and accurate
shafting. Equipped with a FrelonGold
liner to allow for a high tolerance against
contamination, heat and shock vibration,
the self-lubricating bearings were wellsuited
for the welding application.
The automotive manufacturer recommended
installing the parts in the two
welding guns with the history of the
highest slag accumulation. Eight months
later, the manufacturer reported that the
new shafting looked as it did the day it
was installed. That’s because the Simplicity
bearings harmlessly wipe the slag
and other contaminants off the shaft,
promoting smooth and long-lasting linear
motion.
With 150 other welding machines
using failing ball bearings, PBC Linear
was asked to install its replacement
system on the plant’s remaining
welding guns.
MRO
For more information, visit the website
at rst.pbclinear.com.
Reader Service Card No. 421