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Maverick now offers injection molding preventative maintenance packages to the plastics industry! Repair, troubleshooting, and installation of injection mold machines and peripheral equipment.
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Adjustable Barrel Supports Save Time |
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Time is Money. Upkeep and preventative maintenance on equipment are essential to maintaining a cost effective production line. In todays market, prolonged downtime due to machine breakage or wear can make or break a company. Take for instance the replacement of a 6" barrel and screw. The installation of the barrel is basic and requires only a minimal amount of time. The alignment of the barrel is critical, requiring extra time and care to insure the maximum life of the barrel and screw.
 Our field technicians require 2 to 4 hours to perform the basic alignment. During this time, the machine is given a ground up inspection. This inspection includes ensuring the machine is mounted properly to the foundation, and anchored securely. We check for level of machine frame and gearbox. The technician then takes note of the barrel supports and the means provided to align the barrel. Most manufactures provide little or no means to adjust the barrel supports, which in turn creates a greater amount of time needed to properly align the barrel.
For example, many Davis Standards have solid mount barrel supports, with only minimal horizontal adjustments by means of two jack screws on the inside of the support. The initial readings on the majority of our alignments show the worst error to be in the vertical plane. If the barrel is low, the proper method of correction would be to shim between the frame and the support. This process is time consuming and ultimately more costly than if there was some vertical jacking screws present. Case in point, one of our technicians performed an alignment on a Welex extruder with solid mount barrel supports. The new barrel was initially low, requiring the barrel center to be raised. Corrective action taken was shimming under the barrel in the support. This task alone, not including the initial inspection, took four hours to complete. He then suggested that three jack screws be fabricated and welded to the barrel support. After the jacking screws were installed, he performed a second alignment cutting his time down to 1 hour.
Not only will adding adjustment points speed the alignment process, but they will aid in maintaining the alignment for longer periods of time by locking the barrel into place. Which in turn will lengthen the life of the barrel and screw and cut costly downtime for future barrel installations and alignments. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 27 September 2005 )
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