Maintenance Tips for Machinery Equipment

To keep your machinery at good working order, constant maintenance is required. Problems arises when machinery equipment are poorly maintained resulting to breakdowns and unwanted downtime. Aside from that, repairs or even replacement of the whole machine is costly and would damage your profits.

In order to protect your investments, we’ve compiled a list of tips on how to maintain your machinery equipment.

1.       Operator Training

The skill of operator is important in order for a machine to work properly. One should be able to know the machinery they are working on, be able to conduct proper checking or inspections, apply basic maintenance and troubleshooting and more.

Be sure to keep your machinery operators on constant training to keep up with the technologies today.

2.       Add and Test Lubricants

Friction creates heat and too much heat can deteriorate your machinery. Thus lubrication is very important. Lubricants reduce friction around any moving parts and scheduling lubrication maintenance extends the life of machinery moving parts. Remember to check signs of excess oil or grease buildup on pistons. Check leaks around oil seals and make sure to read the manufacturer’s recommendations on lubricants.

3.       Check for signs of wear

Constant vibration, shock, high temperature, friction and age contribute to the breakdown of the parts of machinery. Thus, checking the machine for wear will definitely help you with your maintenance routine.

·         Shock comes from accidents and from poor operation techniques

·         Vibration can come from gears and belts that are out of alignment

·         Poor lubrication, friction and worn parts causes high temperature

·         Age is a factor for key components of the machine. Seals will crack, bolts will loosen and stretch out of shape, belts will warp, etc.

If you are able to discover these factors, be sure to treat the cause of the problem immediately. Unable to replace the damaged components will lead into a more problems.

4.       Keep your Work Environment Clean

Contamination of the machine can lead into deterioration. Thus, seals and filters should always be cleaned and checked. Seals should be checked if they’re in good condition and filters should be changed regularly.

5.       Have your Maintenance Scheduled

A scheduled and systematic time for Machinery maintenance is needed to make sure that it doesn’t disrupt the work process inside your company. For example, some components are going to last for a period of time and having records of these would help you determine when to change the given component.

Hydraulic Troubleshooting

When problems arise, the operator should be the one to conduct Machinery troubleshooting and if you can repair the hydraulic, it would save you a lot of money. But how will you do it?  Here are some tips you could follow.

1.       Check the cartridge valve before replacement

If it is a cartridge valve, pull out the manifold and check the nose of the cartridge. If you can see the screen then check if it is clean and try blowing an air compressor in it. If you can’t see the screens then try pushing on the nose of the screw driver.

2.       Coolant in Hydraulic Oil

Lathe

·         Make sure that the center cap on the chuck is installed

·         And if the Chip tray clogged in back of actuator, draw tube on the opposite side of the chuck. Check that the drain hose is not clogged.

Horizontal or Vertical Machine Center

·         The rotary table seals inside are bad

·         Draw bar sometimes has hydraulics and coolant going through them and there are possible seals bad.

3.       Low Hydraulic Pressure

·         Variable Displacement Pump

Check the compensator pressure settings. Some pumps have both a flow setting and pressure adjustment valve. If there is only one, it should be pressure setting. There will also be a separate manifold with the relief valve that should be set at a minimum of 200PSI or higher.

·         Variable Speed Motor

It controls the pump flow. Pumps have a transducer that is faulty. Also the settings we’re different from the display. Check the relief valve cartridge is not open. Remove the cartridge and look for dirt in the nose valve

·         Fixed Displacement Pump with Dump Valve

First, check the relief settings. The relief can be adjusted when the dump valve is energized only. Also, make sure that the relief and dump cartridge are not stuck open. Remove the cartridges and look for the dirt inside the nose of the valve.

Power Tools Maintenance Tips

Working with power tools also needs proper maintenance to prevent any premature wear and tear. Today, we’re going to give you some tips on how to extend the life of your power tools and make sure they perform smoothly for the years to come.

1.       Always keep the Tools Dry

Wear and tear occurs when the tools are not stored properly. So, when you are finished with your work keep the tools away from excessive heat or cold. Always remember that moisture can rust metals especially on your power tools and this includes any electrical component.

2.       Controlling Dust and Dirt

Wood particles, metal shavings dust and other particles are all bad for your power tools especially the cordless ones. If these particles are not cleaned and removed from the power tool, it can slow down the performance and motor especially on a power drill. As soon as you are finished with your work, be sure to used compressed air to blow out any particles that are in vents, cracks, openings or anything that collects dust and dirt.

3.       Cleaning your Power Tools Regularly

As said on number two, dust, dirt, grimes and grease can definitely slow down the tool’s performance. Make sure to schedule a general and deep cleaning for your tools. Disassembling the tool parts for cleaning is highly advisable.

4.       Lubrication of Air Tools

The air tool moving parts should be lubricated in order to have better performance. However, control your lubrication process because putting too much oil can cause a lot of sticky build-up; just a drop or two is needed for a thousand of movements.

5.       Always refer to the Manual

In case that your power tool isn’t working that well, it is suitable to refer to your manual and take a look at the troubleshooting guide.

6.       Coiling the Cords and Hoses Properly

Damaged cords and hose are alarming and can cause hazardous problems if not taken cared immediately. It can also lead to your power tools not working properly. Make sure that your cords and hose are coiled properly. 

How to properly use Hydraulic Ironworker Machine

Ironworker machine are usually called “swiss army knife” because it is capable of doing different things like punch, shear, bend and notch mild steel plates, angle iron, pipes and barstocks. The ironworker also has different types of accessories that are available to fabricate rod and square stock, pipe and metal sheets.

Though a lot of machine have a pivot system that is being pulled down by a hydraulic cylinder, some of these iron worker machines operates by applying hydraulic force to remove centre plate. Its centre moves inside the machine frame in a simple, vertical path and exerts a downward force through its shear blade, punch and dies and notchers to work with steel.

This vertical movement allows the operator to perform actions without having to remove any adjacent tooling.

Safety Precautions

During the process of working with ironworker machines, we should be able to apply safety precautions in order for us to avoid accidents.

·         Make sure to read and understand the hydraulic ironworker operator’s manual, installation manual, machine safety and maintenance manual. Failure to do this can result into unwanted accidents and deterioration of the machine itself.

·         Make sure to use the intended to for the process.

·         Always wear the appropriate protective clothes. Make sure that you have protective gloves and appropriate eyewear especially when working with metal. Flying metal debris can result into injury.

·         It is recommended that safety guards are used all the time. Any removal and modification or improper use of the safety device can cause serious injury and can cause your machine’s warranty to be voided.

·         During the operation, keep any moving parts away from the machine.

·         Always be prepared to keep off your foot on the pedal.

·         Unplug or lock out your ironworker before starting any operations and maintenance

·         Maintenance and adjustments should be done by a qualified individual as prescribed in your operations manual.

·         Always turn off your ironworker when not in use or left unattended.    

How important Machinery Guarding?

The question many machinery owners often ask is how important machinery guarding is? And how does it help me and my machinery? Today, we’re going to find answers to that question.

Nowadays, many businesses and factories are cutting cost whenever and wherever they can. Thus, it affects the economy in different ways. As a result of these cost cutting, it is difficult for owners to create profit and if a business can’t profit, then they simply can’t stay open for long. In terms of the machinery, businesses are trying to cut cost by not installing or repairing machinery guarding.

Not installing or repairing machinery guarding is one of the worst things a business or machinery shop would do. It might help you cut some cost in short term, after all you didn’t experience or rarely had injuries during work process then you never have to pay for things like worker’s compensation.

Accidents can happen all the time and if you don’t have any machinery guarding, it’s only a matter of time. Even careful people makes mistakes and in some cases, it takes a simple mistake before limbs can be missing and permanent injury can occur.

All this can be avoided if you simply make sure that you guard the machinery properly. If the machinery safety equipment is out of date, make sure it's up to date. And in many cases, it's actually state or federal law that the company make sure the machinery is safeguarded properly. So not doing so could not only invite a number of different injuries, but could also invite fines from the state or from the federal government.

So in order to make sure your business is as safe as possible, as well as avoid any possible fines, make sure your machinery is safeguarded! If you need help with your machinery, visit us at www.themachinerydoctors.com.au. 

Tips on how to Improve Turning Operations

There are risk when it comes to operating lathe machines like cuts that comes from long, stringy chips. Bar feeder-induces noise and vibration that leads to premature hearing loss and problems in surface finish. With the advent of multi-tasking machines, lathe operators must learn about milling.

But not to worry, we have just the right tips that will help you operate your machine that will improve output and reduce cost.

Cooling System

It is proven that high pressure coolants helps with the extension of tool life and dramatically boost productivity. HPC or high pressure coolants are extremely effective at removing heat from the cutting zone. The result is that cutting parameters will increase to generate sufficient heat for the metal-removal process to function properly.

Keep the machine clean

Proper machine tool maintenance should be the priority of every shop and yet, some often neglect this process that results into disastrous problems. Regular inspection should be done by the machinist. Check for signs of wear and deformation. Look for dimples and cracks in the shim, ensure the clamp, screw, pin are securely holding the insert. Remove any metal fines that might be lodged in the seating areas, apply small amounts of grease to the moving parts, smooth small deformations and dents with a file and lastly, don’t be afraid to recycle a tool body when it becomes unacceptable to use.

Proper Documentation

Still working with paper and writing down on tool setup sheets? You might want to consider upgrading that to something digital. Every shop can afford work PC stations or tablets across the floor, if not placing each at one machine. This documentation should keep in track events and employees should be encouraged to use them.

 Continuous Training

The competition comes and increased need for learning. In some cases, manufacturers have responded by eliminating their process-engineering functions and relying on the shop floor to do the planning, programing and tool-selection and other process development activities once done in the front office.

Lathe-operators bear a heavy burden and need all the tools, techniques and even advice available to them. Operators also must undergo training. Most cutting tool manufacturers and machine distributors offer online, in-house and on premise educational programs for operators. A shop must realize that to reach the full-potential of their lathe operator, management should budget for training and most importantly re-training should be done once in a while.

Determine what Materials you are Cutting

In order for a machinery worker to determine what band saw blade suites the cutting process of the machine, one must first identify what materials they will be cutting. Most blades are bi-metal and this means that they are composed of two separate metals joined together.

Bi-metallic blades are made up of layers of different metals. These blades can endure the punishment of cutting different shapes and bundles, but they have the strength or durability to allow non-stop use on tough materials and heavy walled tubes. It also works with random cutting of high-alloy steels.

For the teeth of the band saw blades, it is composed with high density steel bonded by various methods with high-powered carbon steel base. With the composition of these materials, the blades become better in terms of cutting speed and durability than shown by non-bimetal blades in certain applications.

Recent advancements in developing band saw blades, the production is replaced with electron beam welding with diffusion process that results improved resistance to tooth stripping and also enables the blades to withstand temperatures up to 1,100 degrees F during work applications. These blades can now cut materials with 40/45 HRC.

Coatings like titanium nitride is now present on other types of blades which often improves surface properties and are more suitable in custom applications whether the blade is conventional bi-metal nor carbide-tipped blades. Heat treatments are also applied in bi-metals which provides the blade the right amount of rigidity and strength. For cutting high volumes of alloy steel and nickel, you might want to consider buying a carbide-tipped blade or tungsten carbide.

Cutting materials like requires the right kind of blade to be effective. Consider factors of heat that is created through friction that causes the blade to dull. Carbide tipped blades are better because it works better to heat and can hold their edges longer than other bi-metal blades available in the market.

Do you have problems or in need of assistance for your bandsaw? Call us or visit www.themachinerydoctors.com.au today.