High Speed Operation Chain Failure – Lumber Mill Case Study
THE CHALLENGE
A lumber milling company was looking for improved wear life from the roller chain on a board edging machine. High shock loads from the machinery and the inability to lubricate while running, due to the high speed operation, was causing premature high speed operation chain failure. Downtime costs for the mill were running $15,000 per machine per day.
THE SOLUTION
Although Diamond Chain often recommends heavy series chain for operations that are subjected to heavy shock loads, in this instance, Diamond’s ASME/ANSI series chains were easily able to handle the load of the machinery.
THE RESULTS
After switching to Diamond series chain, the lumber miller was able to realize savings of $50,897 from a reduction in downtime and $1,497 in reduced yearly chain expenditures.