www.foodtechnology.co.nz 33
to use lubricants that can contaminate
production,” Flood
says. Nylon rollers, for example,
offer high wear resistance, low
friction and lower noise where a
part slides over the roller surface.
Nylon rollers also offer savings
in maintenance costs and, being
non-corrosive, offer all-weather
performance in outside installations,
including mineral processing
plants and logistics operations.
Uses include beam trolley rollers,
monorail rollers and turntable
rollers, as well as vital parts on
conveyors and belts. “Cast nylon
trunnion wheels can also be used
to reduce plant operation noise
and reduce wear on rotating barrels,”
Flood says. “Nylon trunnion
wheels can be used in noise and
vibration-prone applications where
they support vertical barrel loads
and dual thrust loads.” Wearlon
trunnion rollers protect their
running surfaces while providing
good damping of vibration and
noise in applications such as rotary
drum screens, wire cable windows
and rollers and guide wheels in
transport vehicles, crane carriages,
crane tracks, trolleys, storage
and retrieval systems, as well as
handling systems and applications
with rolling movements (such as
vertical conveyors, bucket elevators
and trough conveyors). Flood
says Cut To Size extrudes components
manufactured from nylon
rod diameters below 50mm and
casts them above this measure.
Components made from sheet
material 10mm thick and lower is
extruded, while 10mm and above
is cast. “Cast nylon is better for
machining the larger components,
because it is slightly more ductile,
has less internal stresses and has
more consistent density compared
with the extruded material in these
sizes. So, we use casting to deliver
optimum long-term performance
in larger components.” While
the Wearlon family often offers a
highly cost-effective solution to
noise, friction and wear abatement
issues, Cut To Size also engineers
components from a full range of
engineering plastics from world
class suppliers, including nylon,
acetal, PTFE, polyurethane and
specialist high-performance products.
Specialist products include
the Wearlon family of LiNNOTAMHiPERFORMANCE
polyamides,
for example, which are partially
crystalline, thermoplastic high-performance
polyamides which, using
carefully formulated additives and
modifiers, have been specially designed
for the demanding requirements
of specialty components in
machinery design. These include
production-critical applications,
such as production automation
and high-volume product processing
and conveying where downtime
costs are considerable, and
producers wish also to avoid the
hazards of replacing heavier and
more labour-intensive machinery
components. The high-performance
polyamides are part of Cut
To Size’s nationally available Wearlon
ranges from the international
manufacturer and fabricator of engineering
plastics, Licharz, which
produces the globally proven LiNNOTAM
family of light but rugged
polyamides for easy machining and
especially long service lives.
www.cuttosize.com.au
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