Solutions With GRAPHALLOY® 4-Bolt Flange Inserts

High temperatures were causing premature failures of 4-bolt flange bearings in this glass manufacturer’s lehr. Bearings had to be heavily greased in an attempt to keep them running.

Unfortunately, the excessive use of grease was causing a safety and fire hazard. Chronic failures were still occurring, resulting in frequent down time and lost production.

An economical solution was found by retro-fitting the existing housings with GRAPHALLOY® 845 Series Inserts. The inserts have now lasted more than a year without a single failure or need for replacement. Using GRAPHALLOY 4-Bolt Flange Inserts has saved this company over $150,000 to date.

Bearing Problems in Overhead Conveyors

A heat treat company was experiencing bearing problems with their overhead conveyor. They had high maintenance costs and lost production due to weekly bearing lubrication. Ball bearings, brass and bronze bearings were tried with no success.

GRAPHALLOY® Bushings and Thrust Washers were installed, generating annual savings of more than $15,000 in weekly maintenance costs alone.

845 Inserts Solve Problem at Paper Mill

GRAPHALLOY 845 Inserts

GRAPHALLOY^® 845 inserts solved a major problem at a paper mill in South Carolina.  The mill was experiencing production loss due to problems in their forced air dryers.  The dryers were used on a tissue paper line; rapid drying of the delicate paper was essential to the manufacturing process. The 650° F operating temperature in the drying process was causing bearing failures in the roof top damper banks. The result was production down time.

The ball bearings were replaced by GRAPHALLOY inserts.  After only six months operation, the customer was so satisfied that they replaced the ball bearings with GRAPHALLOY inserts on their second production line.

GRAPHALLOY® Extends Bearing Life in Paint Drying Oven

A paint drying oven at a brake shoe manufacturer was experiencing two months life from their roller bearings after being exposed to temperatures of 390ºF (200ºC). In spite of the water cooling system in the rollers, the bearing lubrication was failing and causing roller seizure and extensive maintenance costs.  

Self lubricating GRAPHALLOY^® 845 Series Pillow Blocks were installed, eliminating the need for constant lubrication and the need for the water cooling systems. The 845 Pillow Blocks have run for more than a year with no apparent wear. GRAPHALLOY provided a significant improvement in the life of the bearings.

Fitted Pumps Successfully Run Dry with GRAPHALLOY

GRAPHALLOY® self-lubricating wear parts keep pumps from seizing during dry-run, low-flow, start-up, slow roll and shutdown. These are conditions that cause metal to metal pumps or plastic wear parts to fail, sometimes catastrophically.

How Difficult Can Pumping Water Be?

A paper mill in the Pacific Northwest was experiencing failures with the operation of three identical boiler feed pumps (two motor driven and one steam-turbine driven). The pumps were 6-stage horizontal split, opposed impeller, channel ring diffuser design. Multistage split-case pumps of this design are susceptible to deflection and vibration during start-up, coast down and upsets.

These pumps were operating in 260 degrees F (125 degrees C) boiler feedwater at 3560 RPM. With the instrumentation available, the operators had a difficult time determining where the pumps were operating on the performance curve.

While attempting to bring the steam turbine driven pump online, the pump was run at zero flow until it seized. Because of a history of failures, the OEM repair center recommended that the pumps be refit with GRAPHALLOY stationary wear parts.

Engineers at Graphite Metallizing Corporation designed a retrofit solution modifying the existing metal wear parts to accept GRAPHALLOY inserts. The case wear rings, diaphragm bushing and intermediate cover bushings were all modified to include Nickel GRAPHALLOY wear parts.

Failure Averted

Soon after this conversion, the pump experienced another incident. A minimum by-pass line was plugged and, as a result, the pump operated at no flow until the users were able to discover the plugged line (located two floors above the pumps).

The non-galling, GRAPHALLOY fitted pump not only survived but continued in service. Metal or plastic wear rings would have almost certainly caused a failure. The upgrade to Nickel GRAPHALLOY stationary wear parts allowed these pumps to operate under severely adverse conditions that could cause plastics to melt and metals to seize.

The GRAPHALLOY retrofit provided this paper mill with increased efficiency and reduced downtime.

Consider the advantages of GRAPHALLOY for your next pump application:

• Self-lubricating
• Non-galling
• Engineered for your specific application
• Operates in temperatures from -400 degrees F to +1000 degrees F/-240 degrees C to 535 degrees C

GRAPHALLOY® Bearings Cook Up Savings in Heat Treat Ovens

A spring manufacturer was experiencing problems in their heat treat oven. The bearings in an overhead conveyor required weekly lubrication as well as replacement three times a year.  Self lubricating GRAPHALLOY® bushings were installed eliminating the weekly lubrication and the expensive down time.

The spring manufacturer estimates cost savings of approximately $14,000 in lubrication alone. Additional savings were generated by the elimination of the shut down time.

High Temperature Damper Solutions

High temperature dampers can be a maintenance problem. These dampers experience temperatures that require frequent greasing and are often in places that are hard to re-grease. In addition, long periods of inactivity is another source of problems as grease hardens or vibration causes metal on metal galling.

Typical GRAPHALLOY Damper Applications:

• Louver Dampers
• Wind Boxes
• Butterfly Dampers
• Guillotine Dampers
• Diverter Dampers
• Radial Vane Dampers

GRAPHALLOY^® is available in a variety of mounting styles from two and four bolt pillow blocks to two and four bolt flange units. These units are available as solid or split and also come with self aligning features.

GRAPHALLOY provides these "install and forget" features:

• Temperature range from -400° F to +1000° F
• Self Lubricating, requires no oil or grease
• Will not seize or lock up
• Self Aligning capabilities for proper alignment
• Long life, maintenance free operation
• Dimensionally interchangeable with most standard ball bearing units