Preventive maintenance or extra service calls: it's your call!

In the previous issue of Profiles, we discussed the importance of maintaining an inventory of selected parts in reducing downtime. This time, we’d like to focus on an issue that might be even more important: maintaining your extrusion equipment properly. A little extra commitment in this area may not only head off the need for a service call, but also maximize your productivity in the process.

Lack of a consistent maintenance effort can lead to frequent small problems, and help those small problems grow into big ones. Jeff Brach, Controls Engineering Manager at Granco Clark, identifies a few key maintenance problems that are often ignored…and become a much “bigger deal” later on.

Billet/Log Furnace. Let’s start with what is perhaps the most popular and pervasive Granco Clark technology. Preventative maintenance can help ensure proper log or billet heating, and the most efficient use of heating energy dollars. Make sure to check regularly for the following situations that call for immediate attention:

1. Pressure controller out of adjustment
2. Exhaust damper linkage out of adjustment
3. Zone combustion valve linkage out of adjustment
4. Worn or broken seal around door
5. Defective or erratic slidewire feedback from zone drive motors
6. Worn, missing or misadjusted parts on temperature probes
7. Main flame too rich or too lean

Double Puller. Another popular Granco Clark technology—a real workhorse in moving profiles along the extrusion line. Preventive maintenance helps ensure a consistent, uninterrupted power supply, smooth transport in pulling profiles, and accurate cutting and “hand-off” of profile segments. Keep regular watch for the following:

1. Incorrect friction offset adjustment
2. Worn or seized wheel bearings
3. Worn shoes on sliding contact electrical feed system
4. Clamp accumulator not charged
5. Poor extrusion support near the die
6. Inconsistently worn or partially replaced chain
7. Brake drag

High Pressure Spray Quench. An important area for maintaining line speed and ensuring profile quality. Some items that may frequently require attention:

1. Filter plugged
2. Nozzles plugged
3. Nozzles missing
4. Suction line obstructed

Granco Clark service bulletins serve as handy checklist of recommended maintenance procedures on most Granco Clark Technologies.

Granco Clark Service Bulletin
Billet/Log Furnace Maintenance.