Identifying industry best bearings solutions for heavy industrial applications is par for the course for Motion Australia category manager for industrial bearings Tony Tormey.
Part of Tormey’s job at Motion Australia is identifying industry standards and ensuring customers have access to technical expertise and training straight from the source.
“Every so often, a range of products comes along that sets the standard and become unparalleled in the market,” Tormey said.
“And when it comes to bearings solutions for heavy industry, the Timken solid-block housed units are an excellent example of a range of products that truly set the standard—they are absolutely the strongest unit on the market for heavy industry and have been a sweet spot for us for years because customers just love the product.”
The standout feature of the Timken solid-block housed units is that they are the only spherical roller bearing housed units constructed from solid cast steel which gives the bearing unit exceptional resilience and strength under extreme operating conditions, Tormey explained.
“In addition to this, the bearings are completely enclosed in their housing and are available with a range of shaft locking and sealing options that shield from contaminants and provides extended bearing life,” he added.
“As part and parcel of the Timken solid-block housed units offering, Australian Timken engineers readily provide customers with extensive training options through their technical department,” Tormey continued.
“And our broader team at CBC, BSC, and all affiliated Motion Australia businesses work in partnership with Australian Timken’s engineering arm to make that training accessible to all parties within an organisation.”
This is where Australian Timken general manager for regional sales Sean Young comes into the picture.
Young has an extensive history of working on the bearings side of the business, frequently performing onsite training symposiums for customers working with heavy industrial equipment.
Having previously worked for Motion Australia for 20 years, in a similar role to Tormey on the bearings side, Young has experienced both sides of the successful partnership between the two entities and acquired deep knowledge of the bearings business, particularly the Timken solid-block housed units, which are his speciality.
“This product is a sweet spot for me,” Young said.
“Before joining Australian Timken, I had already worked with the Timken solid-block housed units for a number of years. Often, I would visit customer sites to oversee the replacement of traditional housed units with these bearings units to obtain more service life for my client base.”
According to Young, one of the biggest selling points for these units is their ease of installation, which comes from their unitised nature—the bearing is already fitted inside the Housing when it arrives on site.
“The most common cause of bearing failure for traditional housed units is that the internal clearance is hard to get right upon installation,” explains Young.
“There is a whole process where the fitter typically drives the bearing up the sleeve, while measuring internal clearance to spec. In a lot of cases, fitters end up either tightening the bearing too tight, so it overheats the lubricant and the bearing during operation, or they don’t tighten it enough and it spins loose on the sleeve.”
Timken solid-block housed units remedy this issue as the bearings are already fitted inside the units with seals at point of purchase.
“The internal clearance is factory set and depending on the shaft locking method, can accommodate all operating speed ranges,” Young said.
The other issue these units avoid is the risk of internal contamination.
“Whenever we train on these products, we talk to the fact that bearings suffer from “C.L.I disease”— that’s contamination, lubrication and installation,” Young explains.
“With the Timken solid-block housed units, the bearings, grease and seals are already fitted in the factory which keeps the contamination out, and there is a grease nipple and grease release valve to purge used grease from the bearing.”
Getting the installation right from the outset automatically increases the life of the bearings, he furthers. Not only that, but the time required to install is reduced significantly.
“Years ago, we did some work with an aluminium plant on a very tricky conveyor application that was right at the top of the plant,” Young said.
“The conveyor was eating the existing bearings every four to six weeks, so we took some Timken® solid-block housed units to the site to trial.”
We conducted a training session with their reliability engineers, and fitted the first unit in the training session,” Young explained.
“The engineers were blown away because it took less than 90 minutes all up to complete the installation comfortably, whereas they had been spending a whole day fitting the previous bearings units.”
“The result was longer life bearing units, reduced maintenance hours, and significant cost savings for the customer,” Young concluded.
Interested in organising a Timken solid-block housed units training session? Visit a local Motion Australia branch today. We are now offering the full range of products and service through all our businesses: AIP, BSC, CBC, Cram, Hardy Spicer, Seal Innovations, Sealing Solutions, SpecFast, Walterscheid and WebsterBSC.