V
9

That old sand reclaimer at the Trenton plant cost me a whole shift

The belt kept slipping on the drum, but the tensioner looked fine. I spent six hours checking every bearing and motor mount before I saw the real issue, a worn pulley groove you could only see from underneath. What's the dumbest hidden problem you've had with a reclaimer?
3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
3 Comments
lucast81
lucast8123d ago
My buddy had a reclaimer that kept throwing its chain, drove him nuts for a week. He replaced the drive sprocket twice before he crawled inside the chute and found a broken flight bar was just long enough to catch every third revolution. It reminds me of what paul_ramirez said about checking the hidden side, sometimes the problem is literally inside the machine. He felt pretty silly staring at that bent bar after all that work.
7
hannah_wells
Wait, you had to crawl inside the chute to find it? That sounds like a nightmare. I mean, who even thinks to look for a broken piece just barely hanging on like that. I'd be so mad after replacing the sprocket twice for nothing. Stuff like that makes you want to just walk away for a minute.
4
paul_ramirez
Classic. Always check the pulley wear from the side you can't see. A groove worn that deep will let the belt ride up no matter how tight it is.
1