“The problem is often reclassified as a preventative maintenance task. Gillespie explained that a leaking gearbox is so commonplace that his clients often do not recognise it as a problem that needs to be corrected.
It was sitting on a shelf in the warehouse without any oil in it.” He said: “I once asked a customer if he had any gearboxes that didn’t leak. George Gillespie, General Sales Manager for Inpro/Seal, states that for many years a leaking gearbox was considered an accepted cost of doing business. In addition, workers had to add oil each shift to replace what was being lost because of the leak. Large amounts of oil were being wasted as it leaked directly to the deck below the gearbox, causing a slip hazard. Between scheduled maintenance, the leaking gearbox caused a costly, messy and hazardous problem that was also an environmental concern. This repair became very time consuming and expensive specifically due to the fact that it could only take place during scheduled downtime, it required three maintenance personnel to repair and it took 3-4 hours to complete.įurthermore, the gearbox was in a confined location that limited access to the shaft, complicating the already high cost repair. The lip seals needed to be replaced every three to six weeks. Lip seals wear at the point of contact or groove the shaft causing lubrication loss and contamination ingress.Īt the mill, the rising costs associated with using low cost lip seals were becoming apparent. The gearbox used contact lip seals, which tend to have a short and unreliable service life due to using contact with the shaft to retain lubrication. He recalled ongoing leaks and related maintenance issues with this gearbox during the 10 years he has visited the mill. Kuczynski, an Outside Services Manager for Casey Industrial, regularly visits the mill to monitor equipment and advise the client on when to perform maintenance. When Bill Kuczynski from Casey Industrial noticed a large amount of oil leaking from a gearbox on a SAG mill at a client’s at Arizona copper milling facility, he knew it was time to recommend a permanent sealing solution.
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