Just a few drops of retaining adhesive saved ten thousand pounds in
part replacement costs for CD manufacturer, Nimbus
At Nimus Manufacturing’s Cwmbran, Gwent plant, wear on the main input
shaft at the drive coupling joint of an eight year old Kammann
three-colour screen printing machine was causing it to shake badly. The
printer repeatedly starts and stops as it continuously prints CD discs,
but because of the shaft ‘play’ it could not stop in a controlled manner.
“We renewed the drive box,” recalls manufacturing engineer, Robin
Scammells, “but to replace the drive shaft - which had about 0.07mm of
wear - we estimated that it would cost around £10,000, require two
engineers from Germany, and keep the machine idle for a week. It just
wasn’t an option. “I had thought of using a metal-epoxy mix to repair the
wear, but when I discussed this with Loctite, they recommended their 641
medium strength retaining adhesive because of the relatively small gap to
be filled. So, I cleaned the shaft, applied Loctite and reassembled the
drive - a job that took two hours. Next morning, we started the machine
and all the shake had gone. That was September 16 1999. The machine has
worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week since, and it continues to run -
and stop - smoothly.” Loctite 641 is suitable for cylindrical assemblies,
such as shafts to couplings or bearings into housings, which may require
future dismantling. Used on steel, it will provide 50% of full cure in
one hour at normal temperature. For a faster cure, curing in cold
environments or for gaps larger than 0.1mm, fast-drying activators are
available.