The British timber manufacturer supplies wooden beams to the building industry. At one production station, a conveyor system transports the beams to a processing machine, performing forward and backward motion with rapid changes of direction. Due to the demands of this operation, the company had to replace the conveyor’s linear guides every two weeks on average, a situation that was clearly unacceptable.
A request arrived from the company’s management team, asking NSK for recommendations on how to extend the service life of the linear guides. Analysis of failed units by NSK experts revealed that they were not capable of withstanding the high loads that occur at each change of direction. In addition, the linear guides sometimes jammed completely due to the intrusion of wood particles.
Read the full article in DPA's August issue