When you spend a lot of money on machinery, you want to keep it working. And a good part of maximizing your machine uptime, productivity and plant safety comes down to your preventive maintenance program. Preventive maintenance (PM) can be described as a planned, proactive approach to ensure that the equipment operates at top efficiency. To state the obvious, broken-down equipment doesn’t pay the bills.
By following an organized PM program, you can help keep equipment performing safely with less risk of major disruption. Unfortunately, preventive maintenance is one of those classic cases of “important but not necessarily urgent” activities. As such, when you are short-staffed and under pressure to get pallets out the door, preventive maintenance can be one of those activities that gets ignored. If you are not disciplined in following your preventive maintenance program, it can come back to bite you in the pocketbook.
Your wood grinder or chipper is no exception to this general rule. A lack of attention to preventive maintenance can lead to overheated bearings, excessive vibration and even catastrophic breakdown. It can result in reduced throughput, material quality deterioration and the risk of fire.
Follow Your Maintenance Schedule
Your machine supplier should supply a maintenance schedule for the machine. It will identify work on the grinder that needs to be done at particular intervals. Schedules vary by machine, how many hours it runs and what type of material is being reduced.
Leading grinder providers also provide training on operation and maintenance when you purchase your machine. They also have helpful service departments that give great advice. If you haven’t already, take the time to reach out. Some manufacturers provide useful instructional videos for particular maintenance tasks.
Some newer grinders will feature advanced technologies that make PMs easier. For instance, some equipment features touch screens that direct the operator to perform the required maintenance tasks. Increasingly, telematics (GPS and onboard diagnostics) is also available. This remote sensing capability allows supervisory staff to monitor performance from their smartphones or computers.
Telematics provides information on maintenance life, vibration and bearing temperature, engine data, and production data. It can prompt maintenance staff to intervene if needed. Telematics systems can also send reminders for upcoming service requirements.
Start the daily inspection by following the Lockout Tagout (LOTO) to ensure that the machine is not accidentally energized. Also, wear the required personal protection equipment (PPE).
Experts suggest taking the time to walk around the grinding system, including conveyors and other parts of the system. Keep an eye open for wood buildup that should be cleaned up, especially around the engine, fuel tank or hydraulic tank. Be aware that the buildup can result in fire. Remove buildup manually or with compressed air. Additionally, watch for leaking hydraulic oil. If paint is lifting or looks corroded, it could indicate a hot spot that needs attention.
Next, inspect the grinding or chipping system. Grinder tips should have sufficient carbide to last the shift or be changed or rotated. Likewise, for chippers, sharp knives are essential. Dull knives can result in vibration that can lead to several maintenance concerns.
Also, look at fasteners and clamps that hold grinder tips and chipper knives. It is a much better practice to replace fasteners than tips. Inspect the anvil and screens. Check and clean around the in-feed conveyor, if applicable, as well as looking at drive belts and discharge belts.
Weekly PMs typically include greasing bearings and inspecting fluid levels, hydraulic hoses, gearbox, and motor bolts, as well as drive belt tension. Tracking and tensioning of conveyor belts may be done monthly.
Quarterly or annual maintenance will be more involved. Be sure to refer to your manual. While grinders are designed with in-house maintenance in mind, scheduled maintenance services are also offered by some grinder manufacturers and service providers.
This article offers general advice only. Be sure to touch base with your manufacturer for the specifics of your machine. Most importantly, whether you perform maintenance yourself or outsource it, don’t let it slip. “Important but not urgent” can unexpectedly escalate to “important and urgent” if you don’t follow your maintenance schedule.
