Applications
Heavy Equipment
Much of the heavy equipment used to manufacture steel or to form metal is massive. When this equipment is in operation, heavy impacts in the form of shocks and vibrations are generated. The heavy equipment is often operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and shutdown for repairs results in reduced production and increased cost.
Plant operators and engineers concerned about heavy equipment vibration closely work with Fabreeka. The company has provided solutions for forge hammer isolation and the shock isolation of presses, namely forge presses, punch presses and stamping presses since 1953. Impact shock and vibration caused by heavy equipment also occurs in mining and when producing pulp and paper. Here, too, Fabreeka pads, washers and bushings have long been reliable solutions to reduce impact shock and vibration in a wide variety of operations.
Metal Forming
Metal forming equipment including forging hammers, forge presses, stamping presses and punch presses can be a major generator of impact shock and vibration disturbances in a plant, thereby causing problems for workers, sensitive equipment within the plant, offices in the building or even causing disturbances with neighbors. The main problem is shock transmission, and the secondary problem is the ensuing high frequency vibration caused by the shock.
Effective solutions to both problems are Fabreeka and Fabcel pads. They have been successfully used on metal forming equipment to reduce shock in the form of bumpers or mounting pads and to reduce vibration transmission as mounting pads or within a machine’s structure. The Fabreeka pad is widely used in forging hammers to absorb the energy of the blow and protect the hammer supporting structure. Fabreeka pads, isolation mounts, “soft systems” and coil spring isolators offer a solution for any hammer or press installation.
Mining
Fabreeka pads, washers and bushings have an impressive history in reducing impact shock and vibration in a wide variety of mining operations including draglines and shovels, mine cars, crushers, chutes and hoppers, grizzlies, rock breakers, feeders, screens, vibration conveyors, shake outs, pulverizers and smelting operations.
In these applications where foundations and structures are broken or damaged due to large impacts, Fabreeka pads are used to protect and prolong equipment use. Customers also utilize the proven Fabreeka pad material to improve the service life of the upper and lower rails on draglines and shovels by reducing the high roller load stress. A widely used choice to distribute the massive forces on the ball bearings are Fabreeka rings.
Another advantage for engineers is the flexibility of integrating Fabreeka’s products and their material. Thus, the types of mines in which Fabreeka improves the work life of humans and their heavy equipment include aluminum, copper, iron, precious metals such as gold and silver, lime, phosphate, asbestos, uranium, salts, nitrate, gems, lithium, and beryllium.
Pulp, Paper and Presses
The initial handling of logs is the same whether they are being processed for lumber or for paper making pulp. In either case, the logs are first run over de-barker rolls to remove the bark to then be picked up by carriage rolls and fed into band mill saws. When lumber is being processed for use in the making of paper pulp, it is taken from the band mill saws on roller conveyors first into chippers, then mixing tanks and finally vibrating screens. Along with the de-barkers and chippers, mechanical and chemical pulp and paper mills both have equipment such as hogs, conveyors and pump stations in their processes which produce high levels of vibration and shock. In many of these pulp and paper applications, Fabreeka pads, washers and bushings as well as Fabcel pads have a positive track record in eliminating impact shock and vibration.
With the demand for higher quality and volume, printing plants use printing presses with high speeds to provide them with the competitive edge. Rotary offset presses, with standard operating production speeds of 1,400 to 1,800 rpm, can produce vibration that is transmitted through the building structure. This can negatively affect the quality of the print and the environment of the workers. When this kind of printing press vibration is involved, previous installations have shown that Fabreeka pads have reduced high frequency vibrations by as much as 80 percent in critical press applications, while remaining stiff enough to maintain press alignment and trim.
Steel
There are many applications in steel mills where Fabreeka pad protects the equipment, structure and foundations from damage by impact shock and vibration. The design and installation of Fabreeka pad greatly reduces fatigue of metal parts and deterioration of concrete supporting structures, thus lengthening their service life plus reducing downtime and cost of maintenance.
Fabreeka pad is currently used as a bumper to reduce impact shock on cold bar shears, mill tables and coil drops where steel ingots or coils of steel are handled and dropped, creating large forces and stresses within the equipment.
Fabreeka pad has also successfully replaced coil springs on ingot buggies and hot metal cars providing the necessary cushioning in the journal box area of the equipment. The pads also used to increase longevity by damping the supporting steel or concrete structures which can fatigue over time when shredders cause random vibration.
In every case, Fabreeka engineers work closely with consultants who specialize in steel mill production to provide shock and vibration solutions for equipment within the steel manufacturing process.
