Galvanizing Line Pot Equipment Life

A steel mill galvanizing line in the mid west was experiencing severe bearing wear of the pot equipment in the zinc tank. Projected bearing life was 6 weeks, but the mill was stopping production every 2 weeks to replace badly worn bearings and was running very close to complete bearing failure on several occasions.

After attempts to align the pot equipment by a local company using a Laser Tracker failed, AIM was brought in to do a survey of the galvanizing line pot equipment. A one day AIM survey, and corrections based on the survey that day, produced an immediate and dramatic change to the process. Bearing life improved to 8 weeks and strip tracking throughout the pot and tower areas improved as well.

Score: AIM = 1, Laser Tracker = 0

Limited Access Rolls

A recent survey by an AIM crew revealed some interesting results regarding felt tracking in a coater. This appears to also be an issue in the paper machine as well.

The survey performed with AIM’s state of the art Laser Systems and Tooling showed that the rolls that were easily accessible with conventional optical tooling were within a tolerance window that is considered acceptable. However, rolls that were not easily acceptable with conventional optical instruments were considerably out of alignment. In addition, the customer stated that the AIM crew collected considerably more data than any supplier had been able to collect in a conventional 8 hour down turn.

The issue of rolls in the basement of a paper mill and on top of the machine is always a difficult and time consuming project. AIM's technology and methonds have limited the amount of time required and increased the accuracy level by a very significant factor. To learn more about the AIM Advantage visit our website at http://www.aimlaser.com/