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The Right Bearing Keeps Brewer Green for St. Patrick’s Day and All Year Round
A bearing exists for every linear motion application. The trick is to pick the right bearing. For one
brewery, the previous choice of linear rollers and ball bushings in a cantilevered arm palletizing
system led to too much downtime. The right choice, of cam rollers and pillow block housings, helped
keep beer flowing.
Once beer is brewed and poured into cans, an automated cantilevered arm palletizing system stacks the
full cans onto pallets and positions pallets of empty cans to the filling station. The forward movement
of the cantilevered arm is propelled by a cam roller and linear bearing system that allows the arm to
cycle through the pallet stack, feed the cans through the filling station, and remove any plastic
interleave material from the stock. This linear motion application required a tolerance for high shock
load and vibration under constant reciprocating stroke in order for the palletizer to operate efficiently.
The original linear motion components nbsp;linear rollers and ball bushings—could not handle the high shock
loads and vibration. The components underwent severe fretting corrosion, and the cantilevered weight would
wear the ball bushings and spall the shafting—creating accumulated particulate. These fine metal shavings
would build-up within the ball bushing housing, causing the arm to stall and bringing the whole palletizing
process to a grinding halt. Replacing the parts and stopping the production process increased production
costs and time, and decreased profits.
PBC Linear recommended Redi-Rail® cam rollers and Simplicity® pillow block housings. The smooth, sturdy
anodized rails of Redi-Rail® provided rigid linear guidance of the palletizer. Steel inserts along the rail
ensured tolerance of vibration and load—allowing the rollers to glide smoothly, quickly and accurately.
Plane bearing pillow blocks replaced the ball bushings. Composed of no rolling materials, Simplicity®
products delivered even disbursement of load. This wide point of contact eliminated damage to the shafting
and ensured smooth, wear--&-ree operation. These products also absorb vibration, and can handle 20
times the load capacity of conventional ball bushings and push potential contaminants off the shafting.
Coincidentally, Redi-Rail’s mounting holes were perfectly lined up with the previous ones,
making the replacement easy. Unscheduled shut downs and stalling were eliminated; allowing more cans to be filled.
| Product Model | Inside Diameter | Outside Diameter | Thickness |
| 7228BDT NSK | 140 | 250 | 42 |
| 7228ADT NSK | 140 | 250 | 42 |