The gear couplings you use in your steel production process are critical. These highly engineered assemblies should be customized to exceed the requirements of your steel mill application. The reliability of your gear couplings has a direct impact on your productivity and ultimately your profitability.
The questions we hear most often about gear couplings are about service life and maintenance costs. These are important considerations that will have an impact on how well your steel production processes run.
How long should gear couplings last?
Under normal operating conditions, a properly maintained gear coupling should perform a two year campaign until reconditioning is recommended. If the gear couplings you are currently relying on are not delivering this kind of performance, you are probably not getting the best quality, or you have an assembly that was not engineered to meet your needs.
What maintenance costs are associated with gear couplings?
Quality gear couplings should require little to no maintenance until reconditioning is necessary due to normal wear. Well-engineered gear couplings are comprised of reliable components, which will not require premature component replacement. A superior seal will prevent excessive grease loss, which can be a maintenance issue with inferior gear couplings. The typical reconditioning cost of an Xtek gear coupling is generally less than $0.02 per ton rolled.
Gear coupling reliability is essential in maintaining consistent steel production.
Dependable gear couplings keep steel production on schedule by minimizing downtime and costs associated with maintenance and repair. Gear couplings are engineered assemblies comprised of components that must be designed for reliable, consistent operation. It is crucial that gear coupling performance be monitored and tracked so that necessary adjustments can be made during the reconditioning process. This will assure that gear coupling performance keeps your operations productive and provides you with the best value.
Four Ways Xtek Delivers Reliable Gear Coupling Performance
1. Advanced Engineering
Xtek has a knowledgeable and experienced engineering team that focuses not only on the complete gear coupling assembly but on every individual aspect of its development, from the concept and design phase, through the manufacturing process, and ultimately to the evaluation and reconditioning stage. Through optimization of every component and aspect of development, the end result is a superior gear coupling.
2. Precision Manufacturing
Xtek gear coupling components are machined to tight tolerances and stringent specifications on state-of-the-art machine tools. Many of the machine tools have been customized for the machining of specific coupling components.
3. Superior Metallurgy
Material selection is a primary task of the metallurgy group and writing the specific thermal processing cycles is a crucial factor in cultivating the best material properties to develop the ultimate gear coupling components.
4. Thermal Processing Enhancement
The Xtek Tool Steel Processes (TSP) advantage has been in existence for over a century. Captive and exclusive Xtek processes customize the properties of each gear coupling part to create a metallurgically optimized component.
At Xtek, our mantra is “geared toward superior performance and productivity.” This is not limited to our gear couplings. It is also reflects our commitment to gear coupling service. We offer gear coupling management programs and onsite coupling reconditioning services designed specifically to support steel mills using our geared spindle couplings. The purpose of these programs is to keep customers productive and profitable through tracking and scheduling, inventory services, and customer service.
Are you ready to optimize your steel mill productivity with Xtek’s quality gear couplings and gear management programs? Contact us to discuss your project!