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The parts are loaded into a large plating drum with a mesh exterior, which is then lowered into a tank containing a highly corrosive solution and heated to high temperatures between 120°F – 150°F. After coating, a series of cleaning and coating cycles are repeated across a battery of baths. A motor engages the drum drive, which needs to rotate slowly and steadily while carrying a high load into each step of the cleaning and coating process. The heavy metal parts in the drum can shift suddenly as the drum rotates, causing heavy shock load to be absorbed on the drive. The stainless steel chain, weakened by corrosion would give up under the shock load.

Intech engineers designed a large lubrication free Intech Power-Core gear and included a circular series of 2” diameter cast in ports made of Inconel in order to securely attach the gear to the drum. They also integrated a Power-Core bearing block in the shaft.

The Intech gear is resistant to the corrosive environment and was designed to absorb the sudden shock load, and proved to offer substantial savings to the customer.

Plating Drum Gears

When Intech iCamFollowers® are installed on the light tester ram they ensure that 3,000+ inspections can be performed per minute, more than sufficient to keep up with the high speed can production line and offer several important benefits.

After installation, the lubrication lines originally used to grease the metal cam followers can be disconnected, cutting down on periodic maintenance and possible contamination of the can. Another important benefit is the fact that the cam propelling the ram back and forth is now protected from wear by the IPC tire.

Fitted with precision ball bearings the Intech iCamFollowers® are easy rolling and the plastic tire does absorb shock and vibration for overall smoother performance.

The Intech iCamFollowers® have also been running successfully for many years in the necking operation on Belvac neckers, both on rams made by Intech, the light weight, self-lubricating square ram, as well as on the original Belvac rams.

Intech iCam Followers Light Tester installed on a RT6 at Brazilian can making plant

We have grown accustomed to signs like these in public places like airports, hotels or department stores. The reason for the maintenance or repair shut down is often wear or broken teeth on the main driving sprocket.

The self-lubricating, precision machined Intech Power-Core escalator driving sprocket helps to extend the time intervals for scheduled maintenance, is wear resistant, absorbs shock and vibration, and reduces noise for a smooth and quiet ride. They are also suitable for outdoor use as the sprocket material does not absorb moisture and teeth do not break in sub-zero temperatures, when other plastic materials become brittle.

Escalator

Drive Sprocket for Escalator Handrail

Upon installation of the lubrication free Intech gear, the engineers ramped up the output to 600 caplets per minute (cpm), the industry standard, and discovered that there was no vibration previously experienced with the heavy cast iron gear. Encouraged by the performance of the low inertia Intech Power-Core gear, they increased the output to 700…800…, all the way to 1200 cpm. Even at this speed the machine was running smoothly and without vibration.

This was in contrast with all the previous experience using the cast iron gear which reached its critical RPM around 700 RPM, at which point the machine shook violently, and the reason why the output had been established at 600 cpm.

The customer settled on an output of 800 caplets/min as a standard for the company’s brand, a 25% increase over competitive machines. The first reward came shortly after introduction of the new machine. A company producing caplets used in automotive air bags sought to increase its capacity by 2400 caplets/min. Our customer was able to satisfy that demand with three machines that don’t require lubrication, where all its competitors quoted four machines that required constant lubrication and frequent shut down for maintenance.

Low Inertia Spur Gear Installed in Caplet Machine

Low inertia often becomes the dominant, albeit unexpected benefit of changing to self-lubricating Power-Core gears. The main drive in the DaVinci surgical robot is another good example.

In order to capture video images of the race cars as they streak along the track at these phenomenal speeds, a camera needs to resist the buffeting and turbulence generated by the passing cars. Doggicam Systems adapted its patented movie camera system to create the Super Slide, a high speed light weight super-rigid rail system which allows the camera to be moved with precision and tremendous speed and acceleration.

The Doggicam Super Slide runs back and forth at high speed in a rail across a suspended gantry over the NASCAR race track

Intech Power-Core rollers are a key component of the Doggicam Systems Super Slide

Intech guide rollers are also used in mechanisms that move cameras in TV studios or on film sets, where smooth, vibration free and quiet camera operation is paramount.

The pictures below show a metal cam follower with plastic sleave in a skid steer overhead cab door application, how the door is installed, and how the cab door roller failed. Since metal rollers were known to wear the aluminum rail, the original cab door cam followers were sleaved with Lubriloy RW-HI material (proprietary alloy of nylon 6,6). The aluminum tracks that the cab door rollers roll in are: extruded aluminum alloy 6063-T5 and 6063-T6, these also wore out to the point that doors jammed and had to be replaced.

Damage can be clearly seen from the flat spot on this cam follower used in a skid slider cab door.

The same worn plastic cam follower installed in the door sliding mechanism

Intech’s Power-Core iCamFollower®

Encouraged by the results, the final test sequence for the Intech cam followers was to complete a series of cycles while introducing Laredo dust, to simulate the real working environment.

After initial tests with 1290 cycles, there was no material deformation on Intech’s Power-Core roller material, and the roller had not caused any wear to the aluminum tracks. “Looking good so far” reported the customer. Several days later he added: “I stopped the test today, as the cam followers have gotten to 6300 cycles (that’s about 4300 more than our requirement). There was no wear on the wheels of the cam followers, and no wearing to speak of on the cab door tracks. We were very surprised.”

After further examination of the set of cam followers in the test stand, it was determined that they were still in good condition, so the testing was restarted, this time covering the tracks and the rollers with Arizona Caliche dust, approximately every hour. Following this dry test, the tracks were sprayed down with water and a wet testing session took place. Once again the Intech’s Power-Core iCamFollowers® surpassed expectation and showed no wear, either on the roller or on the rail.

The force required to open the skid steer cab door using the smooth rolling Intech’s Power-Core material was reduced by half from 50lbs to just 25lbs. The ease of opening the cab door was subsequently turned into a key selling point for the machine.

Intech’s iCamFollowers® eliminate both the need to lubricate and rail wear and offer a cost effective alternative to both metal and other plastic cam followers in numerous applications.

It seems that a large number of cam followers, metal ones that is, are used for their convenience not their load carrying capacity. Tap out a hole and you are ready to install a cam follower, providing designers with an instant “wheel” that allows parts of machines to move back and forth. The cam follower was not selected for its load capacity, rather enabling a movement required by the process.

There is a price to pay for this convenience. The rail on which the metal cam follower runs has to be periodically lubricated, as does the needle bearing in the cam follower. Lubrication, especially surface lubrication can contaminate packages and is a constant burden on maintenance. If you do not lubricate, the rail will wear and if you apply too much grease, there is a good chance that some of it will end up on the product. Over greasing of the cam followers’ needle bearing may cause the cam follower to stop rotating and instead be “dragged” along, causing a flat spot on the outer racer and excessive wear on the rail. This can happen when the radial load is relatively light for the heavy duty cam follower or if the radial load drops to zero during the operating cycle, for example on cams where the cam followers are used to exert force in only a portion of 360° rotation of the cam.

To replace a damaged cam follower is relatively inexpensive, while replacing a fixed rail or a cam can cost days of down time. Grease contaminated products carry their own cost.

Intech’s iCamFollowers® eliminate both the need to lubricate and rail wear and offer a cost effective alternative to metal cam followers in most packaging applications. The easy rolling, precision ball bearings thermally installed in the plastic tire offer very little rolling resistance and are lubricated for life. This ensures a smooth rolling motion even in light duty applications. Not to worry, the iCams will also carry heavy loads. Intech engineers developed a load / life expectancy calculation and the resulting load data allows engineers to select a cam follower suitable for the load in their application. So for example the IPC – 1.500 iCam will carry 300 lbs for 100 million cycles (1 cycle = one 360° rotation) without developing a flat or wearing out. Most importantly, it will not wear out the rail, steel or aluminum.

In addition to being able to carry high loads, the plastic tire will absorb shock & vibration, reduce rolling resistance, cut noise by up to 10 dB, and will work in sub-zero temperatures. For wash down applications the cam follower is delivered with stainless steel shafts and bearings. All this without lubrication or rail wear.

Intech’s iCamFollowers® also open up the way to more cost effective designs. Since iCamFollowers do not wear out the rails, designers can run the iCams directly on aluminum frames, without having to use steel or stainless steel strips to prevent rail wear. To further simplify the design central lubrication systems’ need for cam follower lubrication can be eliminated.

Are metal cam followers in your application overrated? Intech engineers can help you to determine that.

Intech’s long-wearing, lubrication-free, heavy duty iCamFollowers® replace conventional metal cam followers

A non-lubricated plastic pinion replaced a metal gear, eliminating breakdowns in a high-speed card feeder.

The metal hub absorbs all key way stresses, transferring maximum torque to the composite gear teeth. The teeth are made of a lightweight plastic composite, weighing just 0.037 pounds per cubic inch.

Torque of Power-Core gear approximates that of cast iron, but without the brittleness, weight, lubrication, and teeth breakage. As a result, Power-Core gears can reach higher speeds, increasing the throughput of your equipment. We can precisely calculate torque capacity, allowing Power-Core gears to replace metal gears in many applications.

Power-Core gears can operate without lubrication at pitch line speeds up to 15 feet per second. When a special friction-reducing coating is added, you can double gear speed to 30 feet per second.

This chemical resistant sprocket is corrosion proof and ensures that no lubricant is required which could contaminate the food.

Double rowed-drive sprocket used in a packaging machine

One drive sprocket is used for two different chain circuits, and this component provides an integrated solution with a cast-in stainless steel hub to securely attach both sprockets to the shaft.

Intech Power-Core sprockets are available with or without metal core. The material’s properties lend themselves to superior wear characteristics of the sprocket teeth. Intech Power-Core sprockets do not wear out the chain, reduce noise and absorb shock and vibration.