Identifying industry best bearings solutions for heavy industrial applications is par for the course for Tony Tormey. As Category Manager for Industrial Bearings at Motion Australia, part of Tony’s job is identifying industry standards and ensuring customers have access to technical expertise and training straight from the source.
“Every so often, a range of products comes along that sets the standard and become unparalleled in the market,” says Tony. “And when it comes to bearings solutions for heavy industry, the Timken® solid-block housed units are an excellent example of a range of products that truly set the standard—they are absolutely the strongest unit on the market for heavy industry and have been a sweet spot for us for years because customers just love the product.”
The standout feature of the Timken® solid-block housed units, according to Tony, is that they are the only spherical roller bearing housed units constructed from solid cast steel which gives the bearing unit exceptional resilience and strength under extreme operating conditions. “In addition to this, the bearings are completely enclosed in their Housing and are available with a range of shaft locking and sealing options that shield from contaminants and provides extended bearing life,” he adds.
“As part and parcel of the Timken® solid-block housed units offering, Australian Timken engineers readily provide customers with extensive training options through their technical department,” furthers Tony. “And our broader team at CBC, BSC, and all affiliated Motion Australia businesses work in partnership with Australian Timken’s engineering arm to make that training accessible to all parties within an organisation.”
This is where Sean Young comes into the picture. As General Manager for Regional Sales at Australian Timken, Sean has an extensive history of working on the bearings side of the business, frequently performing onsite training symposiums for customers working with heavy industrial equipment. Having previously worked for Motion Australia for 20 years, in a similar role to Tony on the bearings side, Sean has experienced both sides of the successful partnership between the two entities and acquired deep knowledge of the bearings business, particularly the Timken® solid-block housed units, which are his speciality.
“This product is a sweet spot for me,” says Sean. “Before joining Australian Timken, I had already worked with the Timken® solid-block housed units for a number of years. Often, I would visit customer sites to oversee the replacement of traditional housed units with these bearings units to obtain more service life for my client base.”
One of the biggest selling points for these units, according to Sean is their ease of installation, which comes from their unitised nature—the bearing is already fitted inside the Housing when it arrives on site.
“The most common cause of bearing failure for traditional housed units is that the internal clearance is hard to get right upon installation,” explains Sean. “There is a whole process where the fitter typically drives the bearing up the sleeve, while measuring internal clearance to spec. In a lot of cases, fitters end up either tightening the bearing too tight, so it overheats the lubricant and the bearing during operation, or they don’t tighten it enough and it spins loose on the sleeve.”
Timken® solid-block housed units remedy this issue, notes Sean, due to the fact that bearings are already fitted inside the units with seals at point of purchase. “The internal clearance is factory set and depending on the shaft locking method, can accommodate all operating speed ranges,” he says.
The other issue these units avoid is the risk of internal contamination, according to Sean.
“Whenever we train on these products, we talk to the fact that bearings suffer from “C.L.I disease” —that’s contamination, lubrication and installation,” he explains. “With the Timken® solid-block housed units, the bearings, grease and seals are already fitted in the factory which keeps the contamination out, and there is a grease nipple and grease release valve to purge used grease from the bearing.”
Getting the installation right from the outset automatically increases the life of the bearings, he furthers. Not only that, but the time required to install is reduced significantly.
“Years ago, we did some work with an aluminium plant on a very tricky conveyor application that was right at the top of the plant,” says Sean. “The conveyor was eating the existing bearings every four to six weeks, so we took some Timken® solid-block housed units to the site to trial.”
We conducted a training session with their reliability engineers, and fitted the first unit in the training session,” he explains. “The engineers were blown away because it took less than 90 minutes all up to complete the installation comfortably, whereas they had been spending a whole day fitting the previous bearings units.”
“The result was longer life bearing units, reduced maintenance hours, and significant cost savings for the customer,” he concludes.
Why Maddie the Miner loves Timken® solid-block housed units
• A two-row spherical roller bearing
• Black oxide extended inner ring
• Six different primary sealing options that seal on the bearings inner ring
• Machined solid housing feet and base
• Housing tolerance: J7 > Light Interference fit
• Standard Grease Relief Valve
• Optional external open or closed steel or urethane seal covers (bolt on)
• Five shaft locking styles
• Easy to change from fixed to floating
• Housing can be supplied standard with powder coating, or optional with nickel, zinc, or urethane coating
• Housing manufactured from cast steel
Interested in organising a Timken® solid-block housed units training session? Visit a local Motion Australia branch today. We are now offering the full range of products and service through all our businesses: AIP, BSC, CBC, Cram, Hardy Spicer, Seal Innovations, Sealing Solutions, SpecFast, Walterscheid and WebsterBSC.
