What You Need to Know About Crusher Maintenance
What do you need to know about crusher maintenance?
- There are three different types of maintenance.
- Overdoing maintenance can cause issues.
- A three-pronged approach can be optimal.
Crushers are one of the most heavy-duty machines being used in the industrial, construction, and manufacturing industries. They almost always operate at high-power and force and often do so at full capacity to maximize output. However, because crushers are operated at the highest level, they are more prone to strain and wear and tear. This makes maintenance a crucial part of operating crushers. Without it, the processes in which crushers are a part of will become less effective. Less effective means less production, and that could mean lost profits in the long run.
If you don’t have much experience when it comes to crusher maintenance or just maintenance in general, keep reading because here is what you need to know about crusher maintenance.
There are three different types of maintenance
Before embarking on a maintenance journey for your crusher, there are three types of maintenance that you would do well to understand regardless of the type of crusher you’re working with.
Preventive
If you have the long-term longevity of your crusher in-mind, then preventive maintenance is your best bet for achieving that. Preventive maintenance pertains to scheduled checks, inspections, replacements, and other services done at a regular time interval. The interval itself is recommended by the crusher manufacturer so make sure to follow their advice when it comes to that.
Preventive maintenance can be set-up on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. It can also be a mix of the different units of time, depending on the crusher’s frequency of use and the environment it is in. In any case, coordinate with your crusher’s manufacturer to get a good grasp as to how often preventive maintenance must be done.
Predictive
Predictive maintenance is about analyzing what kind of service and parts the crusher would need by monitoring its condition while in-use. There are a lot of predictive maintenance tools being used for this particular type which means it entails a meticulous process that needs utmost diligence.
For this kind of crusher maintenance, you will need all kinds of temperature sensors, thermometers, oil pressure gauges, lubricating oil filter condition indicators, lube oil analysis reports, crusher drive motor power-draw readings, and many, many more. However, one thing that must not be forgotten is a complete daily operator crusher log sheet where all the readings and findings are recorded. By analyzing these sheets you can see the full picture in terms of how much wear and tear is happening to your crusher given its use and the environment it is in.
Once you know the vulnerable parts of your crusher and what needs servicing, only then can you commission for replacement parts and manpower to do the maintenance properly.
Reactive
Reactive is a type of maintenance that many frugal companies and firms employ. If you haven’t already judged from the name, it is a reactionary type of maintenance that implies not doing anything until your crusher fully breaks down and malfunctions. Anything before that is just business as usual. It is better to avoid this type of maintenance because it could cost you more resources in the long run especially if your crusher is being used for a crucial job — despite being the initially cheaper option.
Overdoing maintenance can cause issues
While maintenance is generally a good thing for any industrial equipment, there is also a possibility that you could overdo it. This situation can potentially arise due to miscommunication with the manufacturer of your crusher. If the manufacturer prescribed a weekly preventive maintenance routine and you are doing it daily, then there is definitely some wasted time and resources involved in that situation.
Always stick to a prescribed schedule so that you can maximize the utility of your crusher before having to replace or service anything.
A three-pronged approach can be optimal
In terms of strategy, a three-pronged approach can be optimal for your maintenance endeavors. This approach mainly revolves around the multi-level responsibility of the crusher. The first person that should be responsible is the foreman. The foreman will be in charge of regular equipment maintenance — which pertains to the predictive kind.
For the second ‘prong’, hiring full-time mechanics and specialists can be helpful for those emergency situations where repairs have to be scheduled on short notice. Consider it a safety net. The third and final aspect of this approach is about performing maintenance when moving crushers from one site to the next.
By employing this three-pronged approach, you can cover all the important bases that come with crusher maintenance while still having a reliable safety net. It might seem expensive at first, but guaranteeing the longevity of your equipment will definitely offset the cost of maintenance in the long run.
Key Takeaway
The maintenance of any industrial equipment is not an easy thing to do. This is why you have to know the ins-and-outs of crusher maintenance so that you can always be operating at peak performance no matter the condition.
