Mechanically Rebuilding a Winding Machine:
Hopefully you have read the page about the Capacitor Winding Machine Controls.
Capacitor winding is only one of the processes of making a capacitor. With a correctly built machine, less operator involvement is required. Since a correctly built machine is inherently faster, less man power is required, and reserve capacity at your facility exists. You don't need an operator at every machine nursing it just to get product. Less downtime, as well as the machine setup time is drastically reduced, So the savings exist in pure production speed, less manpower, less downtime and you can take on those rare opportunities of extra work load without worry. The machines run a tighter tolerance winding, saving on scrap associated with hand sorting a tight tolerance product. Your customers test your product anyway. If you have a more consistent product, guess what? That equates to qualification and sales.
Although the control system speeds up the machine's "Thinking", if mechanical problems exist, It's like having 5 cups of strong coffee with 1 broken arm and both legs injured.
Just think about reactive and proactive maintenance and upgrades if you are traveling on a jet airliner. You cannot pull over to the side of the road and fix it, like you would in an automobile. I like to think about this synonymously with your life versus your company's lifeblood. If something happens, it is a disaster.
Unless you already know about my company, your only options has been buying a new winding machine. KR International's services are just not offered at the Original Equipment Manufacturer, and we also don't have any competitors.
Let's explain how KR International does mechanical rebuilding:
Basics of an Overhaul and Mechanical Refurbishment of a Capacitor Winding Machine, irregardless of Manufacturer:
- Check all bearings, replace all bearings, exception might be in a very hard to find bearing that doesn't take much abuse.
- Replace all clutches, brakes, because of possible lubricant contamination and extend the service life with better than OEM quality.
- All Pneumatic Actuators (cylinders), unless in like new condition, replace with better than OEM quality parts designed for unlubricated service.
- All Pneumatic Air Valves, replace with better than OEM quality, no dynamic seals to wear out and designed for unlubricated service.
- Check and replace as necessary all other wear parts.
- Check for damage, misalignment on parallelism and squareness on shafts, assemblies and frame damage (note that frame damage is not repairable in many instances).
- Check shimming and end play of all rotary components, reduce clearance to zero in appropriate cases (all winding machines require some clearance in some areas).
- Make sure that the pneumatic system is sized correctly and can breath properly (this equates to overall speed).
- As a general rule replace and resize all pneumatic tubing and if possible, provide higher flow fitting with quick disconnects. That doesn't mean we take out flow controls!
- We disassemble everything and ultrasonically clean just about everything, contributing to serviceability and revealing hidden problems (Hint: we don't charge $50 dollars/hour for this).
- We can repair most shaft damage (Nicks, scratches and setscrew impressions) with our advanced techniques (you just might be able to take it apart again).
- We have a milling machine on premises to aid in minor repairs and making from scratch smaller parts, our machine is a super precision model, reads in both inch and metric (we can machine hardened tool steel, believe it or not). Out readout is accurate to 1µm or 0.00005 inches. With ground lead screws we can be very accurate.
- We test run every machine to check final alignment for proper material tracking and performance. We are able to quickly correct most tracking problems that others find difficult.
- We don't have room here to list every last thing that gets done.
We are not bedazzled because they don't look similar between manufacturers. From a process standpoint they have an amazing amount of similarity.
So it sounds very expensive. It just depends on the amount of wear and damage. Most machines that have been cared for really don't need that much work. That's why we refuse to work on a fixed cost basis, without a substantial markup. Our preference is to leave the cost open, so we don't have to cover our behinds. We never will have a good reputation if we price gouge everyone. We do what needs to be done with your approval, nothing more, nothing less, that is our policy. You are my customer, and for years I have realized the customer is boss. But if you want many years of trouble free service from your winder, I am your guide and promise not to mislead you. Let's keep in mind that the whole purpose of this is to avoid problems and you make a profit.
Let's take it Step by Step, Pneumatics First:
A broad subject, so we will present the manufacturer and why we use it. We use exclusively Numatics® products. Why? Never have had any issue with their stuff. Most of their products are designed from ground up to run unlubricated for years on inferior air quality, and the life is nearly infinite with superior air quality and lubrication.
Let's tell you about their air valves for example. Some facts are no longer mentioned in their catalog. The spools and bodies are matched within 50 millionths of an inch, a little over 1 micron in metric (bore size clearance). The edges are left sharp, so they are self cleaning from the residues of oxidized lubricants. The precision clearance is so tiny no dynamic seals are required, nothing to wear out. The spools and body are hardened, and self-centering so literally no contact takes place, floating on an air cushion. That's the kind of reliability we like to build in, warranty issues? There won't be any. They can be serviced with common tools by just about any good mechanic for the balance of the valve, very intelligent design. They are in a medium price range, more expensive is not always better. They just don't create headaches.
Numatics® air cylinder are also top of the line. The major bore cylinders have many options. Our favorite is the available end bumper option. It reduces cylinder end travel high-decibel noise, and reduces vibration that loosens fasteners, not to mention destruction of the magnets. We also use the magnetic piston option. Their line of hall-effect sensors fit like a glove in the provided channels. The sensors are as compact as it gets. So why do we use this option? We save you money by not designing and machining extra sensor brackets to sense assembly position. And added feature is more error feedback is available when some kind of jamming occurs.
On the smaller diameter cylinders we use stainless steel construction. Many of their lines are available in both inch and metric, saving us a headache and you money.
We use their quick disconnect air line fittings. They are available in nickel plated brass or stainless steel. We use stainless steel on the larger fittings, as they are much less likely to suffer from torque shear from installation and service. A Teflon® Sealant is already bonded to the threads, saving major amounts of assembly time consumed with applying other thread sealers. It might cost a little more, but takes less time, and failure is not an option if my name goes on the product.
The filter/regulator/lubricator (FRL) Line is modular and impeccable, lots of options here. We use 2 stage filtering, to completely remove condensation (I like to think of it as pneumatics, not hydraulics) and provide instrument quality air filtered down to 0.3 microns particulate size, at an extremely ample flow rate. Your air compressor delivers dirty air, your machine should clean it. We don't believe in failure. There's some other modular options, available at order and explained in a different section.
A highly recommended item that we use is termed as a "Reclassifier/Silencer".The Reclassifier part keeps the exhaust oil out of the atmosphere and off the machine. No contamination. But since the operator has to run the machine many hours a day, keeping their nerves intact leads to better results. The Silencer part cuts the exhaust noise down -45dba. That's a lot easier to live with.
Next, Bearings:
How do you lubricate these as a preventative maintenance procedure? You don't if they are shielded! And most are.
If you lubricate them, most would fail in a year or so (unshielded) because flecks of winding material would intermingle with the lubricant causing the bearing to fail. So we check all the bearings. There are a certain few that have a low duty cycle that rarely need replacing unless they are damaged.
High duty cycle bearings are always best replaced during an overhaul without exception.
Clutches and Brakes:
A must to replace during an overhaul! Wear and airborne lubricants diminish their function, leading to failure. Best to replace and not worry.
Overall abuse, Wear, Shimming and Damage:
Wear parts wear out, period. How much? We will tell you. Damage, has the machine been dropped or accidentally been hit with the forks of a forklift? If so we don't deal with it, get another machine. Generally the frame and assembly misalignment cannot be corrected.
Some assemblies are shimmed into alignment. No such thing as absolutely perfect when building a machine. With today's ultra thin materials, perfection is experienced careful shimming to align assemblies, everybody does that, but hides them well. Some assemblies need zero end play for winding. You don't need your materials shifting while winding, unless you're making very low voltage parts or you love scrap.
And then there's damage from servicing, For example nicks and gouging on shafts. We can usually repair this type of damage without part replacement, unless it's heavy damage. We have had instances of having to cut apart assemblies, we notify you before proceeding. Other stuff like corner damage or gouging we can usually repair this.
Cleaning, and making your rebuild look like something like a machine again:
Let's face it, while the machine is running it's supposed to make parts. What we do at time of refurbishment is a deep clean. We have to take it apart anyway. We use ultrasonic cleaning on most parts without any volatile solvents. When it's clean it goes back together nicely without "varnishing" and no misalignment occurs. We won't do it any other way (In House Retrofits).
So what is the cost? To us it's just part of the job! Don't worry.
Summary:
All the above sounds too simple to include the details for everything. The preceding statement is true.
Yes, we test the machine for In House rebuilds, and would like you present. With your materials, since we rebuild machines, we don't stock winding materials, driving your costs up.