Aloysius Krenzer is using dry-running linear guides and bearings from Igus in its pallet production machinery to deliver high performance and a long service life. The lubricant-free Drylin bearings counteract dust and chips and last for up to 4.5 million operating cycles.
Aloysius Krenzer produces euro pallets and bespoke wooden pallets with a high degree of automation. It controls the entire pallet production process, including harvesting lumber, saw cutting, fabrication, processing and logistics. When the company orders new systems, it requests that the equipment manufacturer uses Drylin linear guides from Igus for certain applications.
The operational demands on the systems are high and components must withstand harsh environmental conditions, which include wood chips and dust with humidity and resin. In addition, many drives are highly dynamic. For example, this applies to the units of the nailing station that nails down the stringer boards of the pallets. The machine autonomously retrieves all required wood components from the magazines and nails them together. The stringer boards are positioned by servo drives and the precise guidance of the axes, which have diameters of 30–50mm, is carried out by Drylin linear slide systems.
The systems carry out 50,000 strokes of 30cm each per day in a dusty environment with alternating loads as the moving ends that are fastened to the axes move up and down when retrieving boards from the magazine. This is exacerbated by the continuous shock from the nailing operation.
Key benefits of product application
* The housing for the Drylin gliding guides is manufactured from anodised aluminium and, thanks to the standard sizes of the guides, can be fitted easily using commercially available block carriages.
* The precise guidance of the axis at low friction is achieved with an Igus Iglidur J liner. This material consists of a wear-resistant, high-performance, dry-running and self-lubricating polymer, which ensures very good sliding properties.
* Drylin linear guides have proven themselves in linear drives, which operate dynamically under high loads.
* Owner-operator Gregor Krenzer said: ‘We also use Drylin housing bearings and pillow-block bearings in combination with hardened steel shafts. This is not the optimal pairing recommended by Igus, but in our application this combination achieves a notably longer service life.’
* At Krenzer, the linear guides have a service life of approximately three months. This appears to be fairly low at first glance, but considering that 50,000 strokes are carried out every day for 90 days, the result is 4.5 million operating cycles, all with difficult operating conditions of dirt, fast movement and alternating loads.
* This is a substantially higher service life than with other types of bearings, such as re-circulating ball bearing guides, which Krenzer has tested on other plants under similar conditions.
* The Igus guides operate maintenance free under arduous operating conditions, and Krenzer is also very satisfied with the precision attained by the Drylin systems.
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