GMB Heavy Industries has successfully completed the Phase 2 of replacing Billet Bed’s Eccentric to Split Eccentrics for a steel mill in Arkansas. Our engineering team provided a unique custom solution to the client after Engineering Feasibility Studies and animations created from those studies to show the current stage of the Cooling Bed and its issues.
Main Issues of the Billet-Bed:
The original Billet Bed was designed too aggressively to rotate the bars on the rakes. Since the steel mill was built to make SBQ (Special Bar Quality) products, aggressive rotation caused several issues, such as:
- Product Roll Back
- Low-quality bars
- Product’s straightness damage
- long maintenance hours
- Reduce productivity (Tons/Hour)
Scope of Work:
In the past four decades, GMB Heavy Industries has been among the leaders in the North American rolling mill equipment manufacturer to design, produce, maintain, and install Long-Product Cooling Beds. We have been the first choice of the steel mills when it comes to designing, manufacturing and installing solutions for the Cooling Beds. In this project, our team has:
- Redesigned and modified the eccentrics throw of both sets of Cams “Lift and Traverse,” to improve the carry-over of the product as it travels across the bed from Cooling Bed’s Rake Tooth to Rake tooth.
- Improved the geometry of the mechanism to reduce free movement of the Carriage when at top dead Center.
- Eliminated product roll back or fall off when conveyed in the smallest of the three notches in the Rake profile.
- Significantly reduced maintenance time spent when changing worn parts by replacing the solid cams with a new split design.
Manufacturing and Installation of the Split Eccentric:
GMB Heavy Industries’ team of experts provided a complete turn-key solution that includes designing, manufacturing, and installation of the Split Eccentric. The recommendations were advised to the client through many animations of their current product behavior on the billet bed. With the use of Engineering Feasibility Studies and engineering design of different Cams, we showed to our clients that using the Split Eccentrics for the Cooling Bed would be the best option to improve rotation, the behavior of product and clearances between product and Rake tips during operation.
After the design approval from the client, GMB Heavy Industries’ engineering team manufactured the Split Eccentrics, and our professional millwrights installed 16 Split Eccentrics over two phases. After the installation of phase two, we have confirmed that the rollback and straightness damage issues were solved completely. In addition to addressing the existing problems, Split Eccentrics will also significantly reduce the Steel Mill Maintenance hours.
When a customer partner with GMB to custom design and manufacture their Rolling Mill Equipment, our engineering team will use the latest technologies and tools to study and test different possibilities to provide the most productive and a cost-effective solution. If you are looking for a piece of equipment or Steel Mill Spare Parts, we are ready to create a competitive quotation.
