Brake Drive Plate with teeth worn by excessive angular alignment.
Above is a photo of a customer who was rapidly wearing teeth of a Wichita 118 KKB. This is a typical symptom of excessive angular alignment.
Uncoiler Brake with rapid tooth wear, ready to check alignment.
Angular Alignment was over .300", Wichita specification is .009" TIR.
Angular Alignment is checked by placing the magnetic base of a dial indicator of the shaft and indicating the face of the back water jacket at an 18″ diameter (for Wichita 118″ KKB). This application indicated over .300″ TIR, well beyond the maximum limit of .009″ TIR published by Wichita Clutch. This explains the rapid tooth wear of the Drive Plates and Hub. It was noted the high/low point wear at 3 o clock and 9 o clock with the 12 and 6 o clock positions being the same reading.
Steel Uncoiler using Pillow Block Bearings that need to be restrained.
Uncoiler is built using Pillow Brock Bearings to support the mandrel. This design, like others we see using Pillow Block Bearings, has the tension force in the same plane as the Pillow Block Bearing mounting surface. Under high tension operation there is a real potential for the bearings to slip. Most users correct this design issue by welding hard stops to the uncoiler base with jacking screws to restrain the bearings from sliding and allowing easy adjustment for brake alignment.