How to Maintain Gearbox?

There are still distinct quality differences between mainstream gearboxes and overpressure gearboxes. Attention is still needed for daily maintenance, including adapting optimal oil lubrication, preventing oil leakage, and reducing noise and vibration, to prolong gearbox durability. ZHAOWEI, a leading manufacturer with extensive technical and R&D teams, provides several gearbox maintenance methods. The gearbox is a power transmission and deceleration device. Gearboxes transform motor revolutions into revolutions required by the working device, increasing torque through the meshing of gears with a variety of teeth. The gearbox is a key component in plastic extruders, which directly influences the comprehensive performance of the extruder.   

ZHAOWEI's engineering team have found that most extruder gearboxes have poor loading capacity and low torque. There are clear technical differences between general gearboxes and overpressure gearboxes, including gear melting technology, thermoplastic processing, cold working, and assembly. Current extrusion requirements include high torque, high speed, and low-noise.   

How to Maintain Gearbox of Unstable Quality?

1. Reduce Noise and Vibration

The key to daily maintenance is reducing running noise and vibration of the micro gearbox. ZHAOWEI suggests checking for problems such as spotting contact of side clearance of gear pair and tooth surface, deformation of the gearbox body, overloading of the gearbox, damage of the bearing, loose connections in the equipment, and damage of the coupling. These effectively reduce noise and vibration.   

2. Adapt Optimal Oil Lubrication

We summarized the common faults of extruder gearboxes, and have found that the main indications of improper maintenance are improper lubricating oil used by customers, and failure in changing the lubricating oil within the maintenance period.  Using lubricants that don’t suit each brand of extruder gearbox can aggravate the wear of the tooth’s surface, shortening the service life of the gear and bearing. Even if the right brand of lubricating oil is used, failure to follow maintenance requirements, and switching out lubricating oil when required, can cause plenty of sludge. This compromises the lubrication system, and abrades the tooth surface quickly, and the lack of lubrication eventually damages the bearing.  

3. Oil Leak Inspection

Inspecting for oil leaks is essential to gearbox maintenance. The inspection should start from precision machining, and progress to the sealability of the sealing ring. It’s highly advised that oil seals are regularly checked for damage, aging, and whether the cavity aperture is oversized or damaged. Other checks include obstruction of the oil return hole, whether the oil intake is too large, whether the fit between the oil seal lip and the journal is too loose, and whether the coaxiality of the oil seal and the journal meets the requirements.