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aluminum manufacturer equipment repair

Aluminum Plant Outage

A major aluminum manufacturer contracts Horner EMDS (Electro Mechanical Diagnostic Services) to perform monthly vibration data collection and analysis. EMDS identified a mill gearbox input shaft bearing issue. In 2022, the monthly vibration analysis indicated the bearing issue increasing. The vibration analysis was discussed with the customer and the vibration data collection increased to twice weekly. At the same time, customer was planning a major outage to on-site repair the gearbox. The March outage was scheduled. Horner provided 24 hour per day, 5-day work schedule. On a Monday the outage started. Mark Rosebrock was lead tech on day shift and Matt [...]

Aluminum Plant Outage2023-03-14T11:27:59-04:00

Aluminum Foil Plant Preventative Maintenance

One of Louisville’s largest customers pro- duces aluminum foil. Manufacturing foil starts with aluminum rolls up to 1/2” thick. This plant takes the ½” thick thru mill 6, which reduces the foil thickness to less than 0.100” thickness. From mill 6, the rolls are rolled thinner in mills 3-4-5. After several passes thru these mills, the rolls go to mill 1-2 to roll to thickness required for commercial or residential use. Standard household or standard duty aluminum foil is 0.00063” thick and extra heavy duty foil is 0.00094” thick. Both thinner than 1 thousandth of an inch. Rolling aluminum foil this [...]

Aluminum Foil Plant Preventative Maintenance2023-03-13T10:55:03-04:00

Catastrophic Bearing Failure

An Aluminum Foil manufacturer experienced catastrophic bearing failure on a combustion air furnace fan. When the bearings failed, the fan wheel made contact with the fan housing. The combustion air fan provides air to the furnace gas burners. The furnace heats the aluminum foil rolls to burn off the oil used to manufacture aluminum rolls when the aluminum passes through mills and separators. Horner Fan received the damaged fan. The incoming inspection revealed the fan hub was cracked and along with the fan wheel damage – bent/cracked blades and ripped off back plate, Horner Fan recommended to manufacture a replacement. The [...]

Catastrophic Bearing Failure2022-01-28T15:18:37-05:00

Out Of Production Lock Nuts

One of Horner’s customers is a major supplier of automotive grade aluminum for major manufacturers of car and truck bodies. After the aluminum passes through a set of rolling mills to reduce the material thickness, the sheet passes through an annealing furnace to reduce material stresses from the rolling process. The annealing furnaces have fans circulating the furnace hot air to evenly distribute the heat to prevent hot spots. This particular fan assembly from one of the annealing furnaces had experienced a bearing failure. The shaft was initially sent to Horner Washington St to evaluate the damage to the main shaft. [...]

Out Of Production Lock Nuts2022-01-26T23:07:37-05:00

Aluminum Plant Outage

In June of 2017 an Aluminum plant contacted us to begin the early planning stages of their outage which was scheduled for January 2018. The customer was about to undertake the most involved outage on their primary mill and wanted Horner’s exclusive involvement. The outage was a success despite the very large scale and daunting tasks assigned. All work was coordinated by Ralph Coonce of field service. If you’ve ever seen Ralph in action during an outage I don’t have to explain that he doesn’t just show up. He’s elbow deep in the actual work turning wrenches or any another task [...]

Aluminum Plant Outage2019-09-09T17:28:00-04:00

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