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field service

Hydraulic Press Leak

Unusual request we got from Sales was a customer needed help to find a leak in their hydraulic system on a large press. The press was leaking gallons of oil in only a few days, and they had a mess so large they could not get it clean and dry to pinpoint the leak. We have an oil dye in Field Service, that can be added to oil, without affecting the lubricity or viscosity of the oil, and the dye glows under a black light. We have black light flashlights to use with the dye. Rusty  (Field Service Tech) went on [...]

Hydraulic Press Leak2023-06-19T10:21:31-04:00

Hardwood Manufacturer 50″ Fan

A hardwood flooring manufacturer contacted Horner about repairing a 50” Fan. With help from Indianapolis Field Service, Horner Fan and Fabrication had a 3 day window to repair this 50” fan wheel. This was the main dust collection fan for the plant. The structure around this fan made it very challenging to remove. The fan is inside the plant with structural steel above the fan and a concrete wall on two sides. After removing the insulation and the inlet fitting there was about 36” of space to maneuver this heavy wheel and 2-15/16” shaft out of the building. Once in the [...]

Hardwood Manufacturer 50″ Fan2023-03-15T10:31:14-04:00

3000 HP Cement Motor

After having successfully cutting coils from a stator on site four times previously, the 3,000 HP stator finally died and had to be scheduled to be rewound at a cement plant in KY. The removal of the motor is not the conventional way you think of a motor being removed, you start by removing the outside wall of the building it is in, and then sticking the boom of the crane inside the building to be able to lift the motor. standing at a safe distance from the equipment, the motor does not look all that large, but as if gets [...]

3000 HP Cement Motor2023-03-15T10:11:23-04:00

Horner Team Effort On Substation

A manufacturer of insulation and commercial roofing, along with glass fibers and nonwovens recently had a project to rebuild their glass melter and scheduled to have the plant completely shut down for 60 days. Mike Croft and I met with the electrical engineering staff on-site and listened to their problems. Mike, another vendor, and I walked the entire plant taking pictures and collecting information on their electrical substations. We ended up getting the bid for right around $300,000.00. For the 3 months leading up to the outage, we met weekly (either in person or conference call/TEAMS meeting) and agreed/planned to have [...]

Horner Team Effort On Substation2023-03-14T11:45:22-04:00

Aggregate Dredge Shaft

We were contacted by a sand and gravel producer in hopes that we could make a drive shaft that was accidentally bent and running out of balance. The original plan was for the end user to purchase the coupling hubs and have Horner Machining Services install those onto the new tubing. Once the customer finally received the Hubs from the Original Manufacturer they were incorrect. At that point, and having waited beyond the expected delivery date, our customer asked if Machining Services could machine new hubs from blank stock. Darrell Cothron and his team accepted the challenge and began the overtime [...]

Aggregate Dredge Shaft2023-03-14T11:34:52-04:00

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

Rooftop Exhaust Fan Safety Project

A customer who makes counter weights for fork trucks called Horner after a safety incident. One of their old exhaust fans has a failure and a blade from the prop fell to the manufacturing floor. The customer knew they not only had to replace the roof- top fans but needed to rethink the design for safety of the workers. So instead of 1 fan being repaired they decided all 4 rooftop exhaust fans would be redesigned. Fan and Fabrication came up with an aluminum safety screen that would be welded on the underside of the fans. This new custom safety screen [...]

Rooftop Exhaust Fan Safety Project2023-03-14T10:58:10-04:00

Power Generation Plant Water Pump Motors

A coal fired power generation plant had a planned outage to maintain equipment and Horner was onsite to remove 2 1250HP vertical pump motors. These motors pull water from the reservoir for cooling purposes and heat exchangers. These motors were taken out for routine maintenance, basic reconditioning and to replace bearings. Onsite to help with the removal was Indianapolis Field Service Don Pence, Louisville Field Service Joe Dupont and Terre Haute’s Eddie Piper and Jeremy Brown. Crane service had to be scheduled and coordinated to pull the motors out. The bearings for these motors are specialized thrust bearings and were replaced [...]

Power Generation Plant Water Pump Motors2023-03-13T10:23:54-04:00

The High Costs of Production Losses

In November, Bill Roper received a call from a concerned customer with a failed gearbox. This was a large obsolete gearbox that is coupled to a rubber extruder that mixes a special compound, supplied to other facilities. Bill asked if the Springfield division could commit the manpower to this overtime job and we accepted the challenge. The customer stated that his company was losing $550 every 15 minutes that this extruder was down. So that is $2,200 per hour, $52,800 per day and $369,000 per week! Needless to say, this was a full overtime job, worked around the clock. The customer [...]

The High Costs of Production Losses2023-03-06T11:22:25-05:00

Slip Ring Rebuild

A customer called overnight because they had a slip ring failure on one of two synchronous motors and that halted production. Horner was on site in the morning to assess the situation and it was determined that an on site repair was not feasible. The unit was disassembled and transported to the Terre Haute shop for rebuild. By securing customer supplied brushes, brushholders (which are now obsolete), Horner stock to fabricate insulators and with the help of Horner Machining Services, we were able to have the unit back on site within just a few days. Horner was onsite for the eight [...]

Slip Ring Rebuild2023-03-03T11:44:31-05:00
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