An employee owned manufacturer in NW Ohio had a critical GE 400/200 HP large frame two speed Mill motor failure. After we received and inspected the motor, the form coil winding had failed. This was the first winding failure on this motor in 30 yrs. Unfortunately they had no spare. The search began for an E-OK motor to rebuild in order to reduce the downtime based on the time required for a form coil re-wind. Six motors were potential replacements but all would require major field motor base and fitment requirements. During a discussion with the customer they stated the 400 HP higher speed winding is never used, just the 200 HP 590 RPM. The customer was open to the option of winding just the 200 HP with a random winding but the task would need to be investigated to determine if it was possible.
Dave Howard contacted EASA with this request and provided them with the necessary winding/iron data for a potential re-design with a random winding. Everyone (Mark, Stephan, Mike, Dave, and John) was up for the challenge when EASA provided a re-designed slot filled random coil conversion. We provided an emergency quote and delivery date. The customer informed us they had to continue running product on the existing mixer which dropped out into transportable hoppers, rolled across the mixing dept and into a separate mill. This included additional physical demand from the mix dept team and they were falling behind daily. The Springfield shop completed this job ahead of schedule during an extremally busy period and delivered the motor. About a month later during a plant visit the customer stated the motor was running nonstop. In fact they broke an all time monthly record for product produced in any given month. Horner exceeded our customer’s expectations through offering a re-design which was substantially the lowest cost, most expedient repair option for our customer. Thanks to our problem solving winders!
