Maintenance Tips Are Tops

When he retired, no one asked him about his responsibilities. No documents indicated that this was an important task. So when this man left, no one picked up his greasing chores. He had been doing them for so long, no one knew he did it. Of course when the bearing eventually broke down after he left, it cost the mill major dollars to repair. If preventative maintenance like this had been formally scheduled and documented, the mill could have saved itself a lot of money.

The importance of scheduling and documenting preventative maintenance is just one of the points Himes made during his seminar. The value of having spare parts was another.

"Parts are always an issue," he says. "You have to have certain spare parts on the shelf, but not tremendous amounts of them. Document every part you have, every nut and bolt. Then have three vendors who can supply them to you so you can get a part within a day."

Himes believes you don’t have to put a lot of dollars on your shelves, as some items have a long shelf life (fuses) while others have a short one (O rings).

"Keep two of every fuse you have on the shelf," he states.

Oil is the lifeblood of a machine, he stresses. That’s why you should take an oil sample of your baler each month. He also highly recommends putting a filter buggy on your baler to filter the oil from 10 microns to 3 to 5 microns every six months.

Finally, every week baler operators should check to see if the belts are dried or cracked. Check alignment too.

"The type of material you’re running has a lot to do with your belt quality," he says. "You’re going to get dust, there’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to clean your belts regularly."OBM