subject: Reconditioned Paper Making Machinery [print this page] Over the last 40 years the growth in sales of reconditioned paper machinery have increased significantly. As pressures on profits continue to mount, mills are looking to reduce expenditure where they can. In the 1970s it was not uncommon to see salvageable paper machines in the scrap metal yards of paper mills. One of the first people to see the potential of this new market was Mr. Walter Maag. He would routinely recondition machines, such as turbo separators, refiners, pressure screens and offer them for sale again with mechanical warranties. As with many industries when something becomes popular, many other companies join in. This was the case with reconditioned paper machinery, and not all the companies were offering high quality reconditioned paper machinery. It did not take long for the major paper making machinery companies, such as Voith and Black Clawson ( Kadant) to recognise the market and to begin offering their own reconditioning services.
In the case of a Voith turbo separator, due to the harsh materials that this machine handles, there is a lot of wear. In order to give the Voith turbo separator a new lease of life the basalt tiles can be replaced and any wear repaired. As the rotor and screenplate are changed on a regular basis it is easy to see when the tiles may need replacing.
In order to try and prolong the life of the internal parts of paper making machinery, such as rotors and screenplate, wear bars are often used. These wear bars can be re-applied when worn and can help to extend the life of the rotor and screenplate in pulpers, turbo separators, reject presses, contaminex and many other machines.
The level of wear on a machine is dependent on its position within the paper mill process. For example, the cylinders of a cylinder mould machine, or Drum Thickener, would not experience a lot of wear. The head and body of a high density cleaner would experience a lot of wear, due to the contaminants in the pulp (high levels of glass and sand). Not all components of paper making machinery can be reconditioned. Screen Baskets in pressure screens do wear but cannot be reconditioned, although they are often chrome plated to give improved wear characteristics.
For paper making machinery that is subject to high levels of abrasion, mills and manufacturers are constantly looking for new materials that are highly wear resistant, easy to incorporate into the manufacturing process and are also cost effective.
