MAKING INDUSTRY WORK BETTER
How not to lubricate chain
David Moore Product Engineering Manager
Lubricating roller chain can be time-consuming, costly and – for food and beverage applications in particular – can cause a host of unwanted problems. So why do it? Instead, choose a chain which lets you lose the lubrication. Chain which needs lubrication needs maintenance – even if that’s only a lubrication regime. An automatic lubrication system can do the job in place of a maintenance engineer, but the equipment can be costly. Remove the need for lubricant and you not only remove the cost of the engineer or the system, you also remove the cost of the lubricant itself, which for a food grade option can be expensive. Where a lubricant is present, drip guards are required for protection: representing an additional component cost. And even so, there is the ever-present risk of product contamination. Renold introduced lubrication-free chains during the 1950s, and have been refining and improving them ever since. Now the latest generation offers a range of options, Issue 42
designed for cost and efficiency in a range of applications.
Yet some customers still believe changing to a lubrication-free chain is costly or difficult.
False economy
In fact, persevering with a roller chain requiring lubrication can prove even more expensive.
All good quality lubricant-free roller chain should be directly interchangeable with the same size standard chain, with no need to invest in new sprockets.
Chain which needs lubrication needs maintenance
One large beverage company found the ‘premium’ roller chain they used required replacing every three months, at a high cost in terms of chain, downtime, and lost production. Investigation revealed the cause was simple. In an attempt to reduce the risk of lubricant contamination of product and packaging on the line, maintenance engineers had lubricated inadequately. By replacing the chain with a Renold Syno chain, the customer realised immediate benefits.
