drive selection

TECO launches hot button app for motor and drive selection

Innovative technology for the remote analysis of mechanical motor and drive systems could mean that the future of motor tech support will be at the tip of the touch screen, according to Steve Hittmann, CBC National Product Manager for Mechanical Drive Systems. “Motion Industries has partnered with TECO to promote the launch of the new TECO MAXe3 mobile app, geared at improving the customer experience when selecting motor and drive systems for various applications,” says Steve. “The TECO MAXe3 app gives customers the ability to enter the requirements of an application, view specs, troubleshoot support issues, and download design drawings,” he explains. “This includes the ability to adjust motor speed, torque and power ratings on an application to explore possible motor and drive solutions.” With the ability to test applications within the app itself, end-users will be able to select the TECO motor and a drive best suited to their application, based on the relative detail that they are chasing — all with the click of a button. “We are happy to promote this product, which compliments the TECO MAXe3 high-efficiency motor series range we have been involved in the distribution of for years,” says Steve. “The MAXe3 App is a user-friendly solution for analysing energy efficiency of electrical motor solutions in a streamlined manner. It can also stand to benefit our sales team with assisting customers in finding the right motor for the job.” TECO’s MAXe3 motor range aligns with the Equipment Energy Efficiency (IE3) program implemented by the Australian and New Zealand governments to tighten up on energy efficiency standards for commodity equipment and appliances. TECO is optimistic that the launch of the MAXe3 app will assist in reducing energy costs for businesses and assist in the design of more efficient energy solutions across industries. “After months of hard work and dedication, we are delighted to officially announce the launch of our newly designed Teco MAXe3 App,” says Koorosh Faraji, Regional Manager VIC/SA/TAS for TECO Australia Electric Motor Division. “As a market leader, it’s important for us to make information regarding our thought leadership, products, and services easily accessible for our current and prospective clients,” says Koorosh. “With the launch of the MAXe3 app, we are endeavouring to provide our clients with the most accurate, up-to-date information on our products.” Read More
metal

A superior fix for metal applications

When a shaft has broken down due to wear from mechanical or corrosive impact and there is not enough time or money to replace it, there is a solution that can be applied says CBC adhesives and sealants expert, Michael Rowe.
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split

The secret is in the split

Changing out the bearing on a large-scale industrial application can be challenging in the best of times. Lead times on replacements can be prolonged in the logistics stage, not to mention removing the old one and fitting up the new one — it is rarely a one-person job. 
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bark

Seeding solutions for a Queensland bark mix manufacturer

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “The creation of a thousand forests is contained in a single acorn.” This is the case for Queensland-based Bassett Barks, who produce potting mix for plants from composted bark that provide healthy soil nutrients for growing operations. At the heart of Bassett Barks’ operations is a philosophy that promotes organic and sustainable processes through advanced bark processing technology.   According to Workshop Supervisor Clem O’Mara, bark has valuable organic properties that retain water, improve the pH balance of soil, and encourage stronger growth rates in plants and micro-organisms. “The bark products we make are manufactured at the Bassett Barks site from plantation timber and recycled milling material,” he says. “Our composting is done on a purpose built concrete treated secure site and we perform rigorous on-site testing to meet strict quality control procedures.”  About a year ago, Clem discovered CBC as a supplier and immediately saw them as a fit for Bassett Barks’ operational requirements. “We have wheel loaders, excavators, mobile screening equipment, trommels and a fleet of trucks that all require bearing and drives to run, and CBC is a one-stop-shop for those type of solutions,” he says. During the manufacturing process, the raw bark is moved from the mills to the Bassett Barks workshop facility where it goes into a megagrinder to be ground into bark chips. At that stage, it is then sorted through screens and trommels and grouped by size for packaging.  Clem maintains, repairs, and services all the equipment on site. “I do a lot of multitasking and prioritising to ensure our machines are always up and running,” he says.  Recently, Clem was experiencing an issue with the belts on his megagrinder — the belts he was using were simply not lasting and causing unnecessary downtime to the most vital piece of equipment in his workshop.  “The megagrinder was running a diesel V12 engine with three belts that were driving the rotor and grinding the bark,” explains Clem. “I rang up David Harwood and his team at CBC and they sent out a Gates® on-site engineer to our site,” he continues. “They did a design for us and suggested a new belt drive solution which allowed us to run less belts on the same megagrinder with even more horsepower.”  CBC Sales Representative David Harwood explains how the right belt drive solution was selected for the megagrinder engine using Gates® Design Flex™ Pro™ software.  “Finding the right belt solution is a constant challenge for any manufacturing environment because every machine has unique service needs,” says David. “Maintenance workers may try to implement the belts they have on hand when a piece of equipment has very specific requirements, which is why we work closely with Gates® as a partner to facilitate better belt solutions and increase the performance of belts on any given piece of equipment.”  “The Gates® Design Flex™ Pro™ software makes drive design solutions much more streamlined by calculating the most efficient and effective belt solution for a particular piece of equipment,” enthuses David. “The software confirms the suitability of the existing drive solutions by analysing maintenance procedures and tension details. It can also survey an entire plants stock management plan to match and consolidate solutions.”  Read More
glass

Raising a glass to a historic Dandenong manufacturer

Oceania Glass™ is Australia’s Architectural Glassmaker with a proud heritage serving Australia, having sold their very first glass in 1856. Oceania Glass offers a comprehensive range of value-add glass solutions through an extensive customer supply network across Australia and New Zealand. Their glass is featured in many of Australia’s most iconic buildings, including the Australian Parliament House.  They operate a float line in Dandenong South, Melbourne, producing around 165,000 tonnes of flat glass each year and are certified by ISO 9001 Environmental Management System and ISO 140001 Quality Management Systems. “Oceania Glass specialises in value-add glass that improves natural light to make people’s lives better, such as energy saving Low E glass used in homes and commercial buildings to make them more comfortable,” says Parvinder Singh, Reliability Engineer for Oceania Glass. “We also present a unique offering to the local architecture and design community who share our love of glass.”  A few doors down the street from Oceania, nestled in the same industrial pocket, is CBC Dandenong — which conveniently allows Oceania to source and procure parts for repairs and maintenance on short notice.  On one such occasion, Parvinder was experiencing trouble with the keyways of the laminate oven rollers in the glass plant, so he decided to reach out to the CBC engineering team for a consult.  The OEM of the laminate oven had supplied a design with a keyway in the roller journal and a floating grub screw to allow thermal expansion in the oven rollers. But according to Parvinder, the drawback of this design was that the bearing housing was too static to accommodate thermal growth on such a high-heat application.  “Due to a very small surface of contact between the grub screw and the keyway wall the grub screw had been slowly digging a cavity in to the side wall of the keyway,” explains Parvinder. “Eventually this caused the bearing to lose its ability to float in the keyway and was breaking the grub screw. Once the grub screw breaks, the roller shaft used to spin on the inner raceway of the bearing eventually wearing down the bearing journal.”  Technical Sales Representative Chula Jayawardene and an engineer from Timken, made a joint call to Oceania Glass to examine the problem area and assess the application requirements.  Read More
chain

From field to factory to your family there are many links in the chain

During harvest season farmers across Australia reap what they have sown during planting season in the form of fresh produce. This raw product is transported to Food and Beverage manufacturing plants around Australia for processing into consumer products – from staples such as bread, milk and butter to snack foods such as potato chips, orange juice and soft drink.
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software

Driving longevity with Gates® software tool

A quarry or mining plant potentially has hundreds of different belt drives. How can a site or reliability manager ensure belts are achieving their life expectancy and that drives are working at optimal efficiency? According to Steve Hittmann, the Gates® Design Flex™ Pro™ free software tool is designed exactly for this purpose, providing real cost savings and benefits to customers.
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lubrication

Keeping the Riverina slick with Australian made lubrication

DJ Sincock is a strong believer in using Australian made products and recognises the importance of high quality oils and greases, particularly during peak header repair season. This was one of the reasons he chose to become a distributor of Gulf Western Oil (GWO) products through CBC, in addition to running a header repair service business in the Riverina region of New South Wales.  “I stock the full range of GWO and have changed 90% of my customers over to GWO for their header oils,” enthuses DJ. “GWO are Australian owned and operated and I’m a strong believer in using Australian made products. This is a premium quality, genuine oil product and a more economical choice for the farmer.”  With its ample water supply for irrigation, temperate climate and flat landscape, the Riverina region of south-western New South Wales is one of the most affluent and diverse agricultural regions in Australia. With this in mind, DJ Sincock, saw the opportunity to start a business in his hometown of West Wyalong, specialising in agricultural header repairs and spare parts supplies. In 2003, he began his business as a sole trader mechanic fixing agricultural machinery. “For the first few years, I did everything on my own,” says DJ. Today, DJ Sincock Header Repairs employs a team of three other mechanics and has one apprentice. “We are one of the largest header repair businesses in New South Wales. We operate seven days a week, and 12 months of the year. The area we cover for header repairs spans 200km in all directions across Central New South Wales,” says DJ. “We are very proud to be Australian and to promote Australian-made products, like GWO.” “The header oil is a very popular product, and we move it with ease. We sell roughly 30-40 of the 20L drums per week and half a dozen of the 205L drums of GWO a week,” describes DJ. “The GWO Truck and Farm Grease is another one of our best-sellers. Farmers love the quality of it.” Read More
header bearings

Keeping ahead of the work

“Prevention is better than cure, when it comes to header bearings,” says Shaun Thorneycroft, Director of Precise Header & Ag Repairs. He has been in the header repair business for more than 18 years, before starting a joint business venture with his wife in 2017, servicing and repairing John Deere headers.  “Since we started out, we have expanded in a good way. We have been getting busier with every year. Right now, we have about 72 headers on our books,” he explains. “I start repairing my first header mid-December and it takes me right back through the middle of the following October. I travel about 250km in all directions for work.  It’s a year-round gig.” According to Shaun, the biggest challenge he faces is getting parts, which is where he relies on BSC Swan Hill on the supply side. To meet his customer’s needs, he requires a quick turn-around time on receiving the right parts.  “BSC is unreal at providing fast service and having stock on hand. Usually, if I need a part, the guys at Swan Hill can get it on a courier to me the same day,” he stresses. “A header takes a full day to pull apart and then it takes at minimum another day to put back together. We go over it with a fine-tooth comb. We go in and pull out every belt, every chain, all the bearings, all the augers, and run over it with a torch and crowbar.”  For the bearings on the John Deere machines, Shaun uses NTN bearings supplied by BSC.  “The NTN bearings go on the shaker pans on the header. The shakers are two big pans that separate your grain,” he explains. “If these bearings fail, they can cost thousands of dollars in repair damage to the farmer.” Moreover, Shaun says he typically replaces a bearing every two years, if not once per year. “I grease the bearing once and then replace it next time,” he says.  Elaborating on the bearing maintenance process, he says, “For example if I replace the bearing this season, next year, I will drill and make a small hole in it and regrease it. The year after that, I will replace it. Risking any further wear is not worth the risk of a bearing failure.” Read More
belt

Tightening the belt: Continuous improvement for the earth moving sector

Behind every great piece of equipment is a good belt. The humble belt is the understated essential worker of industry, says CBC’s power transmission expert Steve Hittmann. In a refinery or processing plant, failure of a belt can cause unnecessary downtime. This is precisely why manufacturers like Gates® invest their efforts into the research and development of increasingly high-performance belt technology. Gates® is a premium partner in distribution with CBC, so innovations in belt technology are Steve’s business. The Gates® PowerGrip™ GT4™ is the latest in materials science for belt design. Steve explains, “The chemical composition of the GT4™ belt is excellent for torque and tension. The belt is made from ethylene-propylene elastomer rubber (EPR) which is resistant to heat, oxidation, weather, brake fluids, oils and greases. In addition to this, it has a fiberglass layer with tensile cords to reduce the amount of stretch.” “The GT4™ belts are designed around 25,000 hours of life which is the premium standard Gates® maintains with their products. This means a minimum of 3 years of service life. However, I have seen these belts last up to 4 or 5 years on particular applications,” says Steve. “They don’t require any lubrication or tensioning which means once installed, they are relatively hands-free on the maintenance side,” he adds. CBC Senior Account Manager of more than 43 years, Brian Crouch, recently identified an opportunity to put the belts into action at the Viva Energy Geelong Refinery near his branch in Geelong, Victoria. “I’ve looked after the Viva Energy site for 28 years, supplying all the power transmissions componentry there,” says Brian. “I’ve worked on many projects over the years for them. But more recently, I upgraded all their fin fan belt drives.”
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design

Staying true to design

Omega Technical Engineering offers a one stop solution, with extensive experience providing a full spectrum of services from design, prototyping and production through to turnkey projects. Machining quality precision parts to exacting designs is what the Wodonga-based business prides itself on. Omega uses advanced CNC equipment to provide sub-contracting services; and manufactures after-market performance engine accessories, for both the domestic and international markets, through their sister company Ross Performance Parts. Established in 2004, Omega has grown from a small workshop with a single employee and two CNC machines, into a large facility with 14 full time staff and a unique combination of 13 CNC machines. Emma Forbes is the finance manager at Omega and their mainline for commercial support. She explains how Omega has grown as a subcontracting business. Read More
sealing

SEALING THE DEAL with experience

Customised machined seals can prove invaluable for engineers and maintenance technicians when replacements for worn out or out-dated seals are not readily available. Made-to-order seals are also widely used by engineers when prototyping new designs. But machining new seals is not as simple as cutting a new set of keys – though sometimes it can be as quick. Not only are the CNC machines used for seal cutting a lot more complex, designing the perfect seal profile and choosing the right material requires extensive knowledge that only comes with experience in seal production. That knowledge and experience is what Interseal, the machined seals division of Seal Innovations, can provide. Seal Innovations, the sealing and gasketing branch of Motion Asia Pacific’s group of businesses, has a history in seal manufacturing that goes back to the 1950s. With the advent of machined seals and growth in the market for speedy seals solutions, the custom machined seals division of Seal Innovations was formed to offer customer with single stop solutions. Established in 2008, Interseal began its operations with two state-of-the-art rapid-production CNC lathe machines at the Interseal workshop in Sydney’s Castle Hill. In 2009 and 2010, Seal Imports and Ramseals were acquired, which added three more CNC machines to its assets. In addition to new assets, these acquisitions brought with them extensive acquired knowledge to the business, as Interseal Product/ Engineering Specialist David Harley explains. “Some of our team members have been working in the sealing and manufacturing industry since 70s and 80s. With the subsequent acquisitions, we also brought on people who had more than 20 years’ experience in the seals machining industry. This means we now have so much cumulative experience and dedication among the team,” says David. Where and how this experience comes into play is best explained by Alain St Vincent, Production Manager at Interseal Sydney branch.
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couplings

Selecting the right HRC couplings for the job

Troy Markland knows power transmission like the back of his hand. He has been in the industry for almost 40 years and has managed Fenner’s range of power transmission products since CBC became a supplier for them in 2011.  According to Troy, Fenner’s range is unmatched in terms of versatility and flexibility for the full spectrum of industrial applications. “Particularly in an agricultural setting, you will find solution opportunities on irrigation pumps, air compressors, mixers, blowers and machine engines,” he says.  Fenner® Power Transmission (FPT) is a British headquartered engineering and manufacturing giant that was founded in 1861 by Joseph Henry Fenner.  The company developed a reputation for their extensive research and development in high-tech non-rubber polymers, thermoplastic elastomers, and complex textile reinforcements.  Since its inception 150 years ago, Fenner® has leveraged its advanced research into polymers, raw materials and compounds, innovative 3D modelling and testing processes, to enhance product performance.  One of the product ranges Fenner® have honed is that of their coupling elements, where they have a diverse selection for customers to choose from. Troy summarises as to why these are such a popular choice among CBC clientele. 
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Plan for a strong yield

As the agricultural sector is poised for another bumper harvest season, Grant Gray encourages those working in the paddock to plate industries to have a conversation with their local CBC or BSC branch about upcoming equipment requirements. “Preparation is so important, particularly in light of the supply chain challenges that have been felt across the globe,” stresses the General Manager National Sales for CBC, BSC and WebsterBSC, a part of Motion Asia Pacific. “I’d suggest to our readers and customers to reach out to your local branch to discuss what your needs are. What does your service model look like? This will help us arrange for the supply of parts you need, when you need them.” Besides securing parts supply, Grant highlights the importance of keeping abreast of the latest technological innovations.  “We’re heading into a very technology-driven age, particularly in farming and agriculture where we are seeing a lot of innovation,” he explains. “Our staff have an immense amount of collective knowledge and expertise and can advise people within this sector as to any newer technologies that can help make more efficient use of resources and inputs. This, in turn, can reduce costs, increase product yields and improve the longevity or performance of equipment.” Read More

Timken expands product line for Food and Beverage sector

With populations growing rapidly around the globe and factories producing at higher levels than imaginable some decades ago, the risk of food contamination across those factories is higher than before. The machinery at the heart of those operations requires premium components that can ensure the highest level of hygiene in production For the past few years, Timken® has been working on a new range of bearing units for the food and beverage industry. Though Timken is relatively new to the food and beverage market segment, its solutions are already finding global acceptance in original equipment. With the next harvest season on the horizon in Australia, Motion Asia Pacific’s businesses – namely CBCBSC and Webster BSC – across the country are stocking up with the new Timken bearing solutions for the Australian food and beverage industry.  “It’s an exciting time for both Timken and Motion Asia Pacific,” says Alf Mangano, Timken’s Regional Sales Manager for the Victoria, Northern Territory and South Australian regions. “We have partnered with Motion Asia Pacific on our food and beverage package. Australia is taking the lead on these products, and we want to help get the right products to the right markets.”  Read More

REVOLUTIONISING the industrial experience

Revolution Industrial is aptly named. One of the perks of being a large subsidiary company with an online store is being able to offer a lot more in the service area with a wide collection of products. Since it was founded in 2012, the business has literally revolutionised shopping for industrial products, stocking products from major industrial brands: Loctite, Gates, FAG, 3M, CRC and Shell to name only a few. With a national warehousing capability, they can move products in volume and get nearly anything on special order on request.
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