Support Structure For A Vibrating Screen
George
You have an interesting life.
Regards
Ziggy Gregory ■
Interesting Life?
Thanks Ziggy........i do have an interesting life. Travelled extensively over 34 years with a gentleman, 73 yrs old, acted like 39 yrs old, spry, sharp, funny, very well off, did not need this job, had 50 years experience in vibrating screens (WS Tyler), 4 brgs, 2 brgs, overhead linear gear driven, HUMMER screens (high angles 33 and 36 degree incline) screening up to 500mesh....quite an interesing life experience. Old Frankie and me went into goldmines, salt mines, iron ore mines, coal mines, sand and gravel pits, blast rock quarries and troubleshooted vibrating screens. Mr Hawley, was a beautiful, SHARING soul and he LOVED VIBRATING SCREENS and talking about them...every trip, every minute, every second we travelled and worked together.
I never saw a person that could "stump" mr hawley, he was very professional, hands on, studious, investigative and a thrill to work with, travel with and learn from. I was very lucky and he trained me to DIG this vibrating screen stuff too.
I also had the distinct pleasure of working another fella, Mr Tribley who was the dynamic vibrating screen guru and "a farmer" to boot who was just as smart, saffy and sharing with his knowledge of the Simplicity vibrating screen line and brute force feeders. We used to go on jobs together to figure out how to fix vibrating screen problems in the field. Lots of new machine startups, broken machine troubleshooting and lots of trips to interesting far off the map places.
George ■
Reply
The proper design of support structures for Vibrating Screen is crucial for their smooth operation. Inadequate support can lead to erratic vibrations, disrupting the functioning of the equipment. Engineers must consider both static and dynamic loads during the design process. Mounting components on undersized or improperly placed beams can exacerbate vibration issues. Ensuring vertical support directly beneath key components is essential for stability. By prioritizing sound engineering principles, vibrating screen installations can achieve optimal performance and longevity.
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Support Structure for a Vibrating Screen
Importance of a PROPERLY designed support structure for a VIBRATING SCREEN
Again this week, I had a long discussion with a client that has a HUGE PROBLEM with VIBRATION comploetely reeking HAVOC on his total support structure below his new VIBRATING SCREEN.
I am NOT personally involved in this particular one, but if I told you the number of times I was given an open plane ticket to fly somewhere up in the GOLD mines, Salt mines, Iron Ore mines, you name it for this exact problem....it would make you crazy. I am NOT an engineer, but, we have installed and commissioned about 800 or so big vibrating screens and brute force vibrating grizzly feeders over the years.....and this problem always always RE-APPEARS.....so...
What we typically find, when we arrive at a new installation is a nice brand new building, new support structures, new handrails, new vib screen or screeners.....and WILD, SHAKING, ERRANT, ERRATIC, CRAZY VIBATIONs of all of these components and a very unhappy, perturbed customer wondering why?
I will review a few example of my travels:
1) 2 6x16 10deck grain cleaners, shaft thru type, 20 deg inclined, side by side absolutely unable to stand on the grated see thru flooring up on about the 5th floor high over huge GRAIN silos.....coming up the new steel stairs outside and trying to grip the handrails...was friggin impossible. We walked around, investigated and discovered....Hmmmmm....2 very large quite oversized I-BEAMS to the left of both screeners......and 2 half sized I-BEAMS to which the screens were in fact mounted onto. What happened? the steelworkers put the proper sized support beams, with the proper 200% of whatever that number is.....in those beams to handle the G forces of those units in the WRONG PLACE. instead of moving them, they installed 2 new beams that were around, which were half size and long story short UNABLE to eliminate and or handle the vibrating forces when running vs the WILD JUMPING erratic forces of those big screens when they TRY TO SHUT DOWN and have those big shafts trying very hard to rotate the offset weights to a gentle stop....
2) went to a site, where 2 new big VIBRATING GRIZZLY FEEDERS (gear driven) were installed side by side, feeding 2 big 500HP CONE CRUSHERS all on brand new structures. The whole structure was wildly shaking during operations and the owners were not hopeful to get 5 years life out of the structure. QUITE a big mess. Investigating the installation, we found the feeders which were up HIGH 3rd level high, upon close inspection were fully supported horizontally beneath them, BUT, due to obstructions below those feeders there was NO, NONE, vertical support, which should be directly below the bottom coil spring base plates down to THE GROUND to concrete base. Basically floating, with no solid support to ground. After much "discusssion" and convincing, we had the contractors install proper support here and the PROBLEM went away.
3) went to a site, where a large 8x24 2 deck overhead drive HORIZONTAL screen also with timing gears was installed and we got a call to come re ERRATIC VIBRATION PROBLEMS. STructures were jumping like craze while running....What we discovered was this client had in fact, bolted onto the bottom FLANGED EDGE of this BIG screen with URETHANE decks on it...a 2 storey deep discharge hopper...which is a no-no. We just made the structure holding that screen ....in fact unable to handle the operating g forces of this new setup...and impeded the vibration of that setup into the structure. We advised to make the hopper arrangement, INDEPENDENT of the vibrating body and that corrected that problem.
Generally, we find if care is not taken in the engineering stage to take into consideration the full STATIC AND DYNAMIC OPERATING loads as listed by all mfrs on their installation drawings....these type of concerns can and do happen. We find also many times where if care is not taken to mount proper VERTICAL supports directly under the coil spring base plates and you mount those supports somewhere else, kinda CANTI-levered over there somewhere....you have major vibration problems that occur because of that. Quite a few of our trips were for this reason alone over the years.
Engineering the structure correctly is very critical.
Wishing all forum members, good screening......George ■