Reliable and cheap normally don't co-exist. You get what you pay for. ■

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Do you know other builders? Could you point them down here?

http://drummotorsandmore.co.uk/

http://www.trommelmotor.de/

http://www.himmelinfo.de http://www.lattrommelmotoren.com/

http://www.rollex-group.com/en/drum-...m-motor-mtm-82

Extra EU

http://www.seaparks.net

... alibaba

... ebay

I can not say about price and quality ■

Cheap is multi-faceted. If the equipment is large scale then it must be very reliable. Most designs of motorised drums utilise drop-in shafts because the slot clearance can be minimal. As the size increases the slot clearance will have to reduce in accordance with the larger tensions and this detracts from the convenience of using smaller equipment. The issue is simply one of application. Motorised drums should be standard for interchangeability, most competitive drums, couplings and gearboxes are. If a user is not satisfied with the product he should be able to change it for another similar product. If not, then he hasn't done his procurement specification homework. Most motorised drum are used for high value products and downtime losses are very costly. In those situations original drum cost, and replacement cost, is insignificant and there is no such thing as reliability. They are going to fail eventually.

Are drums mentioned all interchangeable? If they are then fast change-out is possible.

If they are not interchangeable then the original question needs to be examined. A non-standard pulley is just as undesirable as a non-standard belt.

The use of motorised pulleys is limited to small scale equipment and governed by replacement implications. CAPEX versus OPEX once again. Also there is the plant layout issue. If a motorised drum is specified then probably the plant layout needs attention. ■

Once upon a time I watched fitters trying to start a hydraulically driven motor for a bottom take out (fines) conveyor. I still don't understand why this setup was ever used and probably never will. The parent machine was a mobile crusher and screen for soft limestone. With dust everywhere it seemed as though the designer was an environmentalist who relished quarry downtime. Point is that a motorised drum would have been much better and simpler. Again, price would be immaterial and reliability was always compromised: but a drum which could be changed quickly in the field was better than no drum at all.

Accept the price and reliability issues and look for the interchangeability: especially in the desert. At least when the motorised drum goes down your replacement decision is as easy as it gets: change the whole unit.

In answer to the original question I would say look up the www. for suppliers and select the cheapest one that FITS. Why: because price is a known entity whereas reliability is subject to the users' prior knowledge and little else, except his wallet. ■