Sand washing plants are among the most rugged environments for bearings. Once washed and dehydrated in the impeller, fine sand is discharged to a dewatering sieve and mixed into coarse sand to further dehydrate. The discharge port is connected to a belt conveyor to be transported to the designated position. 

At one such sand washing operation in Queensland, the bearings in the main conveyor’s tall drum were failing frequently, with plant supervisors sometimes having to replace the bearings every week. When informed of the problem, BSC Technical Sales Representative David Harwood visited the site to investigate further.

“The sand washing plant was continuously changing bearings on tail drum of main conveyor in the wet plant on a weekly basis from contamination with sand and water. After investigating the failing bearings onsite and evaluating the situation in consultation with Timken, we provided a solution using Timken’s spherical roller bearing solid-block housed units,” says David.

Timken’s uniquely designed spherical roller bearing solid-block housed units are unmistakable in their signature blue color. David says the rugged design of the Timken housed units make them a perfect fit for high-abrasion applications such as in quarry conveyors.

“Because solid-block housed units are made of cast steel, they are built to last the impact of falling debris or grinding forces from sand and gravel. These units are also designed to handle up to 1.5 degrees of misalignment and to protect the bearings from contaminants with a range of sealing and locking arrangements,” says David.

Further, David says ease of installation adds more benefits when mounting the bearings onsite. 

“The housed units that Timken provide come as fully-assembled, pre-greased, sealed units that are ready to be fitted to the shaft. A major benefit of this is that it reduces the installation and removal time for operations that are time-critical, such as for replacing conveyor pulleys,” says David.

As for the sand washing plant, which is a long-standing client of BSC’s North Lakes branch, David says the cost savings and life improvements have already exceeded their expectations.

“Our initial expectation was that after installing the spherical roller bearing solid-block housed units, they would last for at least three years without needed replacement. The bearings have already been in place for more than six years
and still going strong. The plant has been able to save approximately $8000 per year in bearing replacement costs alone,” says David.

BSC, as one of Australia’s largest distributors of industrial parts and services, works closely with Timken to address bearing-related issues across every industry. 

“The sand washing plant that we worked with was very impressed by the solution and they have already adopted the units across their other applications,” David concludes.  

Timken spherical roller bearing solid-block housed unit benefits: 

• Accommodate shaft diameters from 35 mm to 380 mm.

• Machined feet, tapped puller holes, black oxide inner rings and multiple shaft-locking choices make it simpler to install. 

• Wide selection of primary and secondary seals, as well as auxiliary covers. 

• Double-nut housing feature allows expansion in both directions. 

• Robust steel housing results in increased unit uptime. 

• Eccentric lock series designed to stay tight in reversing applications. 

• Bearings accept up to 1.5 degrees of misalignment. 

• Pressure relief valves come standard when unit is ordered with non-purgeable seals. 

• Dimensionally interchanges with a wide range of other mounted roller bearing units.