The Problem

As the shaft continued to break on the bevel gears, Philadelphia Gear Regional engineer Bob Johnson, and Technical Center engineers Bill Clifton and Steve Luchetta were turned to for a solution. This dynamic - teaming local personnel who were very familiar with the drives in question as well as the demands of the plant, with world-class engineers - afforded Philadelphia Gear a unique opportunity to solve the customer's problem.

The Solution

Philadelphia Gear recommended the customer replace the first three stands (which were also the most heavily loaded) with specially engineered drives aligned to the angle of the mill rolls, eliminating the need for the bevel gear set.

The technical team designed an extremely unique drive to fit a very tight envelope, at the same time upgrading the mill's power level by 60%. The new design incorporated primary and secondary gear reductions and mill pinions in a single housing, while still fitting in the space of the previous drive. Each of the three stands had a unique gear ratio. Thus, the capacity had been designed into the smallest primary gear reduction to maintain the maximum number of common components between the drives.

Philadelphia Gear was able to design and manufacture these custom gear drives in less than half the industry average time in order to install and start up the line during a two-week shut down window.

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