Why Roll Balancing Maintenance is Vital

While frequently overlooked, whether or not your rolls are balanced is one of the many factors to consider when you’re evaluating manufacturing processes to improve product quality and optimize production rates. Even though most new rollers arrive in your facility already balanced, recovering or repairing a roll to specifications that are even slightly off from the original specs can cause the balance to be thrown off. Because of this, it is always important to have your balance checked whenever a roll is sent in for service. Not only does a properly balanced roll uphold product quality and promote optimal production rates, but it also plays a key role in preventing excessive wear and tear on machinery and other components.

Imbalanced Rolls Create More Harm Than You’d Think

When a roll becomes unbalanced, it creates a non-uniform centrifugal force that is detrimental to the life of your machine and its many operating parts. The rotor (core), bearings, and the supporting structure are all vulnerable to excessive stress when your production line is running with even just one imbalanced roll. The amount of stress created by an imbalanced roll depends on two vital factors – the speed of rotation and the severity of the imbalance that is present in the roll.

If you are experiencing any of these, it might be a sign your roller is imbalanced.

Common Signs of an Unbalanced Roller:
  • Unidentifiable noises
  • Unexplained vibrations/chatter
  • Repetitive undesirable patterns in the web
  • Irregular wear patterns on machinery
  • Increased frequency of needing repairs

While the need to balance a roll is more common when dealing with higher speed machines, even low-speed rolls may experience roll damage, bent shafts, etc., that require balancing services.

“Our rolls might be imbalanced… What should we do?”

There are a few key things to keep in mind to catch and prevent rolls from becoming unbalanced. The first key is to know the signs of a roll that has become unbalanced, which were just explained above. It is also important to know when it is time to have your rolls checked and/or re-balanced even if you aren’t noticing any of the signs mentioned above.

If you are experiencing any of the signs listed above and think you might have an imbalanced roll, contact us today at 262.878.2445 or by email – info@americanroller.com, to speak with an account manager or engineer who can evaluate your situation.

Not experiencing any of the signs listed above? Don’t wait until you start seeing defects in your product to be concerned about balancing! Any time a roll is sent in for a coating, cover, or repair, the rolls should be checked for any necessary rebalancing. At American Roller, anytime we perform rebalancing services on rolls used in critical applications, we perform a pre-check of the rolls current balance when it first comes into our facility. This allows us to make any necessary adjustments to the roll before applying the new covering, coating, or repair. After the roll is finished, we perform a final post balance check and final adjustment if necessary to ensure that the roll is still within the tolerance of your individual operating specifications.

To Properly Balance Any Roll, We Need To Know Some Details

All of our customers run unique operations with specific tolerances and requirements. To properly balance your roll, we first need to know a few things about your production needs so we can make any necessary adjustments to conform the roll to the required standards.

Balancing Specifications:

All rollers generally fall into three primary categories of ISO grade specifications. The three common categories are G1.0, G2.5, and G6.3. The ISO Grade specification that is required for your operations will be based on speed, weight, roll position, and any required tolerances.

G1.0 is typically used with high-speed rollers requiring tight tolerance precision.

G2.5 is typically used with high-speed rollers in critical applications.

G6.3 is typically used with lower speed rollers requiring standard tolerances.

Operating Speed of Rolls/Machinery:

In addition to the ISO Grade requirement, it is also important that we understand the operating speed of your rolls and machinery. This information helps us ensure we make appropriate adjustments to the balance of your roller.

Two vs Three Plane Balancing

Surprisingly, not many understand the difference between choosing two plane over three plane balancing and vice versa. American Roller also encounters many new customers who were under the impression that their roll was balanced when in reality their previous supplier was only performing two-plane balancing (on a roll that should receive three plane balancing) due to not having the capabilities to perform the required three plane balancing.

What exactly is the difference between the two balancing techniques? And how do we know what method is right for our rolls? Find out in part 2 of our Balancing blog post coming soon!

Read Part 2 here: Whipping Problems & the Third Plane