Dura-Pack custom-designed a TM-36 conveyor to help a customer that
needed to package roofing screws in plastic pails. Photo courtesy Eriez
Manufacturing Co.
Recently, four customers in the telecommunications, construction and office supply industries came to Dura-Pack seeking solutions for their material-handling problems. For all four applications, Dura-Pack used a Model TM conveyor by Eriez Manufacturing Co.
Designed for moving bulk materials, the TM conveyor features a motor-driven eccentric weighted shaft that provides exciting force, and corrosion-resistant fiberglass springs that transmit force to the trough. Trough motion can be fine-tuned for specific applications.
The first customer-a supplier of electrical supplies to the telecommunications, utility and automotive markets-had trouble placing a single layer of flat transmission gears onto a furnace belt. Dura-Pack used a Model TM-30 conveyor with an adjustable gate at the discharge, which efficiently metered out the gears in a single layer.
Another customer needed to package roofing screws in plastic pails. The difficulty stemmed from the fact that the screws nest together and are difficult to break apart. For this application, Dura-Pack used a TM-36 conveyor, which was custom-designed with a deep-walled tray to hold the product. The packaging system also used an inclined magnetic belt conveyor to raise the screws up to the packaging machinery.
“By using a series of adjustable rods attached to the top of the tray, we were able to hold back the product and discharge smaller quantities to the tray,” says Jeff Iverson, mechanical engineer at Dura-Pack.
Customer three, which worked in the automotive industry, was attempting to package fasteners into cartons, but had difficulty getting the fasteners to settle before closing the lids on the cartons and sealing them up.
Because screws were sticking up above the cartons, Dura-Pack chose a TM-18 conveyor with high amplitude so it could “bounce” the carton across the surface and settle the screws below the top of the carton.
The fourth customer was working for the U.S. government to create a packaging system for handling rubber bands. “Rubber bands like to stick to one another, so product separation was problematic,” says Iverson.
The product required particularly high amplitude for separation, so Dura-Pack selected the TM-12 feeder, which has a capacity of 75 tons per hour.
For more information on conveyors, call 888-300-3743 or visit www.eriez.com.
