Cleaning retarder shafts

REQUIREMENTS

Retarder shafts, or in general workpieces requiring degreasing before further processing, are manufactured from various materials and in all conceivable dimensions.

Especially with units with slim internal diameters or great lengths, cleaning the inside of the body is a challenging task.

PREVIOUS TECHNOLOGY

In the specific application, retarder shafts were produced on a contract basis. The manufacturing process of these shafts included, after the actual machining, a tempering in oil as well as a downstream blasting with steel balls. The tempering oil hardened as the shaft cooled and bound blasting media to itself – especially in the internal thread of the hollow cone.

No further cleaning took place, since all methods tested up to then – cold wash table, washing machine, ultrasonics – had produced no satisfactory results.

This led to very costly complaints and, in individual cases, returns of entire articulated lorries full of goods. This problem is completely “off the table” with the introduction of our technology.

OUR SOLUTION

The ph-cleantec low-pressure hot-water process represented the efficient and at the same time cost-effective solution here. Through the high temperatures of up to 95°C, the tempering oil was loosened. With the low pressure, the tempering oil as well as the steel balls were transported away without any problem.

Nothing is damaged in the process, and the method can be used in the workshop without people or the environment being affected.

In a further step, the low-pressure hot-water cleaning was automated and integrated into the production process.

Thus the method represented a very efficient and cost-saving, and at the same time environmentally and health-friendly, solution. The complaint risk was practically eliminated.

YOUR BENEFITS

• Efficiency/quality: Fast and thorough cleaning of the tempering oil in the specific case, or of greasy and oily contamination in general. With the right spray accessories, cleaning inside a component is also possible without any problem.
• Automation: Easy integration into semi- or fully automated production processes.
• No damage: Thanks to the low pressure, no damage to sensitive parts.
• Mobility: Cleaning on site – units are mobile and largely self-contained.
• Occupational and environmental protection, chemicals: No or only very little chemicals needed; this spares the environment, increases occupational safety and reduces costs.
• Universal usability of the hot-water cleaning units: These can be used e.g. for servicing and maintenance or for machine and parts cleaning.
• Economy: Considerably less working time when cleaning, no or hardly any chemicals.
• Overall: Comparatively low investment and hardly any running costs, but in return high efficiency and quality.

DOWNLOAD

Cleaning retarder shafts (PDF)

SEE ALSO:

• Application report Cleaning complex cast bodies (internal cleaning)
• Application report Pipes and shafts
• Application report Bores
• Video Lüttge wind instruments