The Challenge
Used to scrape the wall and floor corners in a cement mixer to prevent build-up, mixer blades can wear extremely quickly, resulting in costly repairs, replacements, downtime and manual cleaning.
Our client, a leading company in the aggregates sector, found that the blades supplied by the OEM were wearing out in less than a month.
Consequently, SpiralWeld was asked to create a higher-quality blade with a longer lifespan and we worked closely with the client to achieve a sustainable solution.
The Solution
At the outset, the SpiralWeld team was able to inspect a new replacement OEM blade, which consisted of hard-facing welded onto a base plate.
Showing cracks even before use, the hard-facing was brittle and typically broke off within days of use, accelerating the wear of the blade. Additionally, the chunks of broken hard-facing would jam the blade or other parts of the mixer.
We decided that a redesign was necessary to achieve the wear-resistant hardness of the plate face without the inherent brittleness and lack of integrity of the hard-facing
A drawing was produced from the original plate dimensions, including its thickness, the position, length and angle of the toe, the taper on the edges and the position and dimensions of the retaining slots.
The blade was then reverse engineered from a single hardened steel plate, achieving the bend for the toe by cutting a notch in the surface, bending the material to the desired degree, and welding the gap to leave a clean, smooth surface.
The elongated retaining slots were also replicated, enabling the blade to be moved as the edges wear, so that the blade remains close to the walls and floor of the mixing vessel.
Our solution took multiple factors into account including cost, machinability, and bendability, as well as being sufficiently hard and ductile to withstand operation without fracturing.
The Results
Having been installed for almost two months, SpiralWeld’s blade has already exceeded the lifespan of its predecessor. Feedback from the client is that it still looks like new!
With its longer running time, the new blade is proving to be far more cost-effective, while also contributing to the client’s drive towards greater sustainability.
Its performance continued to be monitored, with further enhancements considered. When the blade eventually needs replacing, there’s an option to increase the hardness of the steel plate to see if it would be even more economical.