When it comes to screw feeder maintenance, you will know already that self-lubricating materials like shortening, butter etc. are great to work with from a machinery wear-and-tear point of view.
The screw feeder and the pump, especially when working with fats, will both have a very long lifetime with minimal maintenance required.
BestPump has no desire to retain customers by using bespoke spare parts. We retain customers by designing our pump feeder systems to require little or no maintenance and to run for long service lifetimes.
Also, we aim to empower our customers to self-maintain their systems.
Below is a summary of our typical approach to maintenance.
Made with ‘off-the-shelf’ components
We design our screw feeder systems to be easily dis-assembled and assembled with minimal tooling and there are no ‘unique’ spare parts required. Where possible, we use components that are standard and available ‘off the shelf’ from local sources.
Pumps
The positive displacement pumps that we use on our ‘BlockBusters’ are strongly represented globally and manufactured either in USA, UK or Europe so any spares for the pumps are well covered by local distribution.
O-rings and spacers
There are some minor o-rings and spacers and we supply plenty of spares with the machines. Longer term, these can easily be made up by your team on-site or sourced from your local seals supplier.
V-rings
There are some V-rings used on the machines and we would supply plenty of spares with the machine but again, these can be sourced locally when required.
Recommended spare parts kits
We would provide you with enough spares to typically cover many hundreds of hours of production with the machines. In addition, we would provide you with all the specification details required to allow you to easily source or make-up the necessary parts for yourself.
Control panel
The control panels are typically made up of Allen Bradley standard parts that are widely used across the world so these are readily available should you ever need them. For an extra layer of support, if you can provide us with an ethernet connection, we can remotely connect to the control panel from anywhere in the world should you need any control modifications or health-checks.
Motors
We use Internationally recognised geared motor manufacturers so your local suppliers would be able to supply like-for-like replacements in the unlikely event of faults.
Body, Augers & Trolleys
The main body of our screw feeders and the other major components like the frame, augers, trolleys etc. are all constructed from stainless steel and wouldn’t really be considered as spare parts. In the unlikely event of urgent replacements, we manufacture in-house and can ship rapidly.
Conveyors
We use Internationally recognised conveyor motors and components so your local suppliers would be able to supply like-for-like replacements in the unlikely event of faults.
So, our spare parts business on the BlockBuster screw feeder systems is virtually zero and we are very happy with that!
Most importantly, when we commission machines, we offer full training that allows any competent engineer to take full ownership of the machine maintenance – perhaps you have engineers on site or a local engineering company that you work with already? We could explore a solution that uses expertise you may already have in place or close by.