When a critical drive failed at Red Stag Timber’s sawmill near Rotorua, New Zealand, they reached out to the Bonfiglioli industrial motors and drives team in Australia to create a compact and powerful custom-built HDP 150 drive to keep the business moving.
Red Stag Timber is one of New Zealand’s largest sawmill operators and produces timber for the residential construction market. The mill at Rotorua is the largest in the country, employing over 300 people and producing over 450,000 cubic metres of Radiata pine and Douglas fir per annum.
Bonfiglioli says its HD series drives are particularly suited for compact, heavy duty applications such as conveyors and feeders on major materials handling, resources plant and quarries.
So when the old carriage drive they were using began to lose efficiency and productivity dropped, Red Stag turned to Bonfiglioli’s New Zealand sales manager Paul Savage to help them craft a custom HD to fit their needs.
“Delivery was critical as the window given to complete the installation was tight,” Savage says.
“With downtime out of the question, air freight was a must. Bonfiglioli’s Design Service Centre (DSC) in Sydney worked rapidly to complete the special extended shaft design and drawings for the custom build.
“The unit was assembled and shipped on time, meeting the extremely tight and critical delivery schedule, which is a huge credit to Bonfiglioli team.”
The drive created for Red Stag was manufactured with a special extended output shaft of 926mm to accommodate the large winch drum. Large spherical rollers were also installed, designed to withstand the high radial and shock loadings exerted by the mechanism.
The unit, which produces 400 installed horse power (298kW), has a 10:1 gear ratio and a mechanical rating of 1,587kW (at 1500 rpm). It comes with a cooling fan on its high speed input shaft, for optimum performance and reliability.
Bonfiglioli says its HDP 150 drives are engineered for challenging applications such as a saw mill, which can see drives exposed to high levels of stop/start operation, directional changes and shock loading.
The HD series of drives represents Bonfiglioli’s ‘heavy duty’ range of gear units, with the highest torque ratings relative to their compact size.
Highly customisable, the units come in parallel shaft or bevel helical configurations and have a range of options. Extras include fan cooling, independent cooling systems, forced lubrication, temperature and oil level sensors and taconite seals.
The HD series has also been designed in such a way that the unit can be reconfigured in a different layout depending on the space available for the application. This was critical for Red Stag as any new unit had to fit within the space left by the old unit. Bonfiglioli says Red Stag was pleased with the result.
“Everything has gone to plan and Red Stag is impressed with the unit that has been running perfectly since installation.”