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Grain & Feed Milling Technology is published six times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom.All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. ©Copyright 2010 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1466-3872

Digital Re-print - January| February 2011 How to select the proper plastic resin replacement elevator bucket

www.gfmt.co.uk

Every machine part will eventual-ly wear out, needing replacement. Elevator buckets are no exception

to this rule. Before selecting a replace-ment bucket, it is helpful to know several pieces of information...

1: Your elevator type: industrial or agricultural;

2: Bucket elevator manufacturer;3: Material being handled;4: Bucket dimensions;5: Material of bucket construction.

Selecting a replacement elevator bucket for your bucket elevator can be a challenge, espe-cially when you consider how many different buckets are on the market. Properly selecting the correct elevator bucket can keep your operation running smoothly, cut maintenance costs and improve elevator efficiency. Regularly scheduled inspections are also an important factor to maximize productivity of your facility.

Measuring the Existing Elevator Bucket

The length of the bucket is measured across the back from outside wall to outside wall (dimension A). The projection is measured from the outside of the back wall to the tip of the front lip at a perpendicular (90 degree) angle off the back wall (dimension B). Often projection is incorrectly measured from the top of the back wall to the tip of the front lip. The depth of the bucket (dimension C) is measured

from the upper most point of the bucket to the bottom most point. Bolt hole spacing or centers are measured from the left edge of one hole to the left edge of the second hole.

Why is Plastic Resin Better Than Metal?Elevator buckets made from plastic resins

are now the market norm of the bulk material handling industry. Plastic provides the following basic advantages over metal:• Lighter in weight;• Non-corrosive, rust-free and non-sparking; • Safe food grade material; • Impact strength; • Flexible yet strong.

The major advantage of any plastic bucket is its physical ability to absorb an impact inside the elevator leg. More buckets tear up and break due to impacts and obstructions, than are worn out by abrasion from the product carried. Bent and torn buckets cause a myriad of problems in the elevator: not efficiently carrying product, dragging and scraping inside the casing and creating a potential sparking hazard.

A well-designed plastic bucket has the built in abil-ity to “give” or “yield” to bypass an obstruction in an elevator, return to its original shape and keep on working. This requires strong, consistent, uniform wall thickness and the

proper grade of the selected resin. The weight of the elevator bucket

contributes significantly to the total cost of the elevator. By using lighter weight plastic resin buckets – approximately half the weight of metal buckets – elevator manufactures can use lighter gauge belts, smaller pulley shafts and bear-ings, and reduce their horsepower and mechanical transmission requirements. This also means less wear and tear on elevator drive components.

Another important factor is the ease of installation of plastic buckets. Due to their lighter weight and lack of hazardous, sharp edges, they are much easier to handle when changing or retrofitting in an elevator. This makes the job easier and safer for those tasked with keeping the bucket elevators running at peak performance.

Bucket Choices for Centrifugal Discharge Style Elevators

Proper identification of elevator type and style of existing bucket – and then

matching it with a plas-tic replacement – is vital to ensuring the bucket eleva-tor continues to

operate efficient-ly. The correct bucket, when

prop-erly installed

(with close bucket spacing) – assures the same or

INCREASED elevator capacity. Plastic resin elevator buckets are commonly found in cen-trifugal discharge style elevators. In contrast, metal buckets are still predominantly used in continuous discharge style bucket elevators.

There are two categories of centrifugal

by Carl Swisher, Tapco Inc.

How to select the proper plastic resin replacement elevator bucket

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy18 | January - february 2011

FEATURE

discharge style bucket eleva-tors: High speed (operates at speeds faster than 91 mpm) and slow speed (operates at speeds under than 107 mpm). High-speed elevator buckets come in many different shapes and sizes. The two most common bucket styles used in high-speed centrifugal discharge elevators are the North American CC (close center) style and European style. They handle materials such as grains, feed and feed pellets, salt, seeds, fertilizer, and dry chemicals.

Urethane • Nylon • Polyethylene.

Slow-speed buckets are used to handle materials heavier and larger materials, such as aggregates, foundry

sand, coal, clay, sand, gravel, and crushed glass. Commonly used bucket styles for this elevator include Style A, AA and AARB, which has a reinforced back. Style AA buckets are readily available in polyethyl-ene, nylon, urethane, ductile iron or steel.

Ductile Iron • Urethane • Polyethylene • Nylon

Switching to Plastic ResinIn order to select the appropriate plastic

bucket, one must consider the character-istics of the conveyed bulk material being handled. Important factors to take into account are the size, shape, bulk density, temperature, moisture content, flow-ability and abrasiveness of conveyed material.

The three most common plastics are high-density polyethylene (HDPE), nylon and urethane (thermo plastic urethane). Each plastic carries a number of different

advantages when paired cor-rectly with the corresponding bulk solid.

With the correct selec-tion of plastic replacement buckets and good preven-tive maintenance, operators and maintenance managers can look forward to many years of proper and profitable operation.

Carl Swisher - BioCarl Swisher, Tapco

Sales Manager, oversees domestic and inter-national sales force. Swisher has 20 years of experience in industrial sales and international

business. Prior to joining Tapco, Swisher was the Latin America Regional Sales Manager for a leading parts supplier in the sewn products industry. Proficient in Spanish, he is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and completed his graduate studies at the Stern School of New York University.

Founded in 1974, Tapco Inc is a lead-ing manufacturer of elevator buckets with 900,000 buckets in stock – available in poly-ethylene, polyurethane, nylon, aluminum, ductile iron and fabricated steel. Standard styles include AA, AC, Continuous, CCB, CC-HD, CC-XD and Super EuroBucket. Tapco also maintains a large inventory of elevator bolts, belt splices or joiners, abrasion-resistant sheeting, drag flights, and hanger bearings.

Carl Swisher, Sales Manager, TAPCO INC, St. Louis, Missouri USA

Tel: +1 314 739 9191 ext. 1920, www.tapcoinc.com

Bent and torn steel buckets

Back View End View

Specifying the Bucket (A) length, (B) projection, and (C) depth.

(T) thickness, (WL) water level, (E) hole centers

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy January - february 2011 | 19

FEATURE

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Only from Tapco, the two most popularbucket designs in the world!

For North American style elevators: theclassic CC-HD design. For European styleelevators: the Super EuroBucket.

Do you need more capacity? Consider theTapco 8" and 9" CC-HD Super Capacitybuckets. Our 9" projection cups provide

25% more capacity than the 8" buckets at avery cost effective price.

Wear and tear is a fact of life in many elevators. Tapco urethane buckets are knownfor their exceptional wear characteristics.Our nylon buckets are extremely strong,yet lightweight. If you are not using Tapcobuckets, you are not getting the most out ofyour elevator!

Tapco elevator bolts have been specificallydesigned to work with nonmetallic buckets.To achieve the most secure assembly, useTapco fanged elevator bolts and self-lockingnuts. Tapco stocks over 14 million bolts in six styles. If you wouldlike to improve your elevator performance, contact Tapco or visitwww.tapcoinc.com.

� Precise Discharge Consistent profile shape assures uniform dischargecharacteristics over the entire bucket range.

FLATCOUNTERSUNK

HEADElevator Bolt

� Tough & FlexibleInjection molded polyethylene “gives” or “yields” to

bypass obstructions in your elevator, allowing thebucket to return to its original shape.

� Unequaled StrengthThick walls and prime virgin engineered

resins provide exceptional strength.

� � Accurate & ReliableCapacity Ratings

Equal or greater carrying

capacity ofequivalent

size steelbuckets.

Roundedfront lip aids

in filling of bucket.

� Cost EfficientPrime virgin resins give unsurpassed bucket life

for maximum return on investment.

� Perfect FitDirect replacement of existing steel and plasticbuckets. No modifications to your elevator are needed.

� Ease of InstallationLighter weight aids in mounting buckets andreduces load on belt and running components.Nonmetallic materials eliminate hazardous sharpedges of steel buckets.

� Increased Safety Non-metallic materials eliminatethe possibility of explosion-causingsparking from bent and torn steel buckets.

� Ordered Today, Shipped Today900,000 buckets in stock worldwide in more than64 sizes, 12 styles & 6 materials for fast delivery.

How Tapco Buckets Make a World of Differencein Your Elevator Facility

The color blue, when used in connection with elevator buckets, is a U.S. registered trademark owned by Tapco Inc. Super EuroBucket ™ is a registered trademark of Tapco Inc. © 2010 Tapco Inc.® All rights reserved.

FANGED HEADElevator Bolt

STYLE SUPER EUROBUCKET™ and STYLE CC-HD Polyethylene Elevator Buckets (pictured)

Tel.: +1 314 739 9191 • +1 800 AT-TAPCO (+1 800 288 2726) • Fax: +1 314 739 5880 • www.tapcoinc.com

ELEVATOR BUCKETS - ELEVATOR BOLTS

St. Louis, Missouri U.S.A.

� Profitable, High-Speed HandlingTested and provendesigns allow adirect, compact discharge path forimproved, high-speedperformance.

®

WorldOfDiffSEB_HD_Oct2010 10/25/10 11:40 AM Page 1

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A subscription magazine for the global flour & feed milling industries - first published in 1891

In this issue:

• How to select the

proper plastic resin

replacement elevator

bucket

• Using paddy husk as the

replacement of gas & fuel

for drying grains

January 2011

• The impact of feed enzymes on diet digestibility and animal profitability

• Going the distance: - Training the Milling Workforce in the Twenty-first Century

• Rospen Industries’ range of continuous weighing equipment

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