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Harriston Industries, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, replaced bronze bearings with iglide J plastic bearings to eliminate corrosion and increase lifespan on its potato planter and, in doing so, won the second place prize in manus, The First North American Plastic Bearing Design Contest.
The pick arm on the Harriston planter was encountering several problems due to the oil-impregnated bronze bearings with graphite plugs. The pick arm rotates through an arc of 15% at a rate of 12-20 cycles per minute. On the West coast, the bronze bearings were experiencing high wear and premature failure due to the very abrasive conditions caused by the high levels of volcanic ash in the soil. On the East coast, the high salt content in the air caused corrosion and seizure.
The six-row machine uses 144 bearings, all of which were replaced with iglide® J plastic bearings from igus® Inc. By switching to iglide J, the company was able to avoid replacing the bearings two or three times a season as it had been with the bronze. With iglide J, the planter also has longer service life, increased reliability, enhanced technical performance and reduced maintenance costs.
Dave Paschke, an R&D Specialist at Harriston Industries, talked about the savings with iglide J.
“By replacing the bronze with iglide J plastic bearings, we increased the lifespan by 500-600% and eliminated the seizing and corrosion issues. Iglide J also costs 70%-80% less than the bronze, has substantially increased reliability and reduced cost downtime. After two years of use, I have yet to find a bearing comparable to it.”To learn more about Harriston Industries, visit www.harriston.net.