Reliable Results with Rubber Screen Cloths
Rubber screen cloths are one of the corner stones of the screen media industry; due to their flexibility of design they are as popular today as they have been in the past. Rubber screen cloths have a relatively simple manufacturing process, however as with most things the devil is in the detail, such as the specification of the rubber and tensioning cloth, the side iron design, specialist fixings used, etc. However even with all this in place the ability to design a screen cloth to suit a customer’s specific application and requirements requires many years of experience to ensure the end product will perform its intended duty. SCS has been designing and manufacturing rubber screen cloths for over 30 years and in that time has produced over 10,000 different designs.
At SCS before the design and manufacture of a rubber screen cloth can start our personnel will discuss with the customer their requirements and if required one of our area sales managers would come to site to measure up, noting as much information as possible regarding screen duty and product requirements.
The following case demonstrates that due diligence and extensive understanding is paramount to a successful design, manufacture, supply and installation of rubber screen cloths.
A Short Lesson in Competency
A long-term customer contacted us regarding issues with rubber screen cloths fitted to a mobile scalping screen supplied by a competitor. The customer reported that the rubber screen cloths were failing prematurely from the back and that they were struggling to tension them properly.
After investigation by phone, email and a site visit, the root cause was identified. There were two main contributing factors, namely incorrect profile side tension clamps and exterior angle wedges. These were causing the side irons to rotate, thus lifting the underside of the rubber screen cloth off the longitudinal camber bars, this was therefore not allowing the rubber screen cloths to be tensioned correctly. The incorrect tension meant the rubber screen cloths were flapping up and down, and had worn through from the underside, this movement lead to capping rubber being destroyed and to some damage to the longitudinal camber bars.
SCS undertook the rectification work on this installation, firstly repairs were carried out to the longitudinal camber bars and the exterior side angle wedges were removed. New rubber screen cloths, capping rubber and side tension clamps were installed, and for greater security the tensioning wedges and pins were replaced with screen bolts to ensure the mats remain tensioned correctly whilst in operation.
In Summary
The success of rubber screen cloths can be put down to the fact that static or mobile screens setup for side or end tensioned woven wires can be easily converted to rubber screen cloths. This is normally for one of the following reasons,
- To improve service life normally quoted as a five to seven times that of woven wire, which reduces the time for maintenance, reduces the cost per tonne of production.
- To reduce pegging or blinding, with greater flexibility in the screening surface single particles are less likely to get stuck in an aperture or lead to material binding together on top of the screening surface, this leads to a greater available open area and hence increased throughput.
- To reduce noise, generally a 10dB(A) reduction can be achieved.
As this case shows care should always be taken to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Speak to the experts at SCS, for unrivalled screen media expertise and individually tailored advice. Contact us on 01788 553300 or sales@scsrugby.co.uk
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