Ameridrives Mill Spindles for Rolling Mill Roughing Stand Drives

By Sponsored Content | August 25, 2022

A large Midwestern steel mill was experiencing excessive downtime due to frequent spindle repair and replacement on their hot strip mill roughing stand drives. The roughing mill work rolls require extremely high torque to compress/reduce 10” thick automotive quality heated steel slabs down to 1”- 2” thick. The mill contacted Ameridrives Couplings based on superior Ameridrives spindle performance at another of the company’s sister mills.

Five (over/under) pairs of Ameridrives Model SM Mill Spindles were supplied for five continuous pinion roll stands. The spindles are 38” diameter by 13 ft. long and provide 80,000,000 in. lb. peak torque. The spindles’ roll-end adaptor features a “flatted” bore, commonly used in mills for extreme torque capacity. The drive-end adaptor was shipped separately for off-site pinion mounting.

Model SM Mill Spindles feature Ameridrives Advanced Gear Design. The hub gear teeth are fully-crowned to provide maximum torque capacity and misalignment with minimum backlash. One-piece, high eccentricity molded lip-type seals, designed for operation under full misalignment conditions, provide the most effective closure available to keep lubricant in and contaminants out.

The customer is very pleased as mill efficiency has increased significantly since the Ameridrives spindles were installed. The units are expected to run for years (vs. months using original spindles) with little more than routine greasing.

About the author:Ameridrives is a pioneering global leader in the design and manufacture of highly-engineered industrial couplings and universal joints. Ameridrives offers advanced coupling technologies that compensate or minimize the effects of unavoidable misalignment and end movement of coupled shafts. Utilizing advanced testing, analysis and manufacturing processes, Ameridrives provides coupling solutions to meet challenging customer requirements.

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