Whether you are manufacturing sheets or coils of steel, aluminum, copper, nickel, or other metal, the precision alignment of the components in your rolling mill will have a significant impact on productivity and product quality.
Turning metal ingots, billets, blooms, or slabs into metal sheeting and other profiles, involves processing the metal through rolls of varying sizes, tension, heat, and pressure. Whether you are manufacturing sheets or coils of steel, aluminum, copper, nickel, or other metal, the precision alignment of the components in your rolling mill will have a significant impact on productivity and product quality.
Rolling mill equipment runs under constant stress and often over long periods of use. These factors can cause components to deviate from acceptable operating tolerances and specifications over time due to settling, vibration, abrasion, and sometimes even forklift hits – resulting in misalignment, loss of roller surface cylindricity, bearing damage or failure, and more.
No matter the process – hot rolling or cold rolling – or the rolling configuration, precision alignment of rolls and components of a rolling mill is critical to producing quality product, reducing scrap, and improving operating efficiency.
◊ Uneven rolling thickness
◊ Inconsistent or out-of-spec product
◊ Tension problems
◊ Higher scrap rates
◊ Excessive vibration and chatter
◊ Faulty rolling direction
◊ Reduced rolling speed
◊ Premature component wear and failure – rolls, bearings, chocks
◊ Increased energy consumption
◊ Unplanned downtime
Fortunately for the rolling mill industry, the technological advancements made in 3-dimensional precision measurement allow for the inspection and alignment of rolling mill components to be completed much faster, with a high degree of accuracy, and in areas that were difficult or impossible to reach with traditional inspection methods. Additionally, most of today’s metrology instruments can withstand harsh industrial environments, making them the ideal choice for metal rolling mills.
◊ Mill stand centerline inspections
◊ Establishing and installing mill baselines
◊ Roll profile and wear studies
◊ Roll alignment and parallelism
◊ Chock inspections
◊ Housing inspection and alignment
◊ Drive alignment – motor and gearbox
◊ Mandrel inspections
◊ Equipment verification and alignment during installation, component changes, or upgrades
◊ Thermal growth studies
It is important to note that incorrect alignment during the installation of equipment continues to be one of the main reasons for misalignment issues in rolling mills. Precision is key to the layout and positioning of major components during installation. Laser trackers allow metrology engineers to quickly measure floor layout as well as obtain precise spatial positioning of components and guide adjustments during the installation. The entire installation process can be done much more efficiently, reducing the time for project completion. The same holds true during roll changes or other component changes or upgrades.
With hot rolling mills processing more tonnage than any other manufacturing process and cold rolling mills processing the most tonnage out of all cold working processes, it is no wonder that the rolls and components of metal rolling mills take a beating over time. Planning in advance for precision alignment inspections and adjustments during your scheduled downs as well as performing routine inspections for alignment and wear as part of in your preventive maintenance programs, will help increase operational efficiency and avoid costly issues due to misalignment.
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