Baldor expands sales support for European air handling industry

By being able to supply custom-assembled housed bearings direct from stock held in Munich, Baldor confidently expects to reduce lead times on orders from European customers to a matter of days, even for complex parts that involve a degree of modification. According to Mike Shea, International Sales Director for Dodge Mounted Bearings, “Baldor’s Munich facility now carries a very wide range of Dodge HFO housings and spherical roller bearings, spanning shaft diameters from 75 to 240 mm. These high-reliability products have very low maintenance costs, which helps keep the total cost of ownership for end-users at an all-time low. We believe that we now offer our European customers in the air handling industry the most comprehensive portfolio of bearing products available.”

Dodge HFO split plummer block bearing housings are designed specifically for dynamic oil lubrication; the bearing sits on a support above a large – and physically separate – oil sump, and the oil is pulled from the sump to the bearing by a rotating oil conveying ring, to automatically lubricate the bearing during operation. The housings incorporate an oil drain to allow the oil to return to the sump – this transfers heat away from the bearing and into the sump, where it is removed by convection or sump cooling coils – as well as an oil level gauge for ease of maintenance. As standard, the housings are supplied with labyrinth seals to ensure lubricating oil retention and to prevent the ingress of contaminants; for applications involving particularly dirty environments, grease can be pumped between the housing and the seals to provide extra protection.

All Dodge HFO bearing housings feature split plummer blocks and bolt-on end covers to facilitate bearing removal and to minimise the amount of work space that is required. The housings only require the shaft to be lifted enough to remove the load before the bearing can be removed, which further simplifies maintenance and repair, and helps reduce machine downtime significantly.

As standard, Dodge HFO bearing housings are manufactured from grey cast iron, but for especially demanding applications, various models are also available in spheroidal ductile iron, which has a higher tensile strength and a higher modulus of elasticity. All models are supplied configured for non-expansion (F) mode – whereby spacer rings in the housing hold the bearing in a fixed position – but can easily be reconfigured by customers for expansion (L) mode, simply by removing the spacer rings, which then allows the bearing to float with shaft expansion.

If required, Baldor can supply HFO bearing housings modified to allow greater axial movement than standard units, to accommodate greater shaft expansion. The company can also carry out a number of other modifications at customers’ requests, including the provision of extra pre-drilled holes for temperature and vibration sensors, and the fitting of copper cooling coils to allow water cooling of the oil sump.