Chain maintenance, Chain slack – Great Plains 3S-4000F Operator Manual User Manual
Page 87
Great Plains Manufacturing, Inc.
Maintenance and Lubrication
83
2014-06-10
195-394M
Chain Maintenance
Inspect and lubricate chains regularly. The slack of new
chains tends to increase during the first few hours of
operation due to seating.
Chain Slack
Check slack within the first 8 hours of operation and
tighten idlers as necessary.
Refer to Figure 95, which, for clarity, greatly exaggerates
slack, and omits the idlers.
1.
Measure the span
for allowable slack:
Locate the longest span of each chain (usually the
span which does not run through the idlers). The
ideal slack is between 2% and 4% of the span.
For example:
A slack of 1cm is appropriate for a 30cm span.
2.
Measure the current slack:
Acting at a right angle to the chain span at the center
of the span, deflect the chain in both directions with a
force of about 9 lbs (4 kg). The slack is the distance
of the movement.
3.
Adjust the idlers for ideal slack
.
Whenever mounting a chain, make sure the clip at the
removable link is oriented to minimize snags.
Refer to Figure 96
Install clip with open end facing away from direction of
chain travel (shown by gray arrows in chain routing
diagrams).
Figure 95
Measuring Chain Slack
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1
1
Figure 96
Chain Clip Orientation
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