Bricking Solutions, Inc.

Friday, July 14, 2017

Evaluations – Keeping Your Equipment Outage Ready

It’s there, in the shadow of your kiln, waiting to be called upon to perform its one task – helping you quickly and safely reline your kiln. But, your Bricking Machine has been worked hard over the years and is a little beat up.

A leaky hose here, a chewed up wheel there. A couple of missing screws and one of the frames is a bit out of whack. Your brick contractor has mentioned that the machine could use some help. These are just some of the reasons that you should have your Bricking Machine evaluated.

Here at Bricking Solutions, we pride ourselves on fabricating the industry’s best refractory maintenance products, but, as with any piece of equipment, they need some love once in a while. For a Bricking Machine, the first time is usually about 8 years in (then about every 2 years after that).

By this time, it’s gone through eight or more shutdowns and experienced its fair share of abuse. Having one of our technicians come out and give your Bricking Machine a thorough once over will assure you, your safety team, and your contractor, that the machine is in top shape and, more importantly, completely safe to use.

We offer one- or two-day evaluations.

With a one-day evaluation, the technician goes over your machine looking for any visible defects in the structure, as well as ensuring that all moving parts actually move as they are supposed to. Upon completion of the evaluation, the technician will discuss any defects found and the best course of action to fix them. You will also receive a detailed report and a quote for any replacement parts that are needed or recommended.

With a two-day evaluation, you get everything in the one-day evaluation, but the technician installs all the replacement parts and makes sure that everything is working just as it should.

The money spent having your machine evaluated is a small price to pay to ensure that it is ready to go for your next outage. With proper care and maintenance, the Bricking Machine that you spent tens of thousands of dollars on can easily last 15-20 years. Spending a couple of thousand dollars every few years can help you accomplish that.

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Thursday, June 29, 2017

Without a Bridge Your Kiln is an Island

The scene is familiar. Your crew steps onto the burn floor in preparation for kiln maintenance. The door is opened. The kiln is cooling down. The outage clock begins to tick.

Will your crew safely, easily, and quickly cross the gap between the burn floor and the kiln? Or has your kiln become an island?

Cement plants worldwide come up with many unusual ways to bridge that gap. Unfortunately, most solutions are heavy, cumbersome, and often unsafe.

Safety and time are critical issues in our industry today, yet so many decisions are based on trying to save pennies with quick fixes instead of saving dollars with safe and proper kiln access.

With safety as the priority, kiln access should be engineered taking in account the burn floor configuration to create a custom designed access which safely, easily, and quickly provides a ramp into the kiln.

With safety in mind, the design must meet local standards – plant, regional, national and international – reducing safe access concerns for your workers and putting a smile on your safety officer’s face when checking your kiln access ramp.

The time factor ticks by just behind the safety issue. Think of the outage time saved with a lightweight ramp made of 6061 T6 aircraft aluminum when engineered and fabricated correctly is half the weight of steel.

Lighter equals less time and man power to install. Every minute saved installing and removing the kiln ramp reduces down time putting more profit on your bottom.

When looking for a modern kiln access ramp, there are a few other crucial questions to ask a potential manufacturer.

Do they have a reference list including years of experience and satisfied customers in the cement industry?

Is manufacturing of refractory access ramp the main business of the supplier?

Does the aluminum ramp have a 15,000 lbs capacity with a 3:1 safety factor?

Does the ramp design allow a mini excavator to break off coating from the bridge section spanning the cooler?

Answers to those questions can bring up more questions as we all know not all burn floors are created equal. It’s easy to design a ramp when there are no obstructions or elevation issues.

Straight access to the kiln is ideal, however not realistic. Unfortunately each burn floor and kiln presents many different engineering design problems.

As a wise man once said “if you do a chemical analysis you will find a cucumber is 98% water, a strawberry is 98% water and river water is 98% water more or less.

Yet no one makes a salad out of river water, a dessert out of a cucumber or fills their swimming pool full of strawberries.”

The point here is it’s all about the details - big and small - whether you are selecting a new computer system to monitor your kiln, the appropriate refractory for your next outage, or a new aluminum kiln access ramp.

More information here

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Check out our video for bridges over 6M
Load Fixture

Friday, June 9, 2017

Bricking Solutions Bricking Machine vs the Competition

BRICKING SOLUTIONS: Ergonomic Cut-out section in front arch - Allows key mason room and keying access to close out row.

Load Capacity: Standard 4000kg (8000 lb): 2 pallets of brick plus workers and tools
Optional 6000kg (13228 lb): 3 pallets of brick plus workers and tools
Optional small kiln 2722kg (6000 lb):1 pallet of brick plus workers and tools

COMPETITION: Arch sections at the top are the same as everywhere else.

Load Capacity: Standard 2722 kg (6000 lb)

BRICKING SOLUTIONS: Aluminum dual arch with engineered cut-outs - lightweight & secured on the arch stabilizer post. Adjustable screw jacks & hinge connections - Adjustments with no tools.

Arch Adjustment: Adjustable screw jacks & hinge connections - Adjustments with no tools

COMPETITION: Add or remove cylinder segments, estimated 400 kg heavier, must be installed with aid of a “grip hoist” & special fixture

Arch Adjustment: Add or remove cylinder segments, estimated 400 kg heavier, must be installed with aid of a “grip hoist” & special fixture

BRICKING SOLUTIONS: Ergonomically designed stair step that moves along center rails on work deck.

Machine Weight: 1400 kg (3087 lb) 5M machine: as strong as steel but 1/3 of the weight
995 kg (2193 lb) 3M machine

COMPETITION: Drag along jump scaffold or not supplied. Manually picked up and moved or dragged with arch movement

BRICKING SOLUTIONS: Dual Master Valve for single or simultaneously activation. Easy accessible cylinders for quick repairs.

Assembly: Symmetrical part design with pin connections for fast and easy assembly. Under 2 hour assembly time with minimally experienced crew

COMPETITION: One valve, cylinders enclosed in panels making change out difficult and time consuming

Assembly: 4 to 6 hours - longer if the arch segments are not pre-assembled