Kastalon’s slitter spacers and slitter tires are the perfect products for precision metal coil slitting. More lightweight and durable than alternatives on the marketplace, Kastalon’s slitter components resist fatigue, resist cracking, are non-marking, and are easily customizable.
July 2020, Kastalon has purchased and installed a new Summit roll lathe to further enhance our large roll manufacturing and repair capabilities. Kastalon now offers the most comprehensive roller services in the industry.
The Summit lathe/roll grinder allows Kastalon to not only machine metal, but to turn, mill, groove, and grind polyurethane and rubber covered rollers to ultra-precise diameters, geometric finishes, and straightness specifications. This CNC machine has a capacity of 48 inch finished diameters x 20 feet CC (1.22 x 6.1 meters) and almost 50,000 lbs with full CNC grooving. Simple to highly complex and precise grooves and finishes can be produced with this state-of-the-art equipment.
Kastalon’s roller capacity ranges from fractional diameters and face lengths to 62 inches in diameter x 30 feet overall length (1.57 x 9.1 meters). Kastalon’s polyurethane roll coverings are available from 20 Shore A to 75 Shore D (baby’s skin soft to bowling ball hard, and anywhere in between) with surface finishes and groove patterns to optimize your roller’s performance.
We’ve combined chemistry and mechanics just for you. Contact Kastalon today and bring the Kastalon’s advantage to your operations.
A roll shop in an Indiana mill has coined these Bonnets. They have been using these parts for over 10 years and now have completely replaced all of their metal bonnets with polyurethane.
According to Wikipedia “A dead blow hammer is a specialized mallet helpful in minimizing damage to the struck surface and in limiting peak striking force, with minimal elastic rebound from the struck surface.”
So here is the STORY…
A tube mill’s high performance automated systems are designed to keep things moving, however, one tube mill had an issue with their pipe bouncing back too far when they impacted their adjustable pipe stop bumpers. The bumpers were designed to stop the tube and prepare them to be fed into the next area of the line.
The bouncing of tubes was causing misalignment and jams. The line then had to be shut down until the jam could be cleared. This was a continuous issue so the mill staff assumed that the hardness of the bumper needed to be adjusted, however, that was not the solution. The problem was so severe that the bumpers were causing a bounce back as far as 18 to 24” on large pipes and 8 to 12” on smaller pipes.
Fortunately, the mill contacted a representative from Kastalon to get a second opinion. Kastalon’s expertise in chemical engineering was able to determine that the hardness was not the issue, the physical and mechanical properties of the polyurethane bumper needed to be adjusted to allow the bumpers to absorb the energy rather than rebounding it. What they needed was a “dead blow bumper”.
Once the bumpers were replaced by a proprietary Kastalon polyurethane bumper, the results were immediate and dramatic. The bounce of large pipes was reduced to 4-5 inches and the small pipes were only bouncing back about an inch.
Regardless where polyurethane is used, the secret is not just the hardness of the material, but how the material needs to work to its optimal performance in that application and environment. This is where Kastalon’s “engineered to fit” philosophy puts the emphasis on the desired result and the environment that a part is operating in. Even if it is a simple bumper!
The CVN 78 Gerald Ford aircraft carrier is often seen as the most technologically advanced in the U.S. Navy’s fleet. And part of that technology includes new polyurethane-covered plates from Kastalon that help absorb the impact of arresting cables as they are dragged across the deck.
When a fighter jet lands on an aircraft carrier, it’s still traveling at up to 150 miles per hour — with 500 feet or less in which to stop. So, the plane has a special tailhook that grabs one of several arresting wires stretched across the deck in order to transfer the energy and slow the plane to a halt quickly.
The arresting wires take quite a beating as they repeatedly drag across the deck with enough speed to make sparks fly. Enter Kastalon’s polyurethane-covered plates. The plates help to absorb the initial impact as the wire hits to protect it from damage and failure, which in turn helps protect the fighter jet and its pilot.
Originally reported by http://incrediblepolyurethane.com
Kastalon is proud to be a Department of Defense (DOD) sub-contractor for the new aircraft carrier, the CVN 78 Gerald Ford. Not only is the Ford class aircraft carrier the most powerful ship in the world, it’s technology is the most advanced in the entire fleet. If you look at time frames 2:10 through 2:27, you will see 3 angled areas on the deck just after the arresting cable. These are polyurethane covered plates that absorb the initial impact of the cable assembly with the flight deck. To get an idea of the forces and nature of the impact at 2:22 you will see sparks from the cable dragged across the deck after the polyurethane absorbed the force of the initial impact. This is incredibly brutal to the arresting wire equipment. Without the protection provided by the pads the arresting wire would be compromised which could result in failure and the loss of the aircraft, perhaps the pilot as well.
During the ship’s Independent Steaming Exercises (ISE), USS Gerald R. Ford’s crew tested and evaluated the ship’s capabilities, including 83 aircraft launches and recoveries. For these flight operations, the new launch and recovery technologies, Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), were on display.
We are very proud of the fact that Kastalon worked with Navel Engineering to develop the design and is the only manufacturer qualified to supply these pads. Kastalon’s parts and products are in nuclear submarines, mining, heavy equipment, material handling systems, steel and metals manufacturing and processing, converting, food, packaging, aircraft, and even on the space shuttle and space station. From deep sea to deep space, Kastalon manufactures the most innovative, highest quality polyurethane components for military, industrial and commercial equipment systems.
About ACIBC
The Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition (ACIBC) represents businesses that supply parts, equipment and services for the construction and maintenance of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. Established in 2004, ACIBC seeks to preserve the strength of the aircraft carrier force and promote the value of the aircraft carrier industrial base as a vital part of the nation’s overall defense structure.
Source: US Navy. Originally reported by ACIBC (The Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition). Photo Credit: US Navy/Erik Hildebrandt
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“Having a knowledgeable sales person that could evaluate the situation and develop a strategic plan to efficiently process the roller allowed Berry to reduce the down time and continue to support their customers.”
Due to Hurricane Harvey’s damage sustained at the Berry Plastics facility in Victoria, Texas, the Berry Plastics plant in Aurora, Illinois was called on to ramp up their operations to pick up the production lost in Texas. In order to keep running, Tim Neal, the Purchasing Agent at Berry Plastics in Aurora, reached out to Kastalon Inc. for emergency assistance on a roller that had imperfections and that needed regrinding.
Thanks to the technical expertise of the sales engineer at Kastalon, the roller was inspected at the Berry facility and sent to Kastalon for emergency repairs and an expedited return. According to Tim Neal, “Having a knowledgeable sales person that could evaluate the situation and develop a strategic plan to efficiently process the roller allowed Berry to reduce the down time and continue to support their customers.” When faced with critical disasters, it is imperative to have suppliers that not only have the expertise and ability to help, but the compassion to help where they can.
Kastalon offers complete roller services from the simple recovering of used rollers to regrinds, core repair, bearing assembly, balancing, and new core construction. We can work from samples, drawings or provide design and engineering assistance to develop the most effective solution. Learn more about our Roller Covering Solutions today!
Hurricane Harvey – August 25-29, 2017
Location: 84” Hot Mill Roll Shop
Originally reported: April 3, 2009
At the 84″ Hot Mill Roll Shop, the Area Manager and his team were experiencing a short life span of three to four weeks from their Gib Blocks that had standard Babbitt material on their Herkules Roll Grinder. The Gib Blocks in question measured 5.118” diameter by 2.717” in overall height and 6.69” diameter and 3.11” in over all height. Two of each is required at time on this machine. Kastalon looking to always come up with a way to ease our clients pain, suggested replacing the standard Babbitt material used throughout the industry for this application, with our specially formulated polyurethane material. The roll shop has now been using Kastalon’s polyurethane Gib Blocks for over a year now with great success. The polyurethane Gib Blocks are lasting four to five times (12 to 16 week life span) longer than the Babbitt material Gib Blocks. Putting a cost savings number to this is as follows.
Due to this mill’s purchasing standards, the area manager was unable to tell us what they were paying for the Gib Blocks to be reconditioned with the Babbitt material, but they did gave us permission to quote him on saying “Kastalon’s material costs substantially less”
The price of the Gib Block reconditioned from Kastalon is as follows:
5.118″ diameter by 2.717” overall height $190.00 ea
6.69″ diameter by 3.11 overall height $225.00 ea
The machine uses two of each at a time for a total of $830.00
$830.00 x 15 times per year with Babbitt material equals $12,450.00
$830.00 x 4 times per year with Kastalon’s Polyurethane equals $3320.00
Savings per year to the mill: $9130.00
Using Kastalon Prices, with the substantial longer life cycle of the Kastalon Gib Blocks, we can show a savings to the mill of $9130.00 per year for one roll grinder. We have now moved passed the testing period and we are outfitting the rest of the grinders with the Kastalon Gib Blocks at the 84″ Roll shop.
In addition, weigh inventory costs, transportation costs, labor costs.
In February of 2007 Kastalon was called to a Steel Mill for interest in our mandrel sleeves. We were called because this particular customer was having issues with the rewinding of their steel coils, as a result of the mandrel sleeves that were being used. They had also tried a few different mandrel sleeves from different vendors without the satisfaction they were looking for. Along with the operating issues, they were just not experiencing a longevity that they felt was adequate.
This particular line was a high speed steel processing line that converted hot band to automotive/appliance grade steel. The area of concern was at the end of the line where they have two rewind mandrels, that they alternate rewinding their finish product with. Most of their steel is considered exposed steel and they guarantee to their customers, 100 % coil usage.
Kastalon met with this customer and discussed their needs and concerns for this particular problem. We obtained drawings of their steel mandrel and engineered a mandrel sleeve that we felt would meet and exceed all of their expectations. In March of 2007, this customer placed an order for one mandrel sleeve for trial. The sleeve worked right out of the box and they ran it for three months, not experiencing any of the issues they had experienced with the prior sleeves. In July of 2007, they placed an order for the second sleeve and outfitted both of their mandrels with Kastalon Mandrel sleeves. They continued to see no reoccurring issues seen from the prior sleeves so they purchased two more sleeves as spares in November of 2007and continue to run problem free. Soon after the two spare sleeves were delivered to the customer, I stopped out and met with the customer to offer them with some tips on how to store and add operating life to all four of their mandrel sleeves. Tips that were never offered to them from previous suppliers.
In June of 2009 an order was received at Kastalon, Inc. for one sleeve. We called the customer to check in and we were told that they had an operator error and that one of the sleeves was tore and that they had to take it out of use. We asked them why they didn’t call us out to take a look at the sleeve before that was determined. They responded that the operator admitted to his error. And that the sleeves were just inspected a few weeks prior and looked as good as new, other that being oily from use. In November of 2011, two more sleeves were ordered. The customer was concerned that they have never had Mandrel Sleeve last this long and wanted to add two more to their inventory in case of a sleeve failure.
Since March of 2007, Kastalon has supplied a total of seven Mandrel Sleeves to this particular line. As of April of 2012, three of the four original sleeves provided by Kastalon are still in use. Remember, one was taken out of use due to operator error. This particular line is considered a High Speed, High Tension, Dual Rewind line. This customer has averaged 1,125,000 tons of steel per year that has been recoiled on our sleeves at an average speed of 1800 feet per minute. Their steel is considered very high quality steel which also adds something to say about our sleeves. (If our sleeves had poor cut resistant properties, we could also create them quality issues with their thinner gauge steel. But they have not experienced any of that.) Our customer has worked with us and together we engineered a sleeve that would meet and exceed their expectations. To say that they are satisfied with Kastalon Mandrel Sleeves is an understatement.
Update: 8/1/14
This customer placed an order for two more Mandrel Sleeves in July of 2014. Two of the original sleeves from 2007 finally wore out. That brings the total amount of sleeves ordered to 9 since 2007. Six of the sleeves are still in working order and are in their rotation being swapped out during downturns every three months.
Total cost of the nine sleeves that have rewound 9,000,000 tons of steel since 2007 have produced an operating cost for Kastalon’s Mandrel sleeves of $0.07 per thousand tons.
Increasingly, competitive markets are pushing tube makers to reduce costs while improving quality.
The surface and edge condition of incoming coils has a significant impact on processing cost and quality. Scratch-free surfaces are important when processing polished, plated, or painted tube. However, scratches also can lead to weaknesses in the tube wall. This can be important for pressure tubing as well as mechanical tubing. Stresses can concentrate along scratches in mechanical tubing that is bulged or formed. Scratches can also concentrate stress in pressure tubing and create a weakness in the wall. This consideration is more critical for nonferrous materials.
Incoming material with a poor edge condition can lead to increased cost because of additional reprocessing, reduced yield, inspection cost, and the general inconvenience of returning the material and seeking credit for defective material from suppliers.
Producing, rolling, and processing coils influence its surface and edge condition. Surfaces and edges can also be compromised when they are handled during basic processes such as slitting, painting, annealing, and rolling.
Coil handling and protection also influence surface quality. This article examines typical problems in coil handling and how to maintain quality stock on the warehouse and mill floor.
Coil Handling Challenges and Answers
Beginning with the final stage of production, the finished metal surface is vulnerable to damage. Worn bridle, passline, pinch, tension, or other rollers that contact the metal as it is rolled can scratch surfaces. Slippage through or across rollers also contributes to scratching. To prevent slippage, these rollers can be covered with materials that provide traction and are softer than the metal, including rubber, polyurethane, and plastic .
Winding. Another potential source of damage is the expanding mandrel used to hold the coil while it is unwound and rewound during processing. These mandrels open and close when loading and unloading coil. To make this movement possible, the mandrel has segmented leafs that have gaps between them when expanded. The edges of these leafs can mark the inside of the coil.
When the metal is wound, it may bend at the edge to wind in a straight line to the next leaf edge. This is a condition called reel break. These breaks can print through many wraps before they soften enough to stop deforming the metal. In some severe cases, breaks can cause damage extending as much as 1/2 inch into the coil, potentially resulting in the loss of a 1-inch thick portion of metal out of the coil eye.
Excessive mandrel wear causes the leafs to get out of level and exacerbates reel breaks. Rubber or polyurethane sleeved (also call boots) can be used to minimize or eliminate this damage. A mandrel sleeve cushions the edge of the leaf and distributes the bending force over a wider area, helping to eliminate plastic deformation of the metal.
Storage and Transportation
Once the coil is wound, it must be removed from the mandrel, moved to storage, stored, and transported. Large, basic coil producers and processors generally have automated handling systems, coil cars, and conveyors. These units remove the coil from the mandrel and transfer it to a station, where more traditional equipment, such as C-hooks, ram trucks, and coil tongs, are used to move the coil.
Various flat pads or cushions may be attached to the coil contact areas. These are usually made of rubber, polyurethane, plastic, or some other material that is softer than metal.
When the coil is removed from the conveyor, forklift/ram trucks, C-hooks, or tongs are usually used to transport the metal. These devices can damage the coil’s edges. One mishap, such as a bump, can severely damage the entire edge of the coil. The only way to correct this damage is to slit the coil to a narrower width. However, this requires additional processing and wastes material. This waste can be substantial, depending on the amount of trim required to reach the next usable coil width.
The best method of protecting the metal during these operations is to cushion the areas contacting the coil, such as the sides and the back sides of the transport devices.
When coils are stored, stacking is not recommended. However, when space limitations make stacking a must, coils should be stored not more than three high because the weight on the bottom coil can deform it and make it square. This usually renders the deformed coil scrap.
Prepainted, coated, polished, or soft metals may need further protection when stored.
Coils can be stored in pads or racks when floors are wet, dirty, debris-covered, uneven. These devices isolate the coils from the floor and help prevent damage caused by hard set-down or placing coils on debris (which can dent the material).
Cost of Quality
Whenever and wherever coils are handled, damage can occur. Incurring or repairing damage, either at a vendor’s facility or at a tube mill, adds cost and compromises quality.
When reviewing processes or auditing suppliers, tube manufacturers should consider these problems and their simple resolutions. Excess cost anywhere in the supply chain adversely affects everyone’s bottom line.
Al DiZanni is a Field Sales Engineer specializing in steel handling and steel processing from Kastalon, Inc., 4100 W. 124th Place, Alsip, Illinois 60803, phone 708-389-2210, fax 709-389-0432, Website: www.kastalon.com
Kastalon is a manufacturer of polyurethane coil storage, handling, and protection products.
This article originally appeared in an issue of TPJ, a FMA Communications, Inc publication.