EFM 520 broken auger

 
t185
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Post by t185 » Thu. Mar. 22, 2018 9:43 am

Rob R. wrote:
Thu. Mar. 22, 2018 9:19 am
The auger could have been bent before it was installed.

I agree with the others that it would be a good idea to install a new EFM-sourced shear pin, and make sure that you can easily turn the auger with the hand-crank. If it takes more than a slight effort to turn that hand crank, you have some sort of alignment/setup problem.
When I installed the new auger on Tuesday (10:30 PM Oh Joy...) I was able to easily turn it with my hand from inside my coal bin, no crank needed. I purchased the rebuilt unit from Scrapper five years ago so I'm fairly confident the unit is aligned properly. This spring I plan on a complete tear down on the lower unit hopefully I'll find the problem then.

The shear pin is a from the factory but just to be safe I installed a new one last night.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Keep 'em coming....

 
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Post by Phil May » Thu. Mar. 22, 2018 6:14 pm

That auger was warped or bent at some point. It is now breaking where the steel is fattiged. It will continue to break unless you can stress relieve it. It is not worth wasting time with for what they $ cost.

 
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Post by freetown fred » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 7:19 am

T, check PM's top right corner!

 
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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 8:54 am

freetown fred wrote:
Wed. Mar. 21, 2018 4:49 pm
I also would check on the shear pin quality. P, I've never had an auger re-break after pinning & welding. I'm talkin more heavy duty then movin coal. I repeat--a GOOD machine shop.
Not sure why the repeat on pinning,welding & GOOD machine shop.... the op said the shaft broke 1.5" away from the weld..& that is very evident in the photo too.

Has the pot bushing been checked.... gotta be some reason for that auger flighting to be so worn at the break point.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 9:29 am

Have you talked to Scrapper about this? He has a lot of experience with EFMs and can probably troubleshoot it quicker than those of us in Cyberland.


 
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Post by StokerDon » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 10:08 am

Rob R. wrote:
Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 9:29 am
Have you talked to Scrapper about this? He has a lot of experience with EFMs and can probably troubleshoot it quicker than those of us in Cyberland.
That is the best action to take. If this 520 was actually a full rebuild by Scrapper 5 years ago he will work with you to fix it. It would have had a new auger at that point and a new auger should last a lot more than 5 years.

-Don

 
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Post by Pacowy » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 10:13 am

windyhill4.2 wrote:
Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 8:54 am
gotta be some reason for that auger flighting to be so worn at the break point.
I've seen many augers with flighting worn at the base of the pot. That's where it's pushing the coal into the pile, so you sometimes see more wear there.

Mike

 
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windyhill4.2
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 3:14 pm

Pacowy wrote:
Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 10:13 am
I've seen many augers with flighting worn at the base of the pot. That's where it's pushing the coal into the pile, so you sometimes see more wear there.

Mike
Thanks.
I thought your reason was a possibility... but it looked like the wear was severe in comparison to the rest of the flighting.

 
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Post by Pacowy » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 3:49 pm

Yes it's quite a bit different. Perhaps the flighting material and shaft were fatigued by the same low fire?

Mike

 
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 6:03 pm

Pacowy wrote:
Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 3:49 pm
Yes it's quite a bit different. Perhaps the flighting material and shaft were fatigued by the same low fire?

Mike
Very good point.


 
t185
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Post by t185 » Sat. Mar. 24, 2018 7:09 am

StokerDon wrote:
Fri. Mar. 23, 2018 10:08 am
That is the best action to take. If this 520 was actually a full rebuild by Scrapper 5 years ago he will work with you to fix it. It would have had a new auger at that point and a new auger should last a lot more than 5 years.

-Don
The auger was brand new. I replaced the broken auger with new backup auger that I purchased after the original one snapped two years ago.

So that would be two broken auger in five burning seasons....

 
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Post by ben » Sat. Mar. 24, 2018 7:28 am

I bought a new pot auger two years ago when I was having issues. The cost was almost $300.00.
I have the worn one as a back up.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Mar. 24, 2018 8:05 am

t185 wrote:
Sat. Mar. 24, 2018 7:09 am

So that would be two broken auger in five burning seasons....
Which is unheard of. It sounds like you have checked all the obvious stuff, so I think the next step is to have someone familiar with these units to check it over.

 
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Post by franpipeman » Sat. Mar. 24, 2018 8:13 am

How long does a pot bushing last in efm 520 before replacement is required

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