Heavy-duty Granulator Safety

About 65% of accidents at granulators occur because of unsafe systems of work either when gaining access into the cutting chamber or during feeding of material. The remainder is due to safeguards that are inadequate or have fallen into disrepair. Granulator Safety plays an important role in machine operation, besides safety switches.

Plastic Granulator safety

• Make sure all users and maintenance personnel are adequately trained on how to safely use and service each piece of recycling machine.
• Dull knives in a granulator can cause excessive wear and tear on critical components, like inner plate, shaft and rotor, leading to very costly downtime.
• The gap of knives is various for different materials. The bigger gap for rigid plastics and smaller gap for plastic film.
• Dull knives, worn screens or non-optimal knife gaps can lead to excessive vibration and amp draw. This can also reduce the amount of reusable regrind back into the process, ultimately costing the plant money.
• Amp draw can be monitored as an indicator of dulling knives for more predictable maintenance.
• Vibration can be monitored as an indicator of dulling knives or imbalance.
• Excessive powder and louder noise are also a sign of dulling knives.
• An increasing number of jams is a sign of dulling knives.
• If you do not know how to resharpen knives, please contact us.
• Do not resharpen knives beyond their minimum height. Always replace Granulator knives when they reach the minimum height, otherwise knives may lose grip.
• Periodically check the setting of your bed knife shields. Approximately 1/32” of the bed knives should be uncovered by the knife shield for film, and 1/16” for other materials.
• Shredders can be periodically checked for dulling cutters. Most cutters can be rotated for a sharper cutting surface before having to replace. This means most cutters can be used twice.
• Periodically inspect all safety devices for functionality for Granulator Safety.
• With any rotating machinery, it is always a good idea to periodically check for loosened bolts before startup.
• Do not start a granulator with a crushing chamber fully loaded. Always inspect before starting and make sure all materials are processed before shutting down.
• If a jam is encountered, be sure the jam is cleared and the machine is cleaned out before attempting to restart.
• Proper airflow is required to evacuate the regrind. If the material is building up under the screen(s) check the setting of the damper, it may not be sufficiently open.
• Proper drive belt tension is important for many reasons. Check the drive belt tension monthly and adjust according to the instructions in your operator’s manual.
• Follow power lock-out procedures as required.
• Do weekly, monthly and annually check according to the instruction manual.
• When in doubt, call the professionals for help! Granulator Safety Frist.

No one wants incidents to happen, so we have to bear the above rules in mind. After following these procedures, and before gaining access to the cutting chamber, those working on the machine should check by both inspecting and listening that motion has stopped. Wiscon reminds all crusher and granulator users that Granulator Safety is important and one should follow the above procedure in stride.