Maintenance suggestions for horizontal tilt bowl mixers

Before performing scheduled or routine maintenance on mixers, always ensure that the proper safety guidelines and procedures are followed. Only qualified personnel should service or operate the mixer. Always follow manufacturers’ guidelines when servicing a mixer. A recommended preventive maintenance schedule can be broken down into three segments: weekly, monthly and semi-annually.

Weekly maintenance checklist
Mixer lubrication system:

It is very important to check that the mixer is lubricated per manufacturer’s instructions. Items that should be checked are:
•  Ensure that proper grease is used.  
• Inspect all grease lines for leaks or breakages.  
•  Ensure that auto-lube reservoirs are at proper levels.   
•  Ensure that all required grease points are lubricated.

Mixer agitator belt drive (optional)
•  Check drive belts for wear.
•  Check drive and agitator pulleys for wear.
•  Check idler pulley for wear.
•  Check drive belt for proper tension.

Bowl tilt system
•  Make sure bowl tilts smoothly.
•  Check bowl limit switches for proper settings.
•  Check hydraulic system for leaks.
•  Inspect tilt cylinders for wear.
•  Inspect tilt cylinder clevis pins for wear.
•  Check filter gauge in hydraulic unit to ensure that the filter is not clogged.
•  Check level of hydraulic oil and ensure that hydraulic oil is clean.
•  Inspect tilt hoses for wear or leaks.

Bowl seals and canopy scrapers
•  Check front and rear bowl seals for cuts.
•  Check canopy scraper for damage.

Mixer agitator chain drive
•  Check chain to ensure proper lubrication.
•  Check chain for wear.
•  Check sprockets for wear.
•  Check chain tension.

Drive motor
•  Check drive motor for vibration.
•  Ensure that drive motor cooling fins are free of any dust, dirt and dough. Dirty cooling fins can insulate the motors and cause them to overheat, which greatly reduces their lifespans.

Gear reducer
•  Check gear reducer for leaks.
•  Ensure that breather on gear reducer is not covered.
•  Listen to reducer for any unusual noises.

Emergency stop button
•  Check emergency stop button by pushing in button while mixer is running.

Pneumatic filter-regulator
•  Check filter regulator for plugged or dirty filters.
•  Drain filter bowls as needed.

Monthly maintenance checklist
Agitator: high-speed arm
•  Retorque all bolts on spider end caps and hub bolts.
•  Check for side-to-side motion using a pry bar. Agitator should not rub the inside of the bowl.
•  Check all agitator beater bar bushings for wear. If more than 1/8-in. play is found in beater bar bushings, they should be replaced.

Agitator: sigma arm.
•  Check for side-to-side motion using a pry bar. Agitator should not rub the inside of the bowl.
•  Check the agitator pins that hold the agitator to the shaft. Ensure that the pins are not broken by looking for high spots where the pins are welded.

Agitator shaft bearing
•  Listen to bearings running under load for any unusual noise or vibration.
•  Check for hotter than normal temperatures of bearing heads, shaft and covers.

Bowl mounting
•  Retorque all bowl mounting bolts.
•  Inspect all seals for wear or damage and replace if necessary.

Canopy
•  Check slide gates/butterfly valves for excessive wear and binding.
•  Check air lines for leaks.
•  Check ingredient doors and switches for proper operation.
•  Check any canopy mounted electrical conduit for damage.

Gear reducer
•  Check oil level and quality. Remove oil level plug and check oil for burned or waxed oil. Flush out and replace if necassary.

Motor coupling
• Visually check rubber element.
•  Check coupling hub set screws to ensure that they are tight.

Refrigeration system
•  Check refrigeration hoses for binding or rubbing.
•  Check for refrigeration leaks.
•  Check pressure relief valve for obstructions.

Semi-annual maintenance checklist
Drive motor
•  Properly lubricate the motor bearings. If you do not know how
     to do this, reference your equipment manual.

Hydraulic tilt system
•  Replace hydraulic fluid and filter.

Gear reducer
 •  Drain oil, flush and refill gearbox to oil level fill plug.

 

 

 Dough temperature: key to quality

Maintaining the proper temperature of breads, rolls, English muffins and frozen dough is imperative to the quality of a final product. The Peerless Group offers a full line of equipment that maintains proper dough temperature and helps bakers achieve quality products.

Mixing
Peerless offers many different refrigeration options based on a baker’s temperature needs. Peerless’ standard offering, as well as most other mixer manufacturers, is bowl jacket cooling, followed by bowl end cooling.

Peerless distinguishes itself with its patented systems: ColdBar® and ColdBarPlus®. The ColdBar® system includes jacket and bowl end cooling, but adds breaker bar cooling. The ColdBarPlus® system includes jacket, bowl end cooling and agitator bar cooling. The ColdBarPlus® system cools dough by as much as 8°F less than standard cooling because dough always is in contact with a refrigerated surface, and there is an increased cooling area.

The investment to include refrigeration options on a mixer ranges from $0 (because refrigerations comes standard on some mixers) to several thousand dollars. However, throughout the life of a mixer, the investment pays for itself many times over when compared to adding ice to dough. One of Peerless’ customers used about 140 lbs. of ice per batch of dough, prior to purchasing the ColdBarPlus® system. In addition, the customer invested in two ice cabinets, which were kept outside of its facility, and an ice machine, which was positioned next to the mixer. The cost for this setup was at least as much as the refrigeration package. Plus, the costs continued to build as long as ice was used.

Adding ice also brings health and safety concerns, including injuries incurred from lifting heavy ice bags/buckets and cutting the ice bag. Increasing condensation around ice machines also raises safety concerns. It also is more time consuming to add ice manually than to use refrigeration during the normal mix cycle. Ice also adversely can affect dough quality and cell structure.

Dough handling systems
Peerless manufactures two dough feeders: the Spiral Flow® and the Rotary Dough Feeder (chunker). Both of these feeders move dough with significantly less horsepower than other similar machines. The Spiral Flow and Rotary Dough Feeder use 1/2 to 3/4 horsepower motors. Dough pumps and other handling machines use anywhere from 10 horsepower to 25 horsepower. The company’s low horsepower unit does not increase the temperature of the dough.

Moulding
Peerless supplies a full line of SuperGrain moulders, including cross grain, straight grain and SuperCurl. The moulders are available with a 3-D sheeting head, which uses six sheeting rollers and degassing rollers to gently and uniformly sheet dough by controlling input energy and yielding an extremely uniform cell structure.

For more information, contact The Peerless Group at 800-999-3327
or go to www.thepeerlessgroup.us