From wheat and barley to various legumes and oats, Australia’s cereals are grown in northern and southern growing regions, diversifying year round to take advantage of the country’s best rainfall patterns.
About 22 million hectares of local cash crops are grown annually, and the country exports 10 to 15 percent of the world’s wheat trade.
Grainline, founded in Wagga Wagga in 1979, is a family business that supplies mobile augers, turnstiles and other grain harvesting equipment for agriculture. Their own production contributes to the continuous improvement of safety features and flexibility, as well as comprehensive quality control.
Grainline’s flagship 15″ hopper auger provides an efficient method of loading grain into bins up to 35m wide with an unloading capacity of 340tph. The hydraulic remote control on the tractor is used to control the wheels and ramps of the hopper, and its design complies with the requirements of the Australian granary.
Russell Randal, National Account Manager for Agriculture at Motion Australia, recently worked with the Grainline team to upgrade the standard bearings on these augers with great success. “Grainline turned to us for a more sustainable solution.
“These parts are in hard-to-reach places, high up and often completely submerged in the grain, so they shouldn’t be lubricated as often.”
“To solve this problem, we recommend replacing NSK Molded-Oil bearings. These are completely sealed and self-lubricating units, so there is no need to manually pump grease into them. Conversely, the seals will not be damaged due to excessive wear of lubricants, complications due to ejection or damage.”
NSK cast oil bearings are equipped with solid lubricating elements made of polyolefin resin.
The slow release of this portion of the bearing oil reduces the need for manual attention, resulting in longer service life and less scheduled maintenance downtime.
According to Bryce Langfield, Purchasing Manager for Grainline, the one-piece die design for NSK products is a necessary upgrade from previous point die applications.
“Grain can be one of the most abrasive materials in agricultural processing, and these machines also have to deal with water intrusion,” he said. “They do a lot of damage to moving parts and wear out faster. Russell tells us how well these bearings are doing in the Queensland sugarcane industry, so we can’t wait to make a change.”
“Another reason we chose molding oil was the safety aspect. We needed to eliminate the need for workers to lift and stand in dangerous positions to lubricate the parts, and to ensure they were properly maintained.”
Grainline is a family business that manufactures mobile augers, turnstiles and other grain harvesting equipment.
The Molded-Oil range is available for spherical roller, deep groove ball and tapered roller bearings. The optimal combination provides high speed and high durability for a wide range of industrial equipment.
“When racing against harvest season, downtime must be avoided at all costs,” Bryce said further. “We have dedicated service teams who travel out to South Australia & up to Queensland to attend to any breakdowns, but we are hoping to significantly decrease these occurrences by opting for higher quality parts.” “We have dedicated service teams who travel out to South Australia & up to Queensland to attend to any breakdowns, but we are hoping to significantly decrease these occurrences by opting for higher quality parts.” “We have dedicated service crews that travel to South Australia and all the way to Queensland to fix any breakdowns, but we hope to significantly reduce these incidents by choosing higher quality parts.” “We have dedicated service teams that go to South Australia and Queensland to fix any breakdowns, but we hope to significantly reduce these breakdowns by choosing higher quality parts.”
Another benefit of these bearings is the reduction of oil leakage and environmental impact. Not only do they require fewer consumables over time, but the seal ensures that high pressure flushing doesn’t flush lubricant into waterways or soil.
In addition, the outer surface treatment ensures smooth rolling of the rolling elements with low torque, while extensive field testing guarantees durability.
“I had the pleasure of visiting the Grainline factory and getting to know the project,” Russell recalls. “We’ve got most of our bearing orders in advance, and the rest are arriving as soon as possible by air. The vehicles are used to transport grain all year round, so they’re already working in the fields without any problems.”
“If NSK bearings perform well during the harvest, they have the potential to become a standard specification for these machines. Every time a manufacturer like Grainline sells equipment, their name appears on the field – we need to make sure we supply the right parts. their reliability standards, and the Molded-Oil solution lives up to that promise,” he concluded.
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