Elastic yarn covering machine

The Problem

The OMM-Type yarn covering machine is some 10m long, 2m high and about 1m deep. It covers elastic yarn with fine thread and winds it onto a total of 160 spindles. The spindles are arranged in two rows on either side of the machine. A motor-driven belt that is tensioned by 160 jockeys drives each row. These machines produce daily noise exposures of 100dB and clearly are a major problem.

Elastic yarn covering machine

The Solution

The spindle and jockeys were vibration isolated from the rails using Tico S washers which is a low cost cork based material.
The rails were vibration isolated from the main chassis of the machine again using Tico S.
The spindles were replaced as they wore out with a new spindle type that produced less vibration.
Spring loading the jockeys produced a smoother movement and also reduced vibration.

The Results

The staff noise exposures were reduced by 15dB. A side benefit of the replacement spindles was that they required less maintenance.

The Costs

The total cost at today's rates was circa £10,000 for the full treatment ignoring the cost of replacement spindles, which was an on going maintenance issue.