Quick answer: A six-station line spends 27,000 yuan a year on upkeep, 4.6 yuan across 58,000 cases. With a stopped line costing 2,400 yuan an hour, the checks that matter are belt tension, rail play and air sealing.
Table of contents
- Where the upkeep budget starts
- Shift and weekly checks: eight limits
- Cleaning and greasing by dust load
- Repair or replace
- FAQ
1. Where the upkeep budget starts
Budget for downtime, then spares. A stopped line costs a different order of money from a cylinder swap, yet most plans are built backwards from a parts list.
A six-station line making 58,000 cases a year spends 27,000 yuan: 11,500 on planned labour at 43%, 7,200 on spares at 27%, 8,300 on unplanned stops at 31%. That is 4.6 yuan a case.
| Cost line | Per year | Share | Lever |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planned labour | 11,500 yuan | 43% | Shift faults to day work |
| Spares | 7,200 yuan | 27% | Three sets, 12-month turns |
| Unplanned stops | 8,300 yuan | 31% | Limits before the noise |
A press-fit head that jams halts everything at 40 yuan a minute, while a hand bench puts the money into labour.
Read three months of logs: mechanical parts twice over means a spares-led budget, adjustment twice over a labour-led one.
2. Shift and weekly checks: eight limits
A checklist without limits is decoration: check the belt tells nobody anything, sag under 2 mm starts a conversation.
Each number is the failure point walked back a step: play throws burrs at 0.3 mm, so the limit sits at 0.15 mm; a bearing alarms at 80℃, so the limit sits at 65℃.
| Point | Interval | Limit | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belt tension | Shift | Sag 2 mm max | Tighten |
| Rail play | Weekly | 0.15 mm max | New carriage |
| Air pressure | Shift | 0.55 to 0.65 MPa | Check filter |
| Rod seal | Weekly | No oil film | New seal |
| Bench level | Quarterly | 0.5 mm per m | Reset feet |
| Screw torque | Monthly | 2.5 N·m | Retighten |
| Motor current | Monthly | 3.2 A max | Check drag |
| Bearing heat | Shift | 65℃ max | 15 g grease |
Eight minutes clears the first four at shift start, forty more weekly, and a year totals 62 hours, less than one unplanned stop.
Post the limits on the station board. Operators wait 25 minutes between a noise and a maintenance call, and that wait is where small repairs grow.
3. Cleaning and greasing by dust load
Cleaning belongs on a dust clock, not a calendar: moulding shops hold under 2 mg/m³ and rails survive 40-hour intervals; blasting shops reach 8 mg/m³ and the interval drops to 16 hours.
Wrong interval wastes grease: 250-hour lithium on a dusty line packs grit into the carriage.
Never blow dust off with 0.6 MPa air; it drives abrasive into the rail gap.
Vacuum at -6 kPa, brush, wipe, grease: 15 g per rail, 3 g per hinge pin, since extra grease sets hard. Molybdenum disulphide goes on pins, lithium on carriages, and mixing the two bases bleeds oil. Keep the shop under 65% humidity and bare steel stays clean through the wet season.
4. Repair or replace
Whether a part can still run has a numeric answer: 0.3 mm of play, 4 mm of belt sag, a cylinder creeping at 0.6 MPa.
Price the swap with the stop attached: a cylinder at 180 yuan plus 0.6 hours at 85 yuan is 231 yuan, while failure costs 2,400 yuan an hour.
Life comes from guarding, not material: bellows take a carriage from 24 to 34 months, and a bronze bush moves wear onto a 40 yuan part instead of a 260 yuan shaft.
Three spares cover 70% of stops on under 3,000 yuan of stock: cylinder, carriage, seal strip; the rest arrives in 48 hours.
Stock expires: a seal left 24 months hardens by 8 points and fits worse than the old one, so log the receipt date.
Conclusion
Upkeep is less about diligence than limits: act at 0.15 mm of play, because 0.3 mm is late, and grease at 65℃, because 80℃ leaves replacement. Fold downtime into the budget and 4.6 yuan a case looks cheap; treat it as pure expense and the checklist becomes a signature sheet. Dust-clock cleaning, swaps priced against stopped hours and three spares turn breakdowns into scheduled work at a Case Assembly Workstation.
This article discusses only the container (case body) side of specifications and design intent, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.
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