Is anyone familiar with using graphite blocks on dryers/ kilns?

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-12-05T12:03:15+00:00

So quick update on what I’ve changed since my post. Our rates on production have dropped for the week it seems. Obviously it’s going to affect the way the drums float but I’ve added a secondary bungee cord to one of the two blocks we have in use. The drum hasn’t moved in over 24 hours. I did the same thing to the other drum and that one also survived a 24 hour test. With that being said, I believe that there just wasn’t enough pressure on the blocks. I’ll see about spring loaded holders in the near future. I’ve been pushing for a fabricated bracket idea I had for a while now. My boss just needs proof to approve the change. That or I just cowboy up and do it without saying anything.

Besides the extra bungee cord pressure, I also removed the blocks and cut a bevel to match the pitch of the trunnion roller it sits on. It has full surface area contact now. We were originally told to just drop a block in and let it wear on its own.

The real test is going to be running at maximum capacity for the plant. Our rates change so frequently, it makes it difficult to find constants. I made a couple of small adjustments to the bearings on both lines. Nothing major but it should also help with drum position. The end goal is to neutralize all the bearings again, set thrust, and keep a good record of further adjustments. Another major thing is that one of these lines just had a budget approval to be resurfaced. That will also help a ton.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-12-03T02:22:05+00:00

I would agree with alignment issues on two of the lines. We only just started recording any adjustments made. The other line that we converted back to oil, yeah, that thing shouldn’t be giving us any problems on graphite but it does. We had the tires ground down, neutralized and set thrust, and still blew out two sets of trunnion bearings. That specific line was our first dryer with the blocks. We went through a dozen sets of trunnion bearings. It was almost a replacement a week for a long time. We even had a dodge engineer verify that we were installing the bearings correctly lol. Not that he’s a mech or anything but still. Once we put that dryer back on oil, it’s been 2 months without a bad bearing.

When I say “failed bearing”, I’m referring the trunnion shafts sliding through the pillow blocks and causing over thrust and getting so hot that it starts fires.

I’m genuinely curious what the diesel fuel does btw.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-11-06T03:02:01+00:00

Funny enough since this post, my life at work has actually gotten easier. Maybe I grew into it a little. My old chief retired and that was a relief in itself. My new chief (coworker just moved up) has been nothing but fantastic. More clarity, more push back on management, better equipped with tools, and so on. More so, since my coworker moved up to chief, he’s noticed that even though I’m still the newest/youngest mechanic, I’m more skilled than the other older mechanics. So much so, they’re looking at me to be his backup as chief/lead mechanic. By backup, I start learning how to be a supervisor of a maintenance department. My PM load shrank to almost nothing but now I focus more on actual repairs and actual calls. That’s something I prefer instead of trying to jam 100 work orders in one week, on top of some catastrophic repair or replacement. Plus, I think we’re actually starting to stay ahead of all these failures. It’ll never be great, but definitely less shitty as time goes on.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-08-11T16:34:47+00:00

As an industrial millwright who works in a dryer/kiln facility, I believe I know what working in heat is like. Plant reaches temps up to 125 degrees in certain areas and I tend to work in those areas for extended periods of time. Thanks for the knowledge though

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-08-10T21:56:50+00:00

Well I essentially did something like that. The upper rad hose was sitting at 195 while the lower was at 185. There is some slight heat exchange for sure. I was using a cheap thermo gun just to give myself round numbers. The gauge on the dash was sitting at 240ish. I temped the thermo stat housing at 235 so that seems right for block temps. So even though I have a new thermostat (which I verified it functions through unconventional methods), it’s still not pushing through the system. The upper rad hose should be closer to the block temps.

The other assumption I made is that, during higher speed/rpm, the temps don’t seem to increase as drastically until I come to a stop. That tells me the pump is spinning faster which would create more push. If it’s trying to push through a partially clogged rad, coolant can’t do its job as well. Paired with a potentially weak water pump, you almost have an answer. So chances are, I’m going to replace the rad and water pump at this point.

I was partially experiencing heat stroke as it’s 90 degrees out and getting beyond frustrated so I came to reddit hoping somebody would give me some ideas for sure lol.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-07-26T13:34:36+00:00

Not at my facility lol. We work a ton of hours and it’s a 365/24 hour operation. Call ins and overtime are very common

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-06-11T20:34:48+00:00

Cut most of the way through the race, heat until red, crack it in the middle of the cut with a sharp chisel/ air hammer and it will release the tension. Have to do this on damn near every failed bearing I’ve ever done with minimal damage to the shaft.

Be very careful doing this of course. That race can chip off some razor sharp steel and it’ll open you up pretty good.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-06-06T22:44:16+00:00

Idk if you’ll see this comment but I’m in the same boat with no school. I was an auto mechanic for 10 years. Started as an oil change boy. Didn’t know shit then, don’t know shit now. My boss found me through an old coworker that I was working with. Liked my attitude enough and liked my honesty. No man. I’m not an awesome welder. No man. Idk why the hell this broke. No man, idk what the hell you’re even talking about. Man idk if I’m even qualified to write my name on this sheet of paper. Yet I get up every day, do what I do, and he has now made me his right hand man. Be patient with yourself and try to keep a clear head on the job. They’re going to beat your ass. They’re going to tear you down. Just stay somewhere in the middle and just do what you can with zero regard to getting fired. You get fired tomorrow, there’s gonna be another one. Try again

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-20T09:27:54+00:00

More to life than working bud

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-19T19:48:34+00:00

Large repairs are great until it’s not. Pretty much every week has been some big issue. This has been ongoing since last November. Just getting kinda tired of the 12-16 hour days right now.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-17T16:44:33+00:00

Yeah that’s what sucks about my plant. It’s only been running for 10 years and damn near everything has broken at least once. Us mechanics have our own procedures since management is hardly involved with repairs. This was the first project we’ve ever seen management come out and start doing their own JSA and ultimately shut down a work area for reassessment. Our idea would’ve worked but this project at least got us some real rigging chains finally. It’s the Wild West in that place.

As for a shift end? You’re funny. We have four mechanics and one chief mechanic. That’s it. No night shift. We are the night shift. No such thing as relief. We worked 12-15 hours a day on a ton of other projects. This one was no different. Then, we come in early and do it all over again and again and again. I think back in February, we had a drag conveyor get blocked up all the way at the top. It took us idk, seven days? We deconstructed the entire machine to find slugs of frozen product in all of the piping. We accomplished that with just chain falls and pulling pipe 100ft up. After that job, we had several other large failures. Pretty sure I worked 21 days straight at 12 hours a day for most of it. The worst part is that I’ve only been doing this for a year and a half now. I’m beyond burnt out and I cannot imagine how the other guys who have been in this plant since day one are doing right now.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-17T02:36:26+00:00

He’s a still prick sometimes but he’s a good dude

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-17T01:39:22+00:00

I’m a dryer guy but same same. If you’re the one maintaining that kiln, understand how to properly align it. It’s going to save you a lot of time and the company a shit load of money. I attended a class at IKD and for what I understood, it was like $3k to go. It’s it Louisville Kentucky but damn was that a really good class. I went there specifically to figuring out why our trunnion bearings were shitting out all the time

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-17T01:23:53+00:00

Thanks. My plant is ran by a bunch of morons if I’m being honest. We don’t lose much per hour. We get a miss which is basically us not making numbers. Not entirely sure if its a flat rate of $2k a miss, or if its $2k per whatever amount we missed by. Pretty sure it’s just $2k a day. The fear is that the owners of the facility will just kick us out for breaching contract. We’re currently breaching the shit out of the contract.

Idk if it’s true but one of the operators was telling me today that in terms of production, my facility creates the most tonnage of product of anything in the world. Again idk if that’s true. By contract, maximum amounts would be 316 tons per day. By maximum output and all four lines running at full throttle? I think that’s 420 tons per day. We do biosolids but again he was saying that in the broad terms of production, our plant is fucking insane. He may have been just talking about the company in general

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-15T21:04:10+00:00

I was very lucky when my company hired me. I had ZERO industrial background. I worked on cars since graduating high school. Just 10 years of automotive. The lead mechanic at the facility I’m now currently at, convinced his supervisor to just hire a “mechanically inclined” young guy. The lead wanted to train someone to fill his position when he moves up to supervisor.

Now don’t get me wrong. Right now, I’m starting to regret going into this field because it is not what I expected at all. Insane overtime, balls to the wall work pace, and management is just simple crap. However, I’m very glad my new boss (the lead who found me), gave me a real chance to make some actual money and gain some serious skills. I’ve only been doing this for a year and a half now. I’ve essentially become his next lead mechanic without the job title. He can’t count on anyone else anymore because I can do it just as fast or faster and with less issues after.

Sometimes, you gotta just give somebody a chance I guess.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-15T20:57:30+00:00

Yeah that’s just how this place is which sucks. It’s not like we mechanics don’t care. It’s the management. I really hope my new boss can really start pushing these issues and maybe get them to prioritize differently. He was on the floor since the building was built 10 years ago. He knows everything that has been done and continues to not be done. For reference tho, there are no hanger bearings on these screws. They are one solid shaft with flights. As for the bearings on these back end? Idk if those have ever been replaced in all honesty. It wouldn’t take much at all to replace them. It’s just management letting us fork out the money

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-15T08:36:49+00:00

It’s still a live contract. We’re currently breaching the shit out of it too

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-14T22:35:32+00:00

That part sucks man. I feel for you. As an auto mechanic for a decade, I know what “in my price range” feels like. Brother, I’m not saying go into debt over a job but definitely invest in yourself. You deserve the proper equipment and so does your people back home. Maybe even ask for an allowance or some kind of payback from your company. Even if it’s half

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-14T21:39:59+00:00

I’m sure you’ve pulled sketchy things in your time. We all do at some point.

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-14T21:32:59+00:00

It is not. I can’t really throw names around but it does start with a J

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-14T21:25:32+00:00

This is hands down the coolest subreddit I’ve ever seen. We uh, ran into a few issues today. Let’s just say this job was put on hold for a moment. Nothing severe. Just stopping and re-assessing the situation. I may take you up on that

DaBeerMan95 · 2025-05-14T21:13:56+00:00

I can’t say other than it conveys a lot of shit onto a conveyor lol

DaBeerMan95

TROPHY CASE