Ameridrives Custom Amerigear Couplings for Printing Press

A leading global commercial printing equipment manufacturer needed a replacement coupling solution for a line of its printing presses. The original disc type couplings, installed on the web press drive cylinders, lacked the required torsional stiffness, causing the rollers to slip, which led to increased amounts of defective printed materials (spoilage). The application had additional challenges, including extremely tight space limitations and very small (38 mm) cylinder shafts. The goal was to obtain a coupling with significantly higher torsional stiffness (10 to 15x) in a similar-sized package utilizing shrink disc connections.

Ameridrives engineers developed a custom modified Amerigear flexible coupling that accommodated the customer required stiffness, incorporated a shrink disc for quick assembly/disassembly, fit in limited available space, and allowed for .30" of axial travel. The unique coupling also incorporated pneumatic air flow holes proprietary to the customer’s design. The air passages are used to cool the paper roll while the press is static.

The supplied Amerigear continuous sleeve flexible gear couplings have a load capacity of 53,600 in.lbs and a max. speed rating of 868 RPM. The compact 10.4 in. long couplings feature synthetic rubber positive-type O-ring seals to keep lubricant in and contaminants out. Fully crowned gear teeth provide operational benefits, including maximum load-carrying capacity with minimum size, maximum reliability and long life.