One might argue there is nothing terribly exciting about a plain, smooth, cylindrical piece of metal that any shaft fundamentaly is. But most of them are incorporated into crucial systems of equipment of extremely high financial value and crucial significance for the plant functionality.

Taking proactive approach to maintenance of shaft mounted assemblies can help prevent most common failures, allow for recycling of parts to avoid scrap and even restore shafts to as good as new condition.

Corrosion, wear and errosion are the most well known enemies of shafts. Depending on the type and degree of wear, though, you can use one of the following methods:

• Sleeving – to instantly restore worn or damaged shaft
• Bonding – to fill the gap with repair adhesives while maintaining the load bearing capacity
• Rebuilding – for badly worn shafts where metal-filled compounds need to be used

Sleeving presumes the use of a material similar to the one the original shaft is made of. This material can be fixed to the damaged part of the shaft using products like Loctite 603 or 648. Same products, with the addition of Loctite 660, can also be used for bonding or you might need to select a product from the epoxy range, such as Loctite EA 9466, depending on the depth of the wear or damage. For rebuilding of the badly worn shafts, the right choice are definitely the epoxies, such as Loctite EA 3478 which contains metal particles, making it even stronger and more durable.

There are also the usual, typical maintenance products to choose from, like threadlockers, anti-seize products or cleaners. Find out more.