LeadEdge Feeder Conversion System

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FRONT WHEEL IMPROVEMENTS

1. Front idler wheels are precision CNC machined from 6061 aluminum.

2. Next they are sent through a Hard Coat process to extend their wear life.

3. They are also Teflon Coated to reduce build up of paper dust.

4. They have two 6202 hex bore ball bearings installed in them instead of a plastic or bronze bushing. This adds longer life for the wheels and keeps wheels aligned with the belts.

5. This improvement allows the use of replacing the original round shaft design with a hex shaft so that when the bronze or plastic bushing in the idler wheel wears, it damages the shaft and allows the wheels to cock sideways on the shaft which makes the feeder belt not track straight.

6. This improvement also allows for the easy removal of the hex shaft from the wheels because the wheel bearings no longer rotate on the shaft, they rotate on the bearing hex adapters which are inexpensive and easily replaceable.

7. To install this system the only modification to the machines is to drill and tap 16 ea of a 5/16” hole in the vacuum table front shaft supports. This locks the hex shaft into position so there is no longer any spinning of the whole front shaft if a bearing or bushing in one of the wheels lockup damaging the vacuum box supports bores as seen sometimes with the original round shaft design.  We supply a drill jig to complete this modification.

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DRIVE PULLEY IMPROVEMENTS

1. Our lightweight belt drive pulleys are precision CNC machined from 6061 aluminum.

2. Next they are sent through a Hard Coat process to extend their wear life.

3. They are also Teflon Coated to reduce build up of paper dust.

4. They are machined with a long hub which accepts a 5/16” keyway 2 ¼” long and utilizes two locking screws to hold them in place.  This eliminates loose fitting gears that result in print register problems. The original design uses plastic keyways with no locking screws which causes loose gears.

5. We replace the belt pulley drive shaft gear with a special modified gear in the feeder gearbox to enable us to install   a shrink disc system that locks the feeder belt pulley drive shaft to the special modified drive gear without the need for keyways.  This eliminates the drive shaft from coming loose inside the drive gear which also affects print register and eliminates the need to replace shaft and gear in the future because of keyway wear. This modification allows for the use of two easily installed belt pulley drive shafts instead of one long shaft that has to be installed all the way through the gear with double keyways which have to be hand fitted between the shaft and gear with nothing locking them in place.

6. The modified gear upgrade comes with all new bearings, locking nuts and locking washers, keyways, set screws, and shafts.

BELT TENSION BRACKET IMPROVEMENTS                        

1.  We replace all 16 of the original tension brackets with newly designed brackets.

2.  The new brackets are laser cut and then heliarc welded in a fixture to insure the layout of all the holes are the same.

3.  They utilize split collars to clamp the idler wheel axles in place to eliminate any looseness that would affect feeder belt tracking or the axle spinning that would cause damage to the bracket itself.

4. The bracket has replaceable bushings which slide on the original shoulder bolts. If the threaded holes for the shoulder bolts are worn or damaged in your machine, we supply a repair kit with a drill and tap fixture for inserting threaded inserts.

5.  The new brackets also utilize a specially machined Linear bearing with O-rings and linear bearing shafting to hold the Idler tension pulley in line.

6. These brackets do not require any modification to your machine.  Simply remove the original tensioning spring and use the supplied flex-hone to deburr the bore.  Then slip this new bearing in and lock in place with a set screw in one of the tapped holes formerly used for the jib plate.

7. We supply new tensioning springs which are inserted inside the linear shafting and with an O-Ring in the Linear bushing the system is sealed and can be permanently lubricated at installation.

8. Tensioning idler wheels are precision CNC machined from 6061 aluminum, Hard Coated and Teflon Coated.

9. They have two each 6202 ball bearings installed in them instead of bushings. This adds longer life keeps wheels aligned.

Are you ready to take your facility to the next level?

Order information

Your complete Conversion Set   includes all of the parts needed to improve the life and reliability of the front wheel section, drive section, and the rear tensioning section. Your conversion set also comes with an installation kit that provides all of the necessary tools to complete your conversion. 

For a 37 1/2” Ward LeadEdge Feeder, ask for QuickFab item            number LEF300.

For a 50” or 66” Ward LeadEdge Feeder, ask for QuickFab item           number LEF100.

QuickFab was created to provide innovative solutions to common problems in the Corrugated Industry. Founder and inventor, Robert Williamson, works daily to improve the industry standard, increase uptime, and maximize productivity. Reducing downtime is the key to any successful business and QuickFab is the one place that can accomplish that for you.