High-Traction Pulley Coating Never Wears Out

2017 - Volume #BFS, Issue #17, Page #73

[ Sample Stories From This Issue | List of All Stories In This Issue | Print this story ]

“Our Vulcan Grip surface treatment for pulleys had a bigger impact on reducing maintenance costs in the agricultural world than we anticipated,” says Jon Osborne, president of Extreme Industrial Coatings in Airway Heights, Wash. Vulcan Grip is advertised as a factory-applied treatment for pulleys that increases belt-drive performance and eliminates pulley wear.
Jon elaborates: “We originally viewed Vulcan Grip as a friction-enhancing treatment that not only increases traction to V-belts, but also makes belts last longer. No one had previously pulled that off before we developed and patented Vulcan Grip – and that’s not for a lack of trying over the hundred years since V-belts were introduced.”
But Jon says his view has changed as Vulcan Grip-coated pulleys have penetrated into the agricultural world. He states, “What operators are seeing is their machines’ performance not only goes to factory-new levels – or better – but it stays that way season after season. Why? Because the nano-ceramic metal composite is so hard, it doesn’t wear, even in ultra-dusty conditions. Maintenance hassles due to pulley wear are eliminated. Less maintenance is proving to be as impactful on operations as is improved machine performance.”
Jon adds, “To drive home the message to operators that they don’t have to live with this cycle of wearing pulleys, decreasing performance, fragging belts, and pulley replacement, we’re now offering a lifetime warranty on our treatment.” He rhetorically asks, “Who else in ag does that?”
When asked how certain he is their lifetime warranty won’t result in taking a hit with warranty replacements, he responded, “We’ve taken treated pulleys that spent a lot of time in extremely abrasive environments and examined them under a scanning electron microscope; we’re confident we know what we’re doing with this move.”
Asked for examples of how maintenance headaches are eliminated with Vulcan Grip, Jon responds, “We have a customer in Nebraska who equipped his Claas 930 with Vulcan Grip to harvest 1,000 acres of corn. He was immediately able to increase his ground speed by ten percent, which obviously makes a huge difference in the bottom line. His neighbor, who was running the same type of machine, had gone through five main-drive belts after just 900 acres. After our customer had finished his fields – all on the same belt – he removed his Vulcan Grip-coated pulleys and loaned them to his neighbor, who then finished his season on the loaners.”
Jon also explains that V-belt drive systems are found everywhere in agriculture (choppers, combines, spud diggers, planters, and seeders, to name a few) and if a single belt is slipping, the impact on overall operations can be significant.
Jon tells of another case history: “We have another customer, Jim Nollmeyer here in Washington, who grows wheat, canola, sunflower, barley, mustard, and flax. He seeds all his crops with a Case-IH Concord 2400 commodity cart. The cart has a belt-driven paddle fan that was smoking belts and collapsing drive train mounts. He used to have to re-tension the paddle-fan’s banded belt every three to four days and replaced the belt every season. Now he has three seasons—some 15,000 acres—on the same belt and he bothers to tension only once a year in the off-season.”
Jon says, “The important takeaway is that Jim is using that one machine for all six of his crops. This key piece of equipment used to require constant maintenance to keep operations going. Jim thinks Vulcan Grip is fantastic.”
When asked how, specifically, Vulcan Grip improves productivity, Jon responds, “It depends on the type of crop and machine. In all cases, pulleys no longer wear and belts last longer. Productivity increases of ten percent are common in harvesters. In potato harvesting, where fans must blow off sometimes tough-to-clean spuds before sending them to the truck, Vulcan Grip can be a game changer. A potato farm manager running Vulcan Grip-equipped potato harvesters recently told me, ‘Jon, Vulcan Grip saved my bacon!’”
EIC has a video on Vulcan Grip at www.vulcan-grip.com.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Jon Osborne, 11319 Willow Avenue W, Airway Heights, Wash. 99001 (509-991-1773; jon.osborne@vulcan-grip.com; www.vulcan-grip.com).

Click here to download page story appeared in.

High-Traction Pulley Coating Never Wears Out COMBINES Accessories “Our Vulcan Grip surface treatment for pulleys had a bigger impact on reducing maintenance costs in the agricultural world than we anticipated ” says Jon Osborne president of Extreme Industrial Coatings in Airway Heights Wash Vulcan Grip is advertised as a factory-applied treatment for pulleys that increases belt-drive performance and eliminates pulley wear Jon elaborates: “We originally viewed Vulcan Grip as a friction-enhancing treatment that not only increases traction to V-belts but also makes belts last longer No one had previously pulled that off before we developed and patented Vulcan Grip – and that’s not for a lack of trying over the hundred years since V-belts were introduced ” But Jon says his view has changed as Vulcan Grip-coated pulleys have penetrated into the agricultural world He states “What operators are seeing is their machines’ performance not only goes to factory-new levels – or better – but it stays that way season after season Why? Because the nano-ceramic metal composite is so hard it doesn’t wear even in ultra-dusty conditions Maintenance hassles due to pulley wear are eliminated Less maintenance is proving to be as impactful on operations as is improved machine performance ” Jon adds “To drive home the message to operators that they don’t have to live with this cycle of wearing pulleys decreasing performance fragging belts and pulley replacement we’re now offering a lifetime warranty on our treatment ” He rhetorically asks “Who else in ag does that?” When asked how certain he is their lifetime warranty won’t result in taking a hit with warranty replacements he responded “We’ve taken treated pulleys that spent a lot of time in extremely abrasive environments and examined them under a scanning electron microscope; we’re confident we know what we’re doing with this move ” Asked for examples of how maintenance headaches are eliminated with Vulcan Grip Jon responds “We have a customer in Nebraska who equipped his Claas 930 with Vulcan Grip to harvest 1 000 acres of corn He was immediately able to increase his ground speed by ten percent which obviously makes a huge difference in the bottom line His neighbor who was running the same type of machine had gone through five main-drive belts after just 900 acres After our customer had finished his fields – all on the same belt – he removed his Vulcan Grip-coated pulleys and loaned them to his neighbor who then finished his season on the loaners ” Jon also explains that V-belt drive systems are found everywhere in agriculture choppers combines spud diggers planters and seeders to name a few and if a single belt is slipping the impact on overall operations can be significant Jon tells of another case history: “We have another customer Jim Nollmeyer here in Washington who grows wheat canola sunflower barley mustard and flax He seeds all his crops with a Case-IH Concord 2400 commodity cart The cart has a belt-driven paddle fan that was smoking belts and collapsing drive train mounts He used to have to re-tension the paddle-fan’s banded belt every three to four days and replaced the belt every season Now he has three seasons—some 15 000 acres—on the same belt and he bothers to tension only once a year in the off-season ” Jon says “The important takeaway is that Jim is using that one machine for all six of his crops This key piece of equipment used to require constant maintenance to keep operations going Jim thinks Vulcan Grip is fantastic ” When asked how specifically Vulcan Grip improves productivity Jon responds “It depends on the type of crop and machine In all cases pulleys no longer wear and belts last longer Productivity increases of ten percent are common in harvesters In potato harvesting where fans must blow off sometimes tough-to-clean spuds before sending them to the truck Vulcan Grip can be a game changer A potato farm manager running Vulcan Grip-equipped potato harvesters recently told me ‘Jon Vulcan Grip saved my bacon!’” EIC has a video on Vulcan Grip at www vulcan-grip com Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jon Osborne 11319 Willow Avenue W Airway Heights Wash 99001 509-991-1773; jon osborne@vulcan-grip com; www vulcan-grip com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.

SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW NOW