Love Your Baler – Daily Maintenance Tips

Balers are made up of electrical, hydraulic and mechanical parts. They undergo very high temperatures and pressure, and therefore require frequent monitoring and maintenance. What’s your role in taking care of your vertical baler? There’s several things you should do to keep your equipment operating optimally and help increase its longevity. Here’s some basic, but important ways to show your baler some love!

Clean & Monitor

Dust and debris in the baler can be hugely detrimental to its performance. Ideally, motors and coolers should be cleaned every day. Check in on the bale chamber- is there any recycling material wrapped inside the belt rollers? You’ll also want to regularly monitor and analyze the hydraulic system’s fluid.

Order Parts from parts.ptrco.com

Prevent unnecessary downtime by keeping spare critical parts in inventory. Our parts website has OEM certified replacement parts including top quality brands like Square D, Cutler Hammer, Baldor and Idec. All baler and compactor parts are backed by our one year replacement warranty.

Operator Training

The only employees who should be operating the baler are those who have been trained on safe, proper usage. It’s also a good idea to have your baler operators be the party responsible for keeping track of when maintenance is needed and ensure it gets done.

PTR offers Technical Service Training. Your service personnel will receive hands on training and in-depth knowledge of troubleshooting, schematic reading, hydraulics, electrical theory and installation. Learn more about what the course entails and how to register here.

PTR Preventative Maintenance

Preventative Maintenance is key to keeping your baler running smoothly. Technicians will address critical systems and structures. This includes evaluating the overall condition of the unit, performing a structural inspection, setting all pressures, inspecting all control box switches and verifying that the area around the baler is safe and sufficient. Many more objectives are involved in a routine inspection- see the full list here. Another helpful tip: consider what your slower production times are, and schedule these maintenance appointments during that time.

It’s critical to properly maintain your waste & recycling equipment. It can make all the difference in your baler’s performance and thereby, your company’s daily operations and employee productivity. For more information or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Baler Safety & the PLC Control Panel

PTR is built on a tradition of quality, safety and innovation. Improving the safety of your backroom operations is a key part of our company’s mission. PTR Vertical Balers are equipped with many safety features that make them a cut above the rest industry.

PTR Balers feature the following mechanisms for added safety benefits:

• Passive Error and Safety Bypass Monitoring

• PLC Actively Monitors for Safety Switch Failure or Bypass

• Automatic shutdown and an error message will appear on screen until safety concern is corrected.

• The Triple Switch Safety System, which includes:

Foot Pedal Switch

Concealed Proximity Switch

Door Switch

All three of these functions work together to ensure every action with the baler is intentional and within its proper use.

PLC Controls with Indicator Lights

PTR vertical balers have transitioned from the relay based control panel to a PLC based control panel. Our ‘Programmable Logic Controller’ is a newly engineered, revolutionary baler feature. It’s now standard on all PTR equipment. It’s much like what has been successfully used on PTR’s Compactors for the greater part of the last 10 years. The change is part of an ongoing effort to provide the industry’s most dependable, trusted recycling baler through continuous improvement and innovation. The PLC panel features:

• Illuminated E-Stop

• Power On

• Overload Tripped

• Door Closed

• Gate Closed

• Ram Up

• Prox Switch Failure

• Full Bale

• PM Inspection Required

The indicator light system prevents nuisance down time due to operator error. The bale size is adjustable, and the ‘full bale light’ comes as a standard feature. The bale counter feature allows you to see the quantity of full bales produced. This feature can be set as resettable or non resettable.

You’ll experience reduced down time due to error reporting that reduces time associated with troubleshooting. The PLC allows the flexibility of changed functionality or added features. Reliability is improved with PLC control panel, that are rated to cycle millions of times. This cycle counting feature allows you to measure productivity. The PM Indicator lets you know it’s time for Preventative Maintenance, at 60,000 cycles. This allows you to more effectively plan maintenance on the baler, prevent unnecessary downtime and productivity loss.

Should a safety device be bypassed or fail to function, there is the bypass detection feature on the gate proximity switch. The unit will be rendered inoperable until the condition is corrected.

We will continue to make improvements and add supplementary features, including more advanced error checking and a separation of the PM, Full Bale and Prox. Bypass light into 3 different indictors.

A ‘Smart’ or expanded memory version of the PLC will be available soon, so stay tuned for more information. Be sure to sign up for our ‘Monthly News Dispatch’ e-newsletter to ensure you receive the latest product launches and most up to date PTR news available

Product Spotlight: 3400HD Vertical Downstroke Baler

As of 2017, PTR has been making vertical balers for 50 years. In many cases, that’s decades over the competition. PTR’s Flagship signature series Vertical Downstroke Baler, the 3400HD, was the first High Density baler to hit the market place. Currently, well over 10,000 units have been manufactured.

PTR’s 3400HD Vertical Downstroke Baler is our most popular high density baler for a variety of reasons. It’s an ideal size and design for markets including retail chain stores, drug stores, department stores supermarkets, hospitals, hotels, malls and more. With this model, you’ll produce and ideal 1,000 to 1,300 lb. bale of corrugated material, reducing the cost of storage space, handling, and transportation.

Safely and quickly recycle materials such as:

Cardboard waste, cardboard boxes, packaging, displays

Aluminum siding

Plastic P.E.T. Bottles

Aluminum cans

Dry commercial, industrial and retail waste

3400HD bale specs below:

Industries like the aforementioned know how critical it is to keep floorspace clear of discarded materials, in order to get maximum use of their space. It’s also a key factor in helping your organization implement sustainability policies and reach it’s sustainability goals. Your company will reduce it’s overall waste and decrease it’s carbon footprint, having a hugely positive impact on your immediate environment, your employee’s well being, and the planet. To learn more about about the environmental effects, click here.

With the 3400HD and many other PTR Baler units, you’ll have the option to add on features like the following and more.

Biometric Locking Device BIOLOC 3000

Quiet Pump Power Unit

Automatic Bale Sizer with Full Bale Light

Outdoor Controls

Automatic Ejection System

Wire Tie Guides

Color Options

Plus, you’ll receive 24/7 Emergency Service and our best-in-class PTR warranty. Our technicians are electrical, mechanical and hydraulic experts, so your equipment will always be in the great hands. You’ll also have access to our extensive parts inventory. Check out our separate parts site here.

PTR Baler & Compactor is proud to offer products manufactured in the U.S.A. and fully U.L. approved. Contact us to learn more about the 3400HD baler or one of our many other models today.