How Avian helped Sawmill Rosbenbaum avert catastrophic damage

Friday, May 9 — Once again, the Avian early-warning system at the Josef Rosenbaum sawmill demonstrated the value of predictive monitoring with thermal intelligence. One of our smart camera systems there is focused on the drive side of the frame saw. Specifically, it monitors the main motor, the countershaft/gear train, the crank mechanism with the pitman arms and their bearings, as well as the hydraulic power unit and the cooling of the guides.

The pitman arms lift and lower the saw frame via the crank pins roughly 300 strokes per minute over a 600 mm (~12 in) stroke. The pitman bearings are subject to very high continuous loads. This inevitably leads to wear and, alongside regular maintenance, requires checking bearing play—and occasionally reworking the bearing seat of the pitman. Under normal circumstances, such repairs can be identified and planned in advance.

Not so when something unforeseen happens despite regular maintenance. Screws on the inner bearing cover had loosened or broken; the bearing came adrift, and the pitman walked outward along the crank pin during cutting, striking a frame component. The resulting significant temperature rise was detected immediately, triggering an alarm at 11:16 a.m. on Friday.

Alarm on unusual temperature increase

The camera registered a temperature of 51.58 °C (127 °F) —unusually high for this area, which normally holds steady between 35 and 45 °C (95 and 115 °F). Over the next few minutes, the temperature climbed further to 56.10 °C (132 °F). The line was shut down immediately.

What could have happened—and what was prevented

Lothar Rosenbaum, Owner and Managing Director of the sawmill, put it succinctly:

"In the worst case, the pitman could have come off, and the saw frame or the machine stand could have cracked—an absolute catastrophe!"

Such damage could have resulted not only in six-figure material costs but also weeks of production downtime. Thanks to the timely alert from the Avian system, the issue was detected at the earliest possible moment—and a far more serious failure was avoided.

Over the weekend, the pitman arms and bearings were replaced as seen in the image below. On Monday morning, finishing and setup adjustments were completed so that production could resume by midday - avoiding a costly shutdown.

Picture 1: Frame saw repair

Conclusion: Early detection of developing faults saves real money

This incident clearly illustrates how important predictive maintenance is in industrial production. Continuous thermal monitoring of mechanical components enables faults to be identified long before a failure occurs.

The frame-saw example at Sawmill Rosenbaum is a textbook case of the concrete benefits of intelligent systems in daily operations: avoid damage, reduce costs, secure production.

Picture 2: Replacement pitman arm with new bearing

Cut unplanned downtime and strengthen predictive maintenance and fire protection across your mill—get in touch to see how we can help.
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Thomas Laengle