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Sprocket Wear and Chain Run Direction

Introduction

Are your chain conveyor sprockets wearing out quickly?  The chains might be running in the wrong direction and contributing to excessive sprocket tooth wear.

Often, I have come across plants that are experiencing high-wear on their chain conveyor sprocket teeth, where the drive sprockets have become so worn and `hooked’ that they won’t release the chain cleanly.  Following is a description of what is happening.

H-style conveyor chain links have an offset side-bar design with a narrow-end where the barrel attaches to the side-bars, and a wide-end where the side-bars fit outside and are pinned to the narrow-end of the adjacent link.  See the following graphic.

Graphic 1 – H-Style Drag Chain Link

Basic H-style chain can be run either narrow-end forward or wide-end forward, but the direction the chain runs makes a difference where wear occurs.

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