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Traxol EP3: Inspection-Ready SAG/Ball Mill Open Gearing in ~3 Hours per Gear
At a glance
Lubricant buildup on semi-autogenous (SAG) / ball mill open gear was masking tooth condition and threatening to extend a planned shutdown window at a Canadian gold mine. Using Traxol EP3, the team degreased the gear without preheating or hand-wiping delivering an inspection-ready finish in ~3 hours per gear.
Key metrics
INSPECTION READY IN ONLY 3 HOURS PER GEAR
PROTECTED SHUTDOWN SCHEDULE
REDUCED LABOUR AND HANDLING
Why open gear cleaning decides the length of a mill shutdown
A SAG or ball mill runs on a large open girth gear. Over time, spent lubricant and ore fines build up on the teeth. That buildup hides wear, pitting and misalignment, so the gear cannot be inspected properly until it is cleaned.
Cleaning usually happens inside a planned shutdown, and every hour counts. Conventional methods can mean preheating the lubricant, scraping, and hand-wiping each tooth. That adds labour, adds contact time around the gear, and can push the shutdown past its window.
At this Canadian gold mine, the maintenance team needed a clean that reached tooth faces and roots, worked at ambient temperature, and fit the existing schedule. The goal was simple: get the gear inspection-ready without extending the outage.
Challenges
Lubricant buildup and embedded debris can mask gear condition, damage teeth, and lead to costly component repairs or replacement.
Traditional cleaning can be labour-intensive and consume valuable shutdown time. The site needed a fast, repeatable clean that cleared teeth faces and roots without adding preheating, hand-wiping, or extended downtime.
Solutions
The site used a defined shutdown cleaning approach designed to work at ambient temperatures and fit within normal maintenance schedule. A thixotropic degreasing lubricant was applied directly to loaded gear teeth to soften and mobilize spent lubricant and trapped debris while the SAG and ball mill were operational. The procedure cleaned lubricant and removed residues which were collected for disposal without additional hand-wiping steps.
Results
Inspection-ready gear surfaces restored: Open gear teeth faces and roots cleared to bare metal condition to support inspection and adjustment work.
Cleaning completed inside a short maintenance window: Two large ball/SAG mill gears start-to-finish (including staging, degrease, rinse, demobilize) in ~3 hours each.
Manual cleaning reduced: The process avoided preheating and eliminated hand-wiping steps that typically add labour and contact time.
Data
Frequently asked questions
How long did it take to clean each mill gear?
About 3 hours per gear, start to finish. That included staging, degreasing, rinsing and demobilizing, for two large SAG and ball mill gears.
Did the gear need to be preheated or hand-wiped?
No. Traxol EP3 worked at ambient temperature, and the procedure removed the need for hand-wiping.
How was Traxol EP3 applied?
It was applied directly to the loaded gear teeth while the mills were operating. It softened and mobilized spent lubricant and trapped debris, and the residue was collected for disposal.
What condition were the gear teeth left in?
Tooth faces and roots were cleared to bare metal, ready for inspection and adjustment work.