MASSILLON, OH — Screening equipment is a major capital investment across a myriad of industrial processing applications including limestone, aggregates, minerals, coal, slag, sand, gravel and clay, among others.

To maximize sustainable processes and productivity of this equipment, manufacturers must pay particular attention to an often overlooked, ongoing issue to accomplish their screening goals – replacement screen panels. Like tooth brush heads, screen panels wear out and must be replaced at optimal intervals to avoid machine downtime and lost revenues.

Replacement requirements vary based on specific applications and the weight of the material applied to the screen, as well as material compositions that cause excessive blinding or plugging. For example, fine-grain materials like sand require less screen replacement, whereas heavy, abrasive materials may require screen replacements as often as a few times per week.

The fact is most manufacturers do not plan adequately for screen failure back-stock inventory. Therefore, it is imperative to implement a progressive logistical schedule of buying screens based on quick-turnaround shipping, delivery, and most importantly, screen quality based on specific application requirements.

Midwestern Industries Inc., Massillon, Ohio, a leading manufacturing mainstay of innovation for the screening industry since 1953, started weaving screen wire in the early 1970s and continues to offer customers the unique ability to create made-to-order screens for their applications.

Midwestern manufactures its own replacement wire crimping dies in-house – insuring the quality, durability and longevity of its screen panels.

With virtually all screening products in one place, a vast array of custom sizing is available – weaving from small-to-large openings. Customized wire crimping dies are also manufactured on-site (based on need), as Midwestern crimps the wire in-house for each application. Round coil wire is crimped by wheel for every opening, which keeps quality standards high, and test runs are conducted and die adjustments are made to maximize the weave and die – making certain the opening stays true to quality standards of the opening size.

Replacement and particle sizing screens are manufactured to not only fit Midwestern’s equipment but also most of the industry’s other makes and models.

With a focus on slotted screens, Midwestern’s looms weave custom slots, widths and lengths that cater to each unique application – delivering more throughput and a cleaner cut. The openings of square and slotted custom woven screen panels range from .032- to five-inch-square opening.

Three types of wire are available, including stainless steel (304, 316 and 430 magnetic), high carbon, and oil tempered. Midwestern also maintains a large inventory of fine mesh screens available in Market Grade, Mill Grade and Tensile Bolting Cloth at both its Massillon, Ohio, headquarters and Macon, Georgia, facility.

The focus on slotted opening screens provides a maximum open area that tends to prevent blinding or plugging of material, as damp or sticky material does not build up on the longer openings. The smaller dimension controls the sizing of the material. Ultimately, Midwestern’s experience is the determining factor for combining wire diameter, size of opening, and type of slot. The particular application and length of slot may determine the number of shoot wires.

Quality built and engineered at Midwestern’s manufacturing facilities, a large variety of standard and custom woven heavy mesh, fine mesh and cloth edged screens are available including the following.

Slotted Screens: Offer greater throughput by increasing the amount of open area. Available with single shoot or triple shoot construction.

Perforated Plate: Made with an in-house laser bed for custom applications requiring bigger openings like heavy material – it features coarse aggregated upper end 2”-6” openings.

Interkleen^® Screens: Trademarked for special materials, it features an elongated slotted screen with 3-5 shoot wires designed to maximize throughput.

Clear Opening Screens: Manufactured in a wide array of openings and wire diameter combinations.

Midwestern manufactures many screening accessories in-house, designed to help customers get the most out of their specific screening application. These include the following.

Crown Bar Rubber: Necessary in preventing premature screen cloth damage, crown-bar rubber slips over the longitudinal crown bars on the vibrating screen and prevents the screen cloth from wearing against the crown bars. A large number of screen-cloth failures are caused by the absence of crown bar rubber to support the screen. Midwestern crown bar rubber is in stock and ready to ship.

Formed Edges and Hooks: Screening hooks, designed for tensioning, are available for most makes and models. Simply specify the angle and length of hook, plain or reinforced, and give an accurate outside hook dimension.

Side Rail: Side rails go into the hook for tensioning purposes, and Midwestern can manufacture side rails for nearly every make and model of rectangular screeners.

Because each application has its own unique set of parameters, Midwestern services all customers with 100% factory-direct screening sales professionals. These screen-savvy customer service pros can go to each customer location and measure screen panels to maximize specific solutions.

To avoid downtime, Midwestern is focused on quick turnaround to accommodate customers’ screening application needs with quality products and on-time deliveries.

According to Tim Carey, Midwestern’s VP of Business Development, “There are not that many weavers out there today, maybe 10 that actually weave aggregate wire cloth. The fact is, we weave our wire cloth to maximize custom needs, which is rare and provides our customers with unparalleled productivity advantages.”

Considered the premiere text manual of wire cloth, Midwestern offers “The Wire Cloth Book”  that provides a quick guide to everything a customer may need to decide about what screen to use, openings, weaving, slots, hook types, crown bar rubbers, etc. “The Wire Cloth Book” can be downloaded at: https://midwesternind.com/pdf/Wire-Cloth-Book.pdf.