Kalamazoo, Michigan — When a manufacturer’s product mix changed, the dramatically different chip configuration of cast iron rings impeded coolant flow at the central coolant filter. The manufacturer turned to Inter-Source to solve the dilemma.

“We thrive on this type of engineering challenge,” noted William Nemedi, President of Inter-Source. “There were various ways to address the problem, but only one true solution.”

That solution—the rotary ring shredder—is an industry first. The shaftless shredder consists of a horizontal cylinder, open at both ends. A stationary bank of cutting teeth is installed inside the cylinder. Cutter rings, separated by the teeth, rotate within.

As the scrap-laden coolant stream enters the cylinder, sheared metal and coolant immediately drop through the gaps into the filter. Large solids are grasped by the rotating cutter rings, and pulled into the shearing surfaces. After appropriate sizing, they too drop into the filter.

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Like other Inter-Source shredders, the rotary ring shredder has automatic reversing for solids ejection, and is built to solve problems. The open-ended shredding chamber ensures flow to the central coolant filter for the unlikely possibilities of extreme volume fluctuations or scrap anomalies.

The rotary ring shredder is part of a comprehensive chip management system that daily moves 40,000 pounds of saturated chips, via a half-mile network of in-floor push bar conveyors and a coolant stream of 7,000 gpm, to a central coolant filter. Capacity constraints and space limitations demanded innovative engineering to solve the problem.

Inter-Source principals hold nearly two dozen patents in multiple countries, representing the industry's most important advancements. The rotary ring shredder went from concept to installation in about three months.