Mainland Machinery Ltd.

Call Directions Website

Mainland Machinery Ltd. Mainland Machinery offers complete steel fabrication products and services for mining, energy, marine and industrial agriculture industries.

From engineering to manufacturing to installation, we work with world-class engineering firms and corporations in BC and Alberta delivering high-quality products and services, safely and on time. Specialties

Steel fabrication, Field erected tanks, Material handling and storage equipment, Oilfield equipment, Double wall invert tanks, Hydraulic catwalk

Before specifying a screw conveyor retrofit for wet biomass plugging, three things need to be confirmed against the exis...
10/23/2026

Before specifying a screw conveyor retrofit for wet biomass plugging, three things need to be confirmed against the existing installation:​

​1) Trough diameter, gauge, and material (carbon steel vs. 304L/316L stainless), against the target shaftless spiral or flighting size​

2) End-bearing and hanger-bearing spacing, to confirm a shaftless conversion actually simplifies the structure rather than requiring rework​

3) Drive and gear-motor torque rating, because a shaftless spiral’s torque curve differs from a shafted screw’s, and the existing drive may need re-rating even when the casing doesn’t change​

​This is exactly the kind of assessment that belongs in a site visit rather than just a phone quote. ​

After determining that the trough itself is fine, the sizing of the internals against your actual feedstock will determine whether a retrofit performs or just relocates the problem six months out.​

When a screw conveyor keeps failing on wet material, the instinct is to assume the whole system needs to come out, inclu...
10/14/2026

When a screw conveyor keeps failing on wet material, the instinct is to assume the whole system needs to come out, including the trough, casing, drive, and structural supports.​

In practice, the casing and mounting are rarely the problem, but the screw configuration inside it usually is.​

That distinction changes the scope of the project dramatically: a shaft, flighting, or liner retrofit inside an existing trough is typically a matter of days, at a fraction of the capital cost of a full conveyor replacement, as long as the existing trough and structural mounting are still sound.​

Before assuming that a replacement is necessary, it’s worth confirming what’s actually failing. ​

A screw conveyor that plugs once a shift, every shift, is a bigger line item than most plants have on paper.​Industry es...
10/09/2026

A screw conveyor that plugs once a shift, every shift, is a bigger line item than most plants have on paper.​

Industry estimates put unplanned downtime from a single feed-conveyor failure at $10,000–$25,000/hour in lost throughput and idle labor. When it cascades into a boiler or pelletizer running short on feed, plant-wide shutdown costs can climb past $15,000/hour on top of that.​

The number that should worry you more than the dollar figure: operators bypassing the automated feed system to manually clear a jammed conveyor — working near a machine with stored energy and moving parts. That's a safety exposure your team is carrying every time this happens, independent of production cost.​

If manual clearance has become routine on your line, that's usually the point where "we can patch it" stops being the right answer. ​

If your screw conveyor only plugs when the biomass comes in wet, the conveyor probably isn't the problem. ​​A shafted, C...
10/07/2026

If your screw conveyor only plugs when the biomass comes in wet, the conveyor probably isn't the problem. ​

​A shafted, CEMA-type screw moves material around a center shaft, and wet, fibrous feedstock (bark, hog fuel, sawdust, wood chips) doesn’t flow past that shaft the way dry material does. Instead you get wrapping, bridging, and a shrinking usable cross-section, which is exactly what shears pins and trips motor overloads. ​

​It's not a defect. It's a mismatch between a shafted design built for free-flowing material and a feedstock it was never specified to handle. ​

The fix very rarely requires a full system replacement. Read our latest blog article to learn more: “Why Wet Biomass Plugs Screw Conveyors.” ​

We were proud to welcome the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce to our shop as part of the 2026 Manufacturing Industry Tour!...
10/05/2026

We were proud to welcome the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce to our shop as part of the 2026 Manufacturing Industry Tour! It was great to give members of the Fraser Valley business community a behind-the-scenes look at our projects and manufacturing processes.

Thank you to the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce for organizing the tour, and to the City of City of Abbotsford for supporting local manufacturing.

Is "just run it faster" ever the right fix for a plugging feeder? ​Screw speed gets treated like a single dial to turn u...
09/24/2026

Is "just run it faster" ever the right fix for a plugging feeder? ​

Screw speed gets treated like a single dial to turn up when capacity falls short. In practice, speed has to match how the material behaves under load — not just the tonnage target. ​

​What speed mismatch actually does: ​

- run it too slowly under a flooded inlet, and material has more time to consolidate before it clears the casing ​

- run it too fast, and the screw outpaces the material's ability to feed in cleanly ​

- both directions increase slip, aeration loss, and abrasive wear on flights and trough ​

- the correct speed depends on flight geometry, inlet condition, and the specific material — and it can shift if the silo, blend, or throughput target changes after the feeder was originally sized ​

​A feeder that was correctly tuned once isn't guaranteed to stay correctly tuned. ​

​Learn more by reading the latest article on our blog: Why Cement Screw Feeders Plug, and How to Fix the Root Cause. ​​(https://mainlandmachinery.com/cement-screw-feeder-plugging-root-causes/)


Does a plugging feeder need to be replaced — or just corrected? ​The instinct after a bad plugging cycle is often "we ne...
09/23/2026

Does a plugging feeder need to be replaced — or just corrected? ​

The instinct after a bad plugging cycle is often "we need a new unit." In our experience, most repeat failures trace back to one specific, fixable mechanism — not a system that's beyond saving. ​

Before defaulting to replacement, a proper assessment should confirm whether the issue is: ​​

- a correctable moisture, inlet, or discharge condition (retrofit territory) ​

- a mechanical wear issue solvable with flighting, liner, or bearing work (retrofit territory) ​

- an undersized original specification that can't be fixed without a mechanical rebuild (replacement territory) ​

- a silo or hopper flow problem that isn't the feeder's fault at all (upstream fix, not the feeder) ​​

Replacing a feeder that was never the actual problem just moves the plugging cycle to a new piece of equipment. ​

That's the assessment our team runs on-site, every time, before recommending either path. ​

Learn more by reading the latest article on our blog: Why Cement Screw Feeders Plug, and How to Fix the Root Cause. ​(https://mainlandmachinery.com/cement-screw-feeder-plugging-root-causes/)


Why does an aggregate conveyor lose capacity long before it ever fully fails? Sand, gravel, and crushed aggregate wear e...
09/17/2026

Why does an aggregate conveyor lose capacity long before it ever fully fails?

Sand, gravel, and crushed aggregate wear equipment differently than powders — but the underlying mechanism is the same one we see in cement systems: as flighting, liners, and bearings wear, clearance opens up, and material packs into the gap instead of being displaced forward.

What to watch for in high-abrasion aggregate applications:

- inconsistent torque readings before a visible plug ever appears �
- flight-to-trough clearance widening faster than the maintenance schedule accounts for �
- hanger bearing wear adding drag and uneven loading along the shaft �
- a plugging pattern that tracks equipment age rather than weather or feed changes �

Routine clearance and bearing checks catch this before it becomes downtime.

Learn more about diagnosing wear-driven failures on our blog.


Why aren't all screw conveyors built the same way? A general-purpose CEMA-type screw conveyor and an engineered feeder a...
09/16/2026

Why aren't all screw conveyors built the same way?

A general-purpose CEMA-type screw conveyor and an engineered feeder are solving two different problems — and WAM's product range is built around that distinction.

What sets WAM's engineered feeder and conveyor lines apart:

• tubular and U-trough designs purpose-built for flooded, fine-powder inlets — not adapted from conveyor geometry �
• variable-pitch and tapered flighting that increases conveying capacity progressively along the inlet �
• shafted CEMA-type conveyors (6"–24" diameter, carbon or 304L/316L stainless) alongside shaftless spiral conveyors up to 30" for wet or fibrous material �
• live-bin-bottom and multi-screw arrangements for wide hoppers that need uniform discharge �

With the availability of WAM screw conveyors, Mainland Machinery matches the right configuration to the application, not the other way around.

Learn more about our equipment distributorships on our website.


Is your feeder actually a feeder — or a conveyor doing a feeder's job? One of the most common design mistakes we see in ...
09/09/2026

Is your feeder actually a feeder — or a conveyor doing a feeder's job?

One of the most common design mistakes we see in the field: a screw installed beneath a silo is treated like a standard conveyor, when it's actually managing a flooded inlet under constant head load.

Sizing mistakes that show up as chronic plugging:

- inlet opening too large, too short, or mismatched to flight geometry
- no variable-pitch or tapered flighting to progressively increase capacity
- trough diameter or torque rating selected for average conditions, with no margin for real-world variability
- no re-evaluation after a plant changes cement suppliers, blends, or throughput targets

If a feeder plugs under normal operating conditions — not just during upsets — the
issue usually isn't operation. It's specification.

Learn more by reading the latest article on our blog: Why Cement Screw Feeders Plug, and How to Fix the Root Cause. (https://mainlandmachinery.com/cement-screw-feeder-plugging-root-causes/)


Address

2125 Windsor Street
Abbotsford, BC
V2T6L9

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

Telephone

(604) 854-4244

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Mainland Machinery Ltd. posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category