“Over the years, we have seen that polyurethane sieve cleaners with plastic bristles have replaced the traditionally used rubber balls. However, these polyurethane sieve cleaners have their own set of problems and disadvantages over the rubber ball sieve cleaners and here are some interesting facts why a rubber ball sieve cleaner should be your preferred choice over any other sieve cleaning aid currently available in the market.”

Mr. Daljit Singh Sood Founder & CEO RUBTECH MECH (INDIA) LLP The biggest headache for any miller is identifying and sourcing the best sieve cleaning aids so that he doesn’t have to worry about the efficiency of sieve cleaning in his mill as well as attaining the maximum yield and derive lowest costs.

There are a whole range variety and quality of sieve cleaners available today in the market and it is very difficult to understand and choose the best sieve cleaners given the choice from the most poor quality to some high and quality brands with different claims about their efficiency.

Over the years, we have seen that polyurethane sieve cleaners with plastic bristles have replaced the traditionally used rubber balls and the reason for the same was that good quality of rubber ball sieve cleaners were hard to get as with majority of the manufacturers producing the rubber ball sieve cleaners did not actually deliver the right quality neither did they engineer the product correctly nor were they able to provide EU & US FDA compliant Rubber Cleaners.

However, these polyurethane sieve cleaners have their own set of problems and disadvantages over the rubber ball sieve cleaners and here are some interesting facts why a rubber ball sieve cleaner should be your preferred choice over any other sieve cleaning aid currently available in the market:

Polyurethane sieve cleaners are susceptible to breakage given the high velocity of movement inside the plansifter as well as constant bumping into the frames due to the side to side movement over the sieve which can also lead to damaging of the nylon or wire mesh sieve cloth. Where else in the case of a rubber ball cleaner no such possibility exists given the flexibility and hardness of the rubber as well as the fact that the rubber balls are jumping up and down on the screen itself and not hitting the frame.

Given the round & oval shape of the balls there is no chance of any damage either to the balls or the sieve or the frame. Plansifter manufacturers are currently looking to upgrade the material of the sieve as well as their frames as the polyurethane sieve cleaners are mandating higher strength materials for the sieve and the frame therefore increasing the total cost of ownership where else the more simpler, cost effective and efficient solution is to use good quality rubber ball sieve cleaners.

Fact # 2 Another issue with the polyurethane and plastic sieve cleaner is that it reforms because of temperature and weather changes as polyurethane is not as stable to changes in weather and temperature conditions given the various geographical locations which would lead to ineffective cleaning as the bristles of deformed sieve cleaner will not make proper contact with the sieves and not clean properly. On the other hand, a well-designed rubber ball material will stand a higher band of temperature variation and again its shape & mode of working would not lead to any such deformations, neither would it affect the efficiency in different weather conditions year round.

Fact # 3 The bristles of a polyurethane sieve cleaner are made out of nylon and in some cases also horse hair both of which are not fit for human consumption. Overtime inside the plansifter during the sieve cleaning process the bristles will mix with the flour being sieved where else if you use a rubber ball sieve cleaner which has been made out of food grade material even if it mixes at a slow rate with the flour being sieved it is still safe for human consumption and hence should be the more preferred choice for any miller.

Fact # 4 The plastic bristles of the polyurethane sieve cleaner have the tendency to wear off much faster and do not give a long life as compared to a good quality rubber ball sieve cleaner. Every time the miller needs to replace the cleaners it leads to machine downtime thus affecting productivity and overall equipment effectiveness adding to the milling cost and effecting overall yield. With a good quality rubber ball sieve cleaner one can reduce the downtime substantially for sieve cleaner replacement.

Fact # 5 Even though most of the plastic material and polyurethane material used in the polyurethane cleaners has been certified as safe for use in contact with food it does not mean that the same material if getting mixed with the food is safe enough. Any amount of plastic or polyurethane being transferred into the flour is not good for human consumption where else on the other hand rubber ball sieve cleaner made with natural rubber blended with other new generation food grade elastomers is 100% safe even if it gets consumed in whatever quantity during this wear off process.

The question then is, “Where does one find the right quality rubber ball sieve cleaner?”

Rubtech Mech (RTM) manufactured rubber ball sieve cleaners are the right answer for all your problems of finding a sieve cleaner which is not only safe but also the most efficient sieve cleaner providing the lowest total cost of ownership to the milling industry and maximum cost benefit ratio over time.

This article is written by Daljit Singh who is a veteran in rubber science and process engineering having experience of more than four decades in rubber compound designing and also founder of the Climax group of companies which is into manufacture and export of automotive components being exported to the US and Europe since 1988 and supplying to number of OEMs in that sector.

Owing to his creative instinct, he was fascinated to take on research for food grade rubber compound for sieve cleaners and other FCMs.

After a sustained research for over 2 years the right rubber compound for the sieve cleaning application could come up. A new company in the name of Rubtech Mech (India) LLP was promoted for the manufacture of Rubber Food Contact Materials. The rubber compounding expert, Daljit Singh with an experience of more than four decades in the rubber Industry, the brain behind the RTM Rubber Ball Cleaners not only ensured that each ingredient being used is non-toxic, non-hazardous and safe for human consumption but also designed the compound in such a way that it has the highest resilience so as to have 50% more efficient bouncing characteristics inside the plansifter as well as the optimal mechanical properties to ensure a higher life span so that the miller does not have to change the sieve cleaners frequently.

RTM has sold millions of sieve cleaners in the last few years of its existence and all the customers weather plansifter manufacturers or millers who have used RTM Rubber Ball Sieve Cleaners have become lifetime customers and are enjoying multitude of benefits using our products.

In a research carried out over a period of 24 months with 120 millers over 20 states spread over the length and breadth of the country we found some astonishing improvements that our rubber ball save cleaners brought to the milling Industry. Some of the findings from that research are clarified here under:

• RTM Rubber Ball Sieve Cleaners on average perform 225% better life than our competition. • The flour output per hour increased by over 8% when compared to other sieve cleaners being used. • The overall output per plansifter improved by 17% on an annualised basis given much lesser frequency of breakdown for change of sieve cleaners in the plansifter. • Overall cost for sieve cleaners reduced by 50% year on year basis due to the much higher life of RTM Rubber Ball Sieve Cleaners. • 23% higher life of sieves while using the RTM Rubber Ball Sieve Cleaner instead of the polyurethane sieve cleaners.

The above findings were even better than what results were expected when we conceived, developed and manufactured our rubber ball sieve cleaners and we are proud to make a difference to the entire milling industry and take away at least one big headache of the millers by providing the most efficient sieve cleaning aid to the industry.