How to Reduce Wear and Maintenance Costs of Oil Press Machines?

In many edible oil plants, wear of oil press machines is often considered inevitable.Replacing screw shafts and press rings on a regular basis, occasional unplanned shutdowns, and rising maintenance expenses have become almost “normal” in daily operations. But an important question is rarely asked:

Are high wear rates and increasing maintenance costs of oil press machines truly unavoidable?

Based on extensive engineering experience, the answer is no. Abnormal wear in oil press machines is rarely caused by equipment quality alone. In most cases, it is the result of system-level mismatches involving raw materials, pretreatment processes, operating conditions, and equipment design.  👉(What Factors Affect the Service Life and Stability of an Oil Press Machine?)

1. The Hidden Cost Trap: Why Oil Press Machines Become More Expensive Over Time

During on-site audits, plant owners and technical managers often report similar issues:

• Screw shafts and press rings need replacement every 3–6 months, with spare parts costs increasing year by year

• Unplanned downtime interrupts production schedules and reduces capacity utilization

• Despite continuous maintenance, minor failures keep recurring

At first glance, these problems seem to indicate poor equipment durability. However, deeper analysis shows that wear is a symptom, not the root cause.

💡 Key insight: an oil press machine is highly sensitive to operating conditions.When raw materials, pretreatment parameters, operating loads, and machine design are not properly matched, even high-quality equipment will wear rapidly.

2. Main Causes of Abnormal Wear in Oil Press Machines

2.1 Raw Material Factors: The Most Overlooked Source of Wear

Different oilseeds impose very different mechanical loads on the pressing chamber:

• Peanuts and sesame seeds: hard kernels and high oil content cause intense friction under high pressure, accelerating screw surface wear

• Cottonseed and tea seed: high fiber content tends to wrap around the screw, creating localized stress concentration

• Improper moisture content:

  • Moisture >12% → sticky meal, easy clogging

  • Moisture <6% → brittle material, unstable pressure transmission and slip

The most destructive factor is often unremoved impurities. Sand, stones, or metal fragments entering the pressing chamber act as abrasive media between the screw and press rings, causing irreversible surface damage.

💡 In simple terms: poor raw material preparation forces the oil press machine to operate under constant mechanical stress.

2.2 Inadequate Pretreatment: Wear Starts Before Pressing

In some plants, pretreatment sections are simplified to reduce initial investment, but this often leads to higher long-term costs:

• Uneven roasting temperature
  → poor plasticity of material
  → unstable oil discharge
  → pressure fluctuation inside the press
  → uneven load on the screw shaft and accelerated fatigue

• Improper crushing size

  • Too fine: clogging

  • Too coarse: insufficient pressing
    → increased pressing resistance and bearing temperature

Although these problems occur upstream, they eventually manifest as mechanical wear in the oil press.

2.3 Typical Wear Mechanisms of Key Components

When the clearance between the screw and press rings increases beyond approximately 0.3 mm, oil yield drops significantly and residual oil content often rises by 2–3 percentage points.This means losses are not limited to maintenance costs but also include lost oil production.

2.4 Improper Operating Conditions: Overloading Is the Silent Killer

In pursuit of higher output, some common operating practices quietly shorten equipment life:

• Feeding rates exceeding design capacity
  → sustained high internal pressure
  → gradual screw shaft deformation

• Lack of temperature control
  → pressing temperature above 120 °C
  → thermal expansion alters clearances and accelerates wear

• Cold start at full load
  → brittle metal condition increases early cracking risk

💡 Engineering reality: oil press machines do not perform best under maximum force,but under stable, optimized operating ranges.

3. Why Maintenance Costs Keep Rising

Many long-term costs are actually determined during the equipment selection stage:

• Low-cost equipment trap
  Carbon steel screw shafts may have only one-third the wear resistance of alloy steel, doubling replacement frequency

• Non-standard designs
  Long spare-part lead times result in extended downtime and higher production losses

• Reactive maintenance
  “Fix after failure” approaches often cause secondary damage and higher total repair costs

💡 Conclusion: high maintenance costs are not accidental; they reflect weaknesses in design, process integration, and management.

4. Systematic Solutions to Reduce Wear and Maintenance Costs

Real cost reduction comes from life-cycle management, not isolated component upgrades.

4.1 Equipment Design: Materials and Structure Define Service Life

• High-strength, wear-resistant alloy steel screw shafts with carburizing or nitriding treatment
  → surface hardness up to HRC 58+, wear resistance increased by ~3 times

• Modular press ring design
  → only worn sections need replacement

• Optimized screw pitch and compression ratio based on oilseed characteristics

• Integrated automatic lubrication systems to prevent dry friction

4.2 Process Matching: Let the Machine “Work Comfortably”

• Coordinated design of pretreatment and pressing parameters

• Proper capacity matching to avoid underloading or overloading

• Multi-oilseed adaptability through partial component replacement

💡 Field results show: properly matched production lines can extend the mean time between failures (MTBF) of oil press machines by more than 40%.

4.3 Operation Management: Correct Use Extends Equipment Life

A standardized SOP should include:

• Preheating to 80–90 °C before start-up

• Stable and uniform feeding

• Multi-point temperature monitoring

• Use of food-grade lubricants with regular inspection

Where possible, intelligent control systems should be applied to monitor temperature, current, and pressure in real time.

4.4 Maintenance Strategy: From Firefighting to Prevention

Establishing equipment “health records” allows data-driven decisions instead of experience-based part replacement.

5. QIE Group's Engineering Approach

As a professional edible oil processing equipment supplier, QIE Group focuses on long-term system stability rather than short-term equipment performance.

🔹 Wear control at the design stage

• Precision-machined alloy steel components

• Adjustable clearances for different oilseeds and wear stages

• Specialized low-speed, high-pressure cold-press designs

🔹 Integrated turnkey solutions

• From raw material cleaning and pretreatment to pressing and refining

• Coordinated parameters across all sections

• Automation and remote diagnostic support

🔹 Long-term service support

• Complete spare parts lists and technical drawings

• Fast-response supply system

• Operator training and maintenance documentation

Our goal is not to sell a single machine, but to help clients build stable, low-maintenance, and sustainable oil production lines.

6. FAQ

How often should screw shafts be replaced?

Under proper operating conditions, alloy steel screw shafts typically last 12–24 months, depending on oilseed type and load.

Why do identical machines show very different service lives?

Differences usually come from raw material quality, pretreatment, operating parameters, and maintenance strategy—not from the machine itself.

Does pretreatment really affect oil press wear?

Yes. Inadequate pretreatment almost always translates into mechanical wear during pressing.