Motion Control & Drives


Tough chain and induction hardened sprockets

April 2025 Motion Control & Drives

BMG’s Tsubaki Titan chain series offers significant improvements in wear life, particularly in demanding applications like abrasive and dusty conditions. “Selecting the right chain for every job is critical, especially in harsh conditions where dust and abrasive particles infiltrate moving parts and significantly shorten the lifetime of standard chain. This damage results in downtime, production loss, and additional costs in the form of replacement parts and labour,” says business unit manager, Carlo Beukes. Tsubaki Titan chains offers previously unobtainable wear life in harsh conditions, and combines the key features of the existing premium Tsubaki GT4 Winner chain with new specifications which have been designed to deliver extended wear performance.

Advanced features for the Titan series not only extend service life of the chain, but also reduce maintenance costs and minimise downtime. Another advantage is the reduced frequency of swapping out old chain for new, which contributes to a significant reduction in the total cost of ownership.

An important feature of Tsubaki Titan chain is the use of seamless bushes that incorporate lube grooves. These precision made, cylindrical bushes ensure the smoothest possible operation and help reduce wear. Added, the specially designed lube grooves ensure oil is retained at the point of contact, where the chain needs it most. This limits the wear between pin and bush, significantly improving the wear life.

Tsubaki Titan pins have an unique surface coating that provides an extra hard and low-friction surface, extending its service life. For the advanced series, the Tsubaki development team specified corrosion-resistant, nickel-plated outer link plates, which are used in combination with black oxide inner link plates- providing an additional layer of corrosion protection.

Tsubaki has also incorporated its reliable ring-coined technology, which overcomes the problem of typical standard slip-fit connecting links, which are usually much weaker than other links. The process of ring-coining the connecting links ensures that the chain can be specified up to its full load capacity.

Standard Tsubaki Titan chain is available from BMG in sizes 12B to 32B. Additional sizes, multi-strand and various attachment options are available on request. Typical applications of this series would include abrasive and dusty conditions found in timber mills, brick works, mining and metal working, and sugar and paper processing.

All Tsubaki chain products are manufactured with special materials, coatings and lubrication and undergo an immaculate production process to ensure dimensional accuracy, constant geometry, high surface quality and long service life.

BMG is the only company outside of the Tsubaki organisation with accreditation to provide a specialist assembly services for Tsubaki chain products. The company features a dedicated facility at BMG World in Johannesburg where special attachment chains are assembled to the exact requirements of clients, and then delivered in less than one week.

Customers can specify a wide range of standard Tsubaki attachments on any suitable American (ANSI) or British (BS) chain product, up to 50 meters. There is no compromise in terms of component specifications, and quality standards are guaranteed. With BMG’s assembly, customers don’t need to invest in expensive stockholdings of specialised attachment chains for their machines.

As an advancement to BMG’s power transmission range, the company has recently improved the durability of the Fenner sprocket range. The teeth of each Fenner sprocket are induction hardened during manufacture, resulting in greater durability and extended service.

This induction hardening procedure, enhancing the quality and durability of Fenner sprockets, means the teeth profile remains intact for longer. This reduces strain on the chain with less elongation.

The full line of Tsubaki and Fenner power transmission components is available through BMG’s nationwide branch network, which provides technical support and a 24-hour backup service.


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