Wood industry
Conveyor chains for board mills, sawmills and biomass — made in Erl since 1988, EU steels, sizing from your plant data.
The wood, particle-board and sawmill sector places demanding requirements on conveyor chains — abrasive shavings, high bulk densities, humid environments and long duty cycles. Since 1988 the SENN Group has engineered and manufactured bush, forged link and round steel chains as well as trough conveyor solutions in Erl, Tyrol, using European case-hardening and quenching-and-tempering steels (including 16MnCr5 and 42CrMo4). Alongside in-house production we complement programmes with common standard ranges and accessories — always with sizing based on your plant data.
Wood-chip and residual-wood discharge often relies on trough conveyors with bush conveyor chains or forged fork-link chains; particle-board lines frequently use Redler chains with replaceable flights. Coarse material, bark or lump wood is often handled more reliably on round steel chains thanks to the open, self-cleaning design. Pellet plants and heating systems combine elevator buckets with a matched chain base; biomass boilers frequently need wet ash extractors for submerged discharge.
This page gives a concise map of which SENN products are typically used in wood processing — with direct links to the detailed conveyor-chain pages and to Holzkurier media coverage.
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Applications and further reading
Chain types and accessories (selection with a wood-industry angle)
- Trough conveyor chains — closed trough systems for wood chips, shavings and residual wood
- Redler chains — shavings handling and discharge in particle-board plants
- Forged link / fork-link chains — forged links for abrasive wood bulk materials
- Bush conveyor chains — high tensile forces and long centres in large installations
- Round steel chains — robust for bark, lump wood and coarse fuel
- Elevator buckets — pellets, chips or bulk in bucket elevators
- Slide bars and manganese rails — durability under high bulk loads
- Sprockets and guide wheels — matched to all listed chain bases
- Roller chains — drive and conveyor chains for ancillary equipment
- Wet ash extractors — wet ash/slag discharge from biomass boilers
- Sprocketed roller chains — precise power transmission in special units
- Steel grades — documented EU materials and inspection certificates
Wood-sector media
We are happy to share anonymised reference cases on request (for example a particle-board mill in southern Germany, an 80 m redler in continuous operation since 2014) — contact us with your duty data.
Request engineering support
Contact usShare centre distance, bulk material, temperature and any existing chain drawing — we propose the right chain base and accessories.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Which chain base fits wood chips in a trough conveyor?
For fine to medium wood chips, bush conveyor chains to DIN 8165/8167 or forged fork-link chains with scrapers are typical. The choice depends on bulk density, centre distance and tensile demand. We size from your plant data and review flight shape, speed and operating hours.
How long do conveyor chains last in particle-board plants?
Service life depends on the abrasive share of shavings, lubrication, guidance and sprocket quality. Many plants schedule flight or scraper changes during annual outages while the carrying chain runs much longer. With EU steel and matched hardness profiles we reduce wear compared with inconsistent import material.
Can you retrofit existing sawmill or board lines?
Yes. We supply replacement chains, sprockets, segments and slide bars from samples or drawings — also for other OEMs. If you change chain families we engineer fit so pitch, circumference and tensile capacity stay consistent.
What do you recommend for ash discharge from biomass boilers?
Wet ash extractors run in a water-filled trough and suit wet ash and slag from biomass boilers. The chain base may be fork-link or round steel. We align materials and corrosion protection with your media.
How fast can you deliver specials for a wood plant?
Standard items from Erl stock are often available at short notice. Forged specials or custom flights need tooling and heat-treatment time. Share target date and drawings — we return a realistic schedule with inspection milestones.
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Downloads
Conveyor chains product catalogue
Overview of chain types, accessories and lubricants.
Download