The steel teeth on mining excavation equipment like rope shovels and front end loaders are wear items that must be replaced as part of regular maintenance. During normal operation, the connection that affixes a tooth to the shovel or loader bucket occasionally fails, causing tooth detachment. A detached tooth presents a serious hazard if it enters the haulage cycle and makes its way into a crushing unit, where it may become stuck and require the dangerous task of manual removal. Furthermore, wayward teeth cause substantial lost time and production due to jammed crushers and damage to downstream processing equipment. Therefore, it is critical to detect when a shovel tooth goes missing as soon as possible so that preventative action may be taken.
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