Thanks to two KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens crushers rented from Columbus Equipment Company, a large, Ohio aggregate producer was able to maintain production without missing a beat when its primary jaw crusher went offline for a month.
The main crusher—a 3862 track jaw crusher—had a bearing failure this summer. The company needed a fill-in replacement while the machine was being repaired, and Columbus Equipment Company was able to supply two machines—an FT4250 horizontal impact crusher and a FT2650 jaw crusher—both tracked, portable machines.
“We needed something to temporarily maintain or come close to maintaining production,” said the site manager. “We used the two KPI-JCI units in parallel to come up with the required tonnage. Using the two machines together, we were able to get about 800 tons of production an hour.”
“Given the KPI-JCI machines were rated for 400 tons an hour, we were pleasantly surprised to be able to exceed that production. With our normal crusher, we get 800 to 1,000 tons per hour.” To maintain that level of production, the limestone plant needed to produce that same tonnage. The crushers were online 21.5 hours a day, seven days a week. Overall, the customer produced 383,000 tons through the rental crushers in one month.
The track-mounted, portable crusher is typically the primary limestone crusher, and is the first unit rock passes through after being blasted. After the initial crushing, the material goes into a surge pile for a controlled feed into the plant. Dry material goes through one more crusher and wash-end material goes through two additional crushers, the equipment operator explained.
The regular crusher handles 36-inch rock, but with the smaller, KPI-JCI rental units, “we adjusted our shot pattern to produce 24-inch-minus rock that we could feed into the crushers. We were looking for a nominal 10-inch-minus output,” the site manager said.
“We were able to get the desired size that we needed,” the operator said. “The horizonal impact crusher gives us a little finer material and the jaw crusher a little coarser, like we normally run. We had a good blend from the two.”
The customer’s load-and-carry operation uses two large wheel loaders to supply material to two, 36-ton excavators, with one excavator feeding each crusher.
“The KPI-JCI machines performed really well,” the operator said. “They are a lot smaller than what we’re used to, so we weren’t anticipating they would put out the tons per hour that they did. Bottom line, they exceeded our expectations.”
The crushers were also highly dependable, with no mechanical problems. “We ran them 21 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s probably double of what most people do, and they held up really well,” the operator said. “I’m really impressed overall.”
The customer particularly liked the machines’ portability. “We drill and blast, and we like to stay as close to the pile wall face as we can,” the site manager said. “The portability allowed us to do just that. We could easily move them out for a shot then put them back.”
“Setup was also really easy compared to the regular setup,” the operator noted. “The existing primary is a lot bigger; it’s portable but it takes a long time to set up.”
A small but welcome feature of the KPI machines was remote control. “Remote control is not a new technology but it allowed the operator in the loader or excavator to control the machine and feed rate and to adjust on the fly without having to get out of the cab every two seconds,” the site manager said. Another benefit of the rentals was indicator lights to alert the operator if the crusher was overloaded.
Columbus Equipment Company took care of scheduled maintenance for the machines, which comes around quickly when you’re running them for 21 hours a day, noted Bob Stewart, a sales representative for the Environmental Division. One crusher was brand new when it was sent to the plant, and at the end of the rental period it had clocked more than 800 hours.
If the KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens crushers were the productive, dependable solution for this customer, Columbus Equipment Company was an equally dependable source of support. “Columbus Equipment got us dialed in, found ways to tie into our interlocking systems, and helped us troubleshoot some sensor readings. They were very responsive. If we had issues, they came right out,” the site manager said.
Contact your Columbus Equipment Company Environmental Division representative today—Bob Stewart at (440) 752-0836 (Eastern Region), or Jesse Garber at (937) 239-7180 (Western Region)—for more information on KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens’ world-class, aggregate-processing products.