Pit & Quarry, December 2013

EQUIPMENT NEWS M etso hosted an Education a focal point of Metso expo educational event for dealers and customers at its headquarters in Columbia S C drawing about 120 personnel from 34 dealers across the United States Canada and Latin America The event called the 2013 Quarry Solutions Industry Knowledge Expo also attracted about 100 customer personnel according to Metso Pit Quarry attended the event as well Dealers and customers had the opportunity to sit in on training sessions walk around Metso equipment Metsos John Genger walks dealers and customers through a cone crusher bladder installation during his companys 2013 Quarry Solutions Industry Knowledge Expo and participate in factory floor demonstrations Pit Quarry sat in on a training session about in pit crushing Tommi Lehtonen senior vice president for Metsos Mobile Equipment business unit noted that excavators should be a producers top choice for loading into Metsos portable equipment because excavators offer continuous feed and operators can actually see the crusher Excavators are more affordable to run compared with wheel loaders because wheel loaders are loading and carrying says Lehtonen who adds that hauling represents about 50 percent of in pit costs For us excavators would be our number one choice Still Lehtonen says there are exceptions that make loading equipment other than excavators attractive Of course at bigger operations you might run out of excavators he says Use a face shovel or a wheel loader This gives you more flexibility because you can use a track mounted unit more and shorten the distance from the face You can easily feed from different locations of the face Lehtonen also says excavators can typically maintain their position for most of one day as long as they have enough material to load You might move an excavator one time in a day he says Eight tips to produce a consistent product Metsos Matt Gerten manager of application support and complex proposals offered tips at his companys 2013 Quarry Solutions Industry Knowledge Expo on how to produce a consistent product 1 Operate at a consistent choke fed cavity level If you can run a crusher at a constant level with the same product and the same speed setting youre more likely to produce a consistent product Gerten says 2 Operate at a consistent closed side discharge setting The more abrasive the material the more the setting will wear Check the setting consistently Even small increases in crusher settings due to liner wear will result in product gradation changes 3 Have a properly distributed feed According to Gerten all feed should be directed vertically into the center of the crusher Poor distribution results in low crusher throughput elongated and oversized product adjustment ring movement and a tilted adjustment ring 4 Have a homogenous feed stream Make sure your fines and coarse feed are mixed properly Producers should want a smooth gradation curve in the crusher cavity as well as voids filled with smaller rocks to achieve good rock onrock interaction 5 Have some fines present in the feed but not too many Gerten says you dont want too many fines in a crusher feed but you do want some An excessive number of fines tends to clog the voids between the feed material 6 Make sure your feed material is well graded Gerten says producers should strive to avoid having a cavity full of single size particles 7 Dont exceed the maximum feed size for the liner being used Trying to crush oversize feed wastes time detracts from capacity creates irregular liner wear profiles and imposes unnecessary stresses Gerten says 8 Minimize surge loading Surge loading of a crusher is a production enemy he adds Surge piles and feed hoppers can easily increase productivity by at least 10 percent 14 PIT QUARRY December 2013 www pitandquarry com