Italian company MB Crusher says it continues to see its high-quality screening buckets in big demand globally. An Indian sandstone quarry customer has seen big results in consistent final product quality and sizing after an MB-S18 screening bucket attached to a Kobelco SK220SD excavator processed extracted material.
Meanwhile, the operator of a large coal quarry in southern India opted for an MB-HDS320 shaft screener bucket to process material after its surface miner could not produce the required final product size. The operator installed the unit on its excavator and began producing 55-66 tonnes per hour of material ready to be used at a power plant. The MB-HDS320’s deployment has reduced waste, increased profitability in the quarry, reduced operational expenses down to the bare minimum and consistently optimised productivity.
In a boron quarry around 4,000 metres above sea level in the Andes, Peru, an MB-S18 screening bucket is sifting coarse material from fines. This enables selected material to be processed easily and faster by the quarry plant.
In Iceland, among spectacular landscapes dominated by volcanoes and geysers, an MB-S23 screening bucket installed on a Caterpillar 345C excavator was seen as the best tool to rapidly process large quantities of basalt needed to help build a hydroelectric plant.
Available in four models for excavators from eight to 45 tonnes, Simex VSE screening buckets are designed for separating different-sized materials directly onsite. The VSE product range from the Italian manufacturer features the rapid adjustment of output size via an instant control in the cabin. This exclusive patent allows the shafts to be instantly distanced and closened, with maximum shaft travel of 40mm.
Simex recently introduced FIT – a new screening tool system that makes VSE screening buckets stand out even more in the competitive quarrying, construction and demolition application marketplace. Each FIT element comprises five independent parts, designed with no weldings to allow easy interlocking. Simex says the parts are easily replaceable, contributing to up to 75% lower maintenance costs as it is possible to replace even just one single disc or blade. The FIT system allows multiple configurations depending on the screened materials. Simex provides users with three different set-ups, but many others are possible thanks to screening elements that are 100% interchangeable. Adjustments in output size are controlled via FIT directly from the cabin, helping to reduce downtime.
A Simex VSE 30 screening bucket was recently used in the Italian province of Modena for the separation and recovery of materials resulting from the demolition of a private home.
As a result of the demolition, large quantities of concrete were crushed by a mobile crusher. However, the material resulting from this operation was still too coarse, making it unsuitable for reuse onsite. The Simex VSE screening bucket separated the larger sized material (40-100mm) from the finer one (0-30mm), also sifting out the debris and soil.
The VSE 30 was equipped with the FIT tool system in the disgregation configuration, characterised by a central blade, more aggressive than the other configurations available; this feature also allows a light crushing of the concrete during the screening phase, increasing the hourly production.
The reuse and remediation of the onsite material, thanks to the VSE 30 screening bucket, has significantly reduced the customer’s disposal costs and costs related to the purchase and transport of new raw materials.
A Simex VSE screening bucket customer in Lancashire, north-west England, needed to clean tonnes of topsoil from stones and gravel for landscaping purposes. Attaching a VSE 20 unit onto an excavator created a mobile processing plant – resulting in a fine-sized aggregate ready to be transported and reused. Processed +55mm coarse aggregates were used directly on site. As well as producing quality end products, the deployment of the VSE 20 screening bucket is said to have saved the customer a great deal of time and money.
Swedish hydraulic attachments manufacturer Engcon says sales of its automatic quick hitch system with EC-Oil under the tiltrotator have increased by 76% in the last two years. The firm says that more and more excavator contractors are also choosing EC-Oil on the top of the tiltrotator, enabling it to be connected or disconnected without having to leave the cab. Equivalent growth has also taken place for Engcon’s machine hitch with EC-Oil, where sales are said by the company to have increased significantly in recent years.
Martin Engström, Engcon’s product manager, says: “The figures speak for themselves. More and more people are realising the benefit of being able to quickly connect or disconnect their tiltrotator or other hydraulic tools without having to leave the cab. They also do not have to bother with pressurised and dirty manual couplings.
“It’s incredibly gratifying to see these results because we know that this overall contributes to increased profitability plus comfort and safety.”
One of the customers outside the Nordic region who has realised the value of the quick hitch combined with EC-Oil is Sean Coghlan’s Shamrock Earthworks in Calgary, Canada. Since 2017, Coghlan’s excavators have been equipped with a machine hitch and tiltrotator from Engcon.
“With Engcon’s tiltrotator, it does not matter what position the machine is in; now I can easily rotate and tilt the stones into any position. You could say that the tiltrotator is the excavator’s wrist,” says Coghlan.
Early on, Coghlan equipped his tiltrotator with the automatic quick hitch system with EC-Oil, which allows him to connect and disconnect hydraulic tools without leaving the cab. In addition to the fact that it is easy to switch between hydraulic grippers, pallet forks, sweeper rollers, and buckets under the tiltrotator, it is just as easy to disconnect the tiltrotator itself from the excavator.
“Thanks to EC-Oil, I can disconnect the tiltrotator in a few seconds and connect the bucket or other tool directly to the machine hitch. In this way, I increase the breakout force and save the weight for those times I do not need the tiltrotator in my work. It makes my excavator more efficient, and I save both fuel and time. In addition to time and efficiency, it is also very convenient to be able to connect hydraulic tools without having to leave the cab and get dirty,” says Coghlan.
Since 2020, EC-Oil has been included at no extra cost in the simultaneous purchase of Engcon’s machine hitch, tiltrotator and control system.
