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wedge curb mill??

daddy

Active Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
39
Location
usa
Does a machine exist that is designed to mill the face of an asphalt wedge curb at the same angle as the curb. So that you could cut a consistent depth across the whole face?

We have had to contend with this ridiculous spec lately,where we mill the gutterline @ 3 1/2" and then cut 1 1/2" off of the face of the curb to leave 2" for binder in the cartway and the wearing then goes the whole way across.

Currently using a Cat 246c skid with it's 2' mill head to cut the curbs down. It is tedious to say the least.

I've been told that nobody makes one that will tilt enough to do it.
 

milling_drum

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
725
Location
out west lately
Occupation
asphalt mill operator (ret)
Over the years the smaller 2ft mills Wirtgen/Roadtec/Bartmill will usually be able to afford any cut you need along a curb. There might be some spots they cannot get to because of a blindside.

I did some concrete milling where the machine couldn't handle the cut at full depth and a bevel cut system worked just fine. Full depth outside of the cut, half the depth on the otherside then backup and do the otherside at fulldepth and the already cut side at zero.

Could you post a picture of the curb your on?
 

daddy

Active Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
39
Location
usa
I might be able to get a pic tomorrow. It is 24" wide and a pain in the a$$.

It is an odd spec, but I am told it saves the municipality enough dough to do another street. I'd much rather take the whole curb with the big machine. We'd have been done days ago.
 

daddy

Active Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
39
Location
usa
We have been making 2 passes like you mention, milling drum. It just takes forever to do it, and generates a huge amount of cleanup for buckets and brooms. This is all residential, with concrete drives every 50' or so.
 

andoman

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Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
236
Location
midwest
I think at that point you have to weigh the cost of removing the curb and replacing it versus trying to mill it back in. We did a similar job this spring and we figured it was quite a bit cheaper to just blow through it with the mill and replace the asphalt on our dime then to re-shape the curb with a mini mill.
 

milling_drum

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
725
Location
out west lately
Occupation
asphalt mill operator (ret)
I did something like that years ago while with Cavaliere while we were milling in Providence RI. I feel your pain on this topic.

What I saw them do was run the one pass with a ground man who would not let the mill miss anything the FIRST pass, second pass was to safe up the first pass BUT they did not sweep between first and second pass making sure the ground was level so the mill didn't dig a hole riding a pile. Thank was 2002, the contractor was Lynch.

Down south we have the over laid gutter pan thing all over, they just get stuck making two gutter passes. Being they are so cheap down here it usually amounts to no clean up until the big machine is completely done or the gutter pan is chewed half to hell.
 

daddy

Active Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
39
Location
usa
pics

Here are a couple shots of our finish product. It is monolithic wedge profiled to accept 2" of binder in the cartway only, and then 1 1/2" of top over the new binder, and the profiled curb.

I am probably just a whiner, but even now that we are done, I'm still looking for ways to do this better/faster. The boss does occasionally listen to my suggestions...
 

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daddy

Active Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
39
Location
usa
I think at that point you have to weigh the cost of removing the curb and replacing it versus trying to mill it back in. We did a similar job this spring and we figured it was quite a bit cheaper to just blow through it with the mill and replace the asphalt on our dime then to re-shape the curb with a mini mill.

Sure is easier, but that's alot of material in curb. This job had about 3 miles of 24" curb. I'm not the numbers guy, but was told it is cheaper for the township.:beatsme
 

bean

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
131
Location
Canada
If you had to do allot of this torch off some flights on an old drum and make the step on it there would be allot of cleanup unless you made the same on the moldboard though.
 

daddy

Active Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
39
Location
usa
bean, thanks for the suggestion. We have a wirtgen (1200F I think) that has interchangeable drums... Maybe this winter I could fab something... you definitely have my wheels turning.

Ultimately, the best solution would still be a machine that could reference the cartway cut to provide whatever "step" they want, and then adjust to match the slope of the wedge.

The problem is really that we don't do that much of this B.S. Only an couple contracts a year usually, and the skidloader is already there. I'm sure at this point it is still cheaper. I am glad my redwings are waterproof though, so I could wade through the river of tears from my number one skid man. :crying
 

Buster F

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Mar 19, 2007
Messages
42
Location
Stoneham MA
An RX 10 with a 20" drum may be capable of making that cut on the berm. It's hard to tell from the pics but you may be beyond the machines tilt range, but with a bit of tinkering i think you could get a few more degrees out of it
 

andoman

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Dec 23, 2009
Messages
236
Location
midwest
Sure is easier, but that's alot of material in curb. This job had about 3 miles of 24" curb. I'm not the numbers guy, but was told it is cheaper for the township.:beatsme

The job we did had 8000 feet of curb and the extra cost of mill time and cleanup out weighted the extra cost of asphalt easily. Sometimes office guys don't have a real good grasp on how much time it truly takes to do these crazy things until they look at all of the time put into everything My personal best example is low carports, thee's a guy in our office that thinks you can blow them in a lot quicker than you really can and we eat it on every carport job we get. :Banghead
 

bigskyelliott

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Joined
Mar 22, 2010
Messages
22
Location
montana
hey guys. sorry about jumping your thread. i havnt been on this sight for awhile and cant figure out how to start new post. any help?
thanks all bigsky
 

milling_drum

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
725
Location
out west lately
Occupation
asphalt mill operator (ret)
If you position a W1200F properly with the outside track folded in it should do it ok. The groundman and operator would have to be able to work together pretty good too.
 

andoman

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Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
236
Location
midwest
What do they use to compact those asphalt curbs?

Mainly the compaction comes from the screed and a manual roller drum mounted to the back of the screed (at least that's how we do it in michigan). They don't really get much traffic loading so they hold up pretty good but they cause a debacle when it's time to rehab them.
 

bean

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Joined
Dec 20, 2008
Messages
131
Location
Canada
seems like it the only thing similar to that I see up in canada is asphalt gutter/small ditch which some places seem to like. There is a few cheap City's that pave over the concrete curb and make it interesting for the mill later on aswell often you cannot tell until from looking at it.
 

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daddy

Active Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
39
Location
usa
What do they use to compact those asphalt curbs?

Our guys still use a big heavy hand roller on the curbs.

That concrete curb and gutter usually shows a shadow and crack at the edge of it, but i've plowed into the crete plenty of times before I figured it was underneath.

Whacked a couple buried water boxes yesterday. I'll take them all day over manholes!
 
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