Meanwhile, back at the quarry...

[JimBruce42]

...we have slightly used iron for sale!




Now that things are finished up at Morgantown, I was sent back to our quarry in Elk Mills for... uh... an indeterminate amount of time:beatsme but hey at least I'm working:drinkup:usa

One of our (AAM) dirt crews is doing a little stripping out back... picking up where the quarry crew left off last week I guess, the 345 and D6 are AI-MD machines





The 345 had to come down and help take apart an old tank for the scrap guys... "how to dismantle an asphalt tank":cool2




Also out back is "the Beast". A new toy of ICM's used for shredding up used roofing shingles. The story I hear is that when you add the "shreds" to a hotmix it cuts down on the amount of liquid asphalt you have to use. Anyone with real hotmix experience want to chime in, feel free too.

 

[Turbo21835]

Jim, using shingles is the same as using road millings. Any little amount of recycled asphalt that you add means less new ac you have to use. You guys trying to add tires to the mix down there yet? There has been some testing done up here using them melted and mixed with the AC. I hear one outfit found out the hard way, that its not like regular ac. Around here once the paving season is over, most plants shut down the burners on their tanks, and then at the begining of the next season, the fire them up again. Works just fine with ac. Apparently it does not with the ac/tire mix. Once it cools down, its done, you cant heat it back up to a liquid state, leaving them with a trashed tank, and a bunch of wasted ac, an expensive mistake these days.

 

[Dirtman2007]

how are the nails separated from the shingles? I'm sure there's some sort of magnetic thingy:beatsme

but I'm sure a few slip by

 

[JimBruce42]

Turbo, not sure if they are gonna do tires yet. The guys mentioned something about some rubber in the pile that they had to figure out how to shred (apparently the way the grinder is set up, it doesn't like rubber:beatsme). You can see how much they have to work with in the 3rd photo I'd posted that dark pile behind the 345 is all shingles.

Chris... that's a good question, I pushed up to the 228 some on Wednesday and never even saw a hint of metal, but I can't imagine they are completely nail free.

 

[CM1995]

They may not be using tear-off shingles, but rather waste from a manufacturing plant. We haul about 5-6 30CY cans a week of "new" shingle waste from a shingle plant to a local asphalt producer to grind to go into the mix. Sometimes the can will have perfectly good looking shingles in it but for some reason or the other did not meet specs. Other times it will be rolls of uncut shingles, just depends on what they are running at the time.

We have hauled a few tear-off cans into their yard but not many.

 

[JimBruce42]

Got a few more photos. Last week they started up the tertiary plant for the first time this year to start making stone again. They are running it 14 hours a day (two overlapping 8 hour shifts). Last week I was on evenings, this week days, feeding the plant by pushing in the surge. Most of the time I'm running the 980, Monday I get a little D6 time, why use a loader to do a dozer's work, when you got a dozer, right?ointhead

Mixing 3A (or Maryland CR-1 I think) during some down time... once I break through the frost chucks of course:Banghead:Banghead



Towards the end of the shift last week...


with those halogens it's like running with a light plant strapped to the roof, but I like it


This was the dozer I got to run on Monday. Probably the oldest D6r left in our fleet, with 15,600+ hours, but I gotta be honest, it pushed like a champ:drinkup:notworthy

 

[JimBruce42]

while I wait for another 12-8 shift

Here are a few more photos from Elk Mills,

CCI (Contracted Crushin Inc... I think:beatsme) is out back at teh asphalt plant crushing/screening the RAP pile for us. They have a Komatsu PC400 charging a Cedaripas (sp??) impact crusher and an Extec screen. Sorry, it was foggy that morning and for some reason my camera just did NOT want to focus:Banghead





One of our lowboys bringing in a rock drill to help the drillers.



I was in the pit running a truck yesterday, so I got a couple quick photos of the 990 and 775's. No video... they don't have any fresh shot on the ground (until about 4:30 tomorrow) so they were scraping for stuff, ie slow loading.

 

[JimBruce42]

update

Been a little, so I thought i'd post the few photos I've taken.

There have been a few lowboys in and out of the quarry lately.





AI-MD's 345 all broke down and ready to get shipped out. Was busy loading trucks the day it actually did get moved, so no photos of that, sorry.



And this weeks adventure. Breaking rock with the tired, old, almost retired 350.



According to rumor, ICM "bought" one of our (AAM) 345's to permanently replace it, but until it gets here and set up for a hammer they are bringing another 350 in from one of the other quarries today.

 

[D5G]

Great pics, I love seeing your guys iron. The trucks have a great color scheme too. Whats next?

 

[JimBruce42]

some recent photos from the pit

Still working:usa

The 345 that will be replacing the 350 as the pit hoe/hammer showed up fresh from our fab. shop with the new safety handrails, now it just needs the aux. hydraulics put on



Spent some time in the pit the last few weeks, here are some shots of the 990's and 775's.





And I'm going back on nights for a little while this week, running the hammer. Here's the better of the two 350's we have there right now from a few weeks ago.:drinkup



enjoy

 

[D5G]

What kind of hammer is on that 350? Keep the pics commin, looks like a long noisy night!

 

[JimBruce42]

I think it's an Atlas Corp. not sure on the size. It's noiser on the other 350 that they have the hammer on now... front window is loose in its tracks so it rattles the whole time, thank god for earplugs...

 

[D5G]

Cool. Looks like both machine and hammer have been run hard, and yes thank god for earplugs. I'm sure a night without them would make you deaf.

 

[JimBruce42]

I'll get a photo or two and the hours of the other one tomorrow, but yeah they've both been quarry machines for probably at least 7 years since we (Allen Myers) got all our 345's. And being a hammer machine is hard on just about every part of a machine, especially in a granite rock quarry. Biggest problem on them now is a few hydraulic leaks, a lack of power to the final drives, a few bent or broken track pads, and ya know... what else you'd expect from 20k+ hours on a machine:usa:drinkup

 

[D5G]

Cool. looking foward to the pics, thanks.

 

[bigcatpip]

popcorn that at 4200 hammer on that.

 

[JimBruce42]

Thanks bigcat, I never paid much attention to the number, but now I know. Rumor has it that since Devault's production is shut down for now they are breaking down their new 990 and sending it to Elk Mills. Keep an eye out for photos

 

[hoeman600]

I think thats my old 345 not sure! never did know the #

 

[JimBruce42]

I think thats my old 345 not sure! never did know the #

Yeah, I dunno, it was a pipe hoe, never had GPS on it so I'm not sure why it's got the rails on it. The hammer kit should be going on it now, hopefully it will be up and runnin by next week so they can get those 350's to Iron Planet :drinkup :Banghead

 

[bigcatpip]

it is 3413 talk to the mac there it was a pipe hoe