Brent it's good to know someone has profitable work.

We found out that the damage for a new belt on the trommel screen is going to be $2,700. That is compared to the "Never Ending Belt" that they tried selling us on. That would be where they send out 2 men and they vulcanize it together right there on the machine so there is no joint. They wanted like 5800$ plus they want you to buy their guys any meals while they're there.

We decided to go with a regular style joint which is kinda like a piano hinge that comes in 2 pieces where you thread a steel cable through the center of the openings to join the ends.

There goes profits on all the screening I did last week.

Either way at least it's work and we won't have to replace the belt again for a long while as long as it isn't abused. The previous one lasted 1880 hours.

 

Pete, it seems like very time you get ahead a little something breaks doesnt it?
Regular belt seems like the right way to go to me.

 

Yea. The belt that broke is a regular belt so we're not too worried about it. The interesting thing is that it didn't fail at the joint. It tore straight down the middle.

But now my poor kitty needs some touch up paint on the boom. I was scooping out from below the drum with the CAT as another guy fed the machine with a loader, but I bumped the edge of the screen with the loader arms a couple times so I have to touch that up a little. Plus it gives me a chance to touch up the boom near the steps so that doesn't rust up either.

Dad was all upset because the town was screaming for material and threatening to move to the next contractor. I said that it was better to have them yelling for more than the phone being dead.

Our production sucked because of the belt being gone plus Preston (the guy feeding the plant) isn't very good at running any sort of plant. He can lay down a finished grade like you couldn't believe, but running plants isn't his thing. He loads them too full and then everything binds up. I told him he is and it didn't help that the material was wet. Several times he had the drum so loaded full that the hydraulic motors couldn't keep it spinning. I had to get in the drum and shovel it out one time.

Last year when I was running that machine by myself with plenty of dry material with all belts intact I was keeping up with 2 trucks an hour at 20 yards each and gaining on them by a few yards an hour. So it's somewhere around a 45-50 yard an hour machine.

Sorry to everyone I've just bored with this post, but once I get talking I have a hard time shutting up. But I think you guys knew that already.

 

Didnt bore me, but I love equipment talk.

 

Lisa...big Crush!

She is my niece also! The Brides sister...The girl in the red dress wasnt related!

Got to the lake at 9 this morning and just got home at 6:30

still downloading pics..was rather windy til 1 pm then it got up to 95 degrees today!

I hope some of the bikini pics come out...they were mostly 8 or 900 feet away.

still 300 pics to download...prolly another hour before I even look at them all!

 

Oh BTW a saw a couple F450's with nice trailers...wish I'd seen the boats too...

I took a lot of boat pics too!

It was just an absolutely perfect day!

 

Well, she is cute, and was the focus of a lot of your pictures. I guess that explains that!!

Blah, I don't want to get sick!!!! I'm fighting off a cold big time, not quite sure how my body is going to handle this one. I'm not full blown sick yet but..getting there.

 

Fill a glass with a shot of whisky,twist of lemon,spoonfull of sugar and some water.warm it up and slam it.

If that doesn't make you feel better keep doing them tell you do.It won't take long and you get a good night sleep also.

 

You may regret saying that because now I definitely won't be able to stop.

Here's the plant (McCloskey 512R trommel screen) as of when I was running it last year.

In the center is the hopper for "dirty" material. It feeds to the drum which should be to the right. It is out in this picture. Clean material falls down under the drum onto a belt (the one that currently needs replacing) that belt takes the clean material out to the radial stacker and from there it gets put on piles as you direct it.
Here it is with the drum out. All the dirt at the end was shoveled out by hand because the hydraulic motor that drives the currently broken belt failed and dumb me didn't notice so that all built up under the drum.

Let me explain the McCloskey designations. The machine is a 512R. That means the drum is 5 feet in diameter and 12 feet long. The R designates a radial stacker. A machine with a regular belt that will not swing radially would be a 512A. And a 616R would be a 6' diameter drum 16' in length with a radial stacker.

Here's a view into the end of the drum as the machine is running. There isn't supposed to be a dirt coating on the inside of the drum like that. The material was too wet and we ended up getting nothing accomplished so we shut down for the day.

By the way that's dad on the dozer off to the left and I was running the 490 feeding the machine.

The almighty buttons that control the radial stacker while resting them on my knee in the 490 cab.

Sorry for the huge post, everyone else.

 

ZICAM! Expensive stuff at like 9 bucks from Walmart, but WELL worth it IMO!

 

Pete- AWESOME!!!!!! Cool machine!

 

Besides the occasional excavator, this is my usual equipment I play with....boring.

 

LOL, and what do I tell work when I wake up in the morning and I'm still bombed? "Boss, I drank too much cough syrup"

I thought I had some somewhere, can't find it, took night time robitussin instead. Speaking of which.. I think I need to go to bed.

 

Thanks, Brent. If you weren't all the way on the left coast I'd say you should pop in and play on the equipment for a while.

I know a 9 year old girl who is living in MA who is going to. Maybe I'll let her dad play around too if we have time.

And one last picture of the trommel.

Here's the radial stacker going. I've got it at a real low angle in this picture.

The hydraulic cylinders you see at the left of the screen fold the conveyor back for transport.
For folding the conveyor you have to lift it all the way. Hook 2 chains to it and then hit the lever to make
those 2 hydraulic cylinders extend.

All in all that machine cost us around 65,000 dollars.
I just went on Machinery Trader and a 2005 (newer) with similar hours has an asking price of 89,000 dollars.

We actually bought that screen from Michigan CAT and had it hauled in. The trucker had no idea what it was.
When he was getting near the CT line he called and said "I'm hauling your green thing and I'm near the CT line
where do you want me to meet you with it?"

Brent I'll get a few pictures of other stuff we're doing if I think to bring the camera with me. I'll shoot them to you via PM
so I don't keep cluttering up the OT with my pictures.

Edit: Just saw your post, Brent. WAY too cool. I'm fascinated by cranes and any kind of rigging. Every time
they get a crane at the auction yard I make sure I check it out.

 

At least they didn't give you an infraction. Sorry it was a bad day for you


I'm so sorry to hear this Lisa. Even if the house is in forclosure you may still be able to remove your Fathers belongings. I would call the bank or if there was a broker involved call them. This is so close to what is happening here. She is in MA and there is an eviction notice on her apt in FL. She wa supposed to get everything out last weekend. Well she didn't. I have to call tommorow to see what is going on the office has been pretty good at keeping me informed. My biggest fear is that all of J-L stuff is going to be disposed of while her mother is up here. In FL they take your stuff under the supervision of the Sheriff and bring it out to the curb.