Ready to wear: proper wear parts maintenance helps keep operations running smoothly.

For concrete, wood and mixed C&D recyclers handling tough material, it's not a question of if, but when and how often, wear parts must be replaced. And keeping on top of wear part maintenance is one way to keep equipment working efficiently and a recycling operation running smoothly.

Wear parts can account for nearly 20 percent of a recycler's costs, Aaron Benway, sales engineer for CBI Inc., Newton, N.H., says. But that figure can vary greatly, depending on the recycler. You can spend as much as you want, says Devin Davis, marketing coordinator for Morbark Inc., Winn, Mich.

No matter what their resources or needs, recyclers can extend the lives of their wear parts, lower their costs and reduce their headaches.

MATERIAL MATTERS

Replacement is unavoidable no matter what the application, but the kind of material processed plays a roll in determining the lifespan of wear parts. Concrete crushers and wood grinders handle vastly different material streams, and it shows in how hard they are on their wear parts.

"Wood is generally harder to process than concrete because of the high number of variables," says Benway. Different wood types, moisture content and required end-product size make processing wood debris particularly challenging on wear parts, though the actual costs do not necessarily differ all that much, he says.

And within wood grinding applications, there are variances in wear parts costs. For instance, tub grinders tend to incur higher wear costs because they handle rougher material, says Benway.

"Tub grinders have more moving components operating at higher speeds," he says, resulting in higher wear and more parts needed with greater frequency.

Comparatively, horizontal grinders operate at slower speeds and generally have fewer moving parts.

Finally, Benway says that slow-speed shredders generally suffer the least wear because of the reduced rotor speed.

Material makes a difference for concrete crushers, too, says Jeff Hillis, parts sales manager at Eagle Crusher Co. Inc., Galion, Ohio.

"Typically, there's a rather large range (in costs) because of the material," Hillis says. "If it's abrasive, the costs go up." Hillis says he has seen wear parts costs vary anywhere from 3 cents per ton up to 18 cents per ton.

The crushing business deals primarily with three materials--concrete, asphalt and slag--Hillis says, each with a slightly different impact on a machine's wear parts.

"With nickel slag, wear costs are moderately high," he says. "The abrasive factor in concrete varies widely on the aggregate used to make it. If it's made out of say, midwestern limestone, wear costs will be low because it's not as abrasive. But if it's made out of something like sea shell rock, the costs tend to go up."

Asphalt, Hillis says, is also rather abrasive, but using a harder alloy can keep costs low.

Jim Dykes, owner of Dykes Paving, Atlanta, says his shingle grinder bears the brunt of the wear costs at his operation, which recycles concrete, asphalt pavement and asphalt shingles. The company has four types of machines: a cone crusher, an impact crusher, a jaw crusher and the shingle grinder, and each eats up its fair share in wear parts.

Mixed C&D recyclers may have the toughest time of all with some of the most varied and abrasive material, as well as an increased risk of contaminants finding their way into the feedstock.

"This is an extremely harsh environment on equipment," says Dennis Blanchard, general manager of mixed C&D processor Recovermat, Halethorpe, Md. "It's an extremely aggressive material."

MAINTAIN

Keeping on top of wear maintenance is key to maintaining a smooth operation, manufacturers and recyclers say.

At Recovermat, Blanchard says every member of the crew helps with daily preventative maintenance to help squeeze the most life out of wear parts. "The crew is the difference," Blanchard says. "Once you get a really well-trained crew who really knows what they're doing, that's the key."

Gino Edwards, operations manager of wood grinder Environmental Resource Return Corp. (ERRCO), Epping N.H., agrees. "Operators are key; those who know the equipment well," he says.

Edwards says that the bulk of his wear costs at ERRCO comes from hammers and grates, which he replaces fairly regularly every two to three months.

Edwards advises getting on a regular schedule and setting a maintenance timetable to stay on top of things. "After nearly 10 years in the business, you get to know the equipment," he says.

But just because the parts are meant to be replaced doesn't mean you can't try to get the most use possible out of them. Edwards says trying to process the cleanest possible wood debris--removing any metal or dirt--helps ease wear.

Blanchard says the same thing goes for the mixed C&D. He says controlling the feedstock--pulling all the metal from his material and keeping the blend balanced-also squeezes a extra fife out of wear parts.

Hillis also recommends preparing concrete material before crushing. "All manufacturers will have a recommended feed size," says Hillis. "Our crushers will crush anything that fits into them. However, if that material is prepped and sized to our specifications before it goes in, it will help enormously with the wear costs."

Changing tips before they are worn down to the point that hammer wear occurs keeps costs down for wood grinders, Benway says.

STOCKED UP

Careful, regular maintenance, controlled material streams and experienced operators go along way toward keeping wear costs low. But a solid relationship with the supplier is also another important factor.

Wear maintenance is a cooperative effort for Edwards and his supplier. He says every time he replaces his hammers, he lets the supplier know that in about another two months, he'll be back. This way, the parts are already in stock, and Edwards won't have to wait and risk downtime.

Inventory assistance is a good way suppliers can work with their customers to ease the process of dealing with spare parts, says Charley Shimmels, product manager of recycling systems at West Salem Machinery Co., Salem, Ore. Shimmels says his company will keep parts at the customer's location. That way the parts are readily available when the customer needs them.

"If he has a catastrophic Failure, he can get up and running in hours, instead of weeks," Shimmels says.

Not only does inventory assistance make a recycler's life easier, it's a way for suppliers to distinguish themselves in the market.

"In the long run, it pays to deal with people who have inventory, with whom you're going to develop a long-term relationship," says Hillis. "You want to deal with people who provide you consistent service. If you don't, the burden becomes yours."

Replacing parts as soon as possible is essential, Shimmels says, otherwise, it can do additional damage to the equipment.

"You wipe out some hammer bodies, that's not a big deal," he says. "But you start wiping out other parts of the machine, and it gets very expensive and time consuming."

But Shimmels says the need for prompt replacement shouldn't force recyclers into making a hasty decision when it comes to buying wear parts. "There's a strong temptation to shop the cheapest replacements you can get your hands on," he says. "But cheapest buying isn't always the cheapest owning."

Investing time in good wear parts maintenance in the present is a good move for the future, helping to avoid bigger, costlier problems down the line, Hillis says.

"Wear metal is designed to be expendable, so you don't want to let things get in such a condition that you're wearing into your rotor," he says. "The most costly part of any breakdown is your downtime--not your parts."

The author is the assistant editor of Construction & Demolition Recycling and can be contacted at [e-mail].

LIMITED LIFE SPAN

The parts themselves may differ, but one characteristic all wear parts share is the constant need for replacement.

"[Wear parts] are an ongoing, large part of our expense," says Dennis Blanchard of Recovermat, Halethorpe, Md. Recovermat uses a large auto-shredder style hammermill, so hammers are his most-often replaced wear part and incur most of the mixed CSD operation's wear costs, he says.

"Hammers, of course, are No. 1," Blanchard says. "We swing 12, 400-pound hammers, and they last about a week, so it adds up rather fast."

Blanchard says that inside liners and grates tend to have a much longer life span and can spread wear costs out over years of use.

For impact crushers, blow bars--which do most of the crushing--are most often replaced, as well as wear plates, says Jeff Hillis of Eagle Crusher Co. Inc., Galion, Ohio.

For wood grinders, wear costs lie primarily in hammers, rods, inserts and top and bottom wear plates, notes Devin Davis, marketing coordinator for Morbark Inc., Winn, Mich.

Tips, strikers, screens and anvil liners also contribute to a recycler's wear costs, according to Aaron Benway, sales engineer for CBI Inc., Newton, N.H.