Crushing performance by unique SA-made machine

A R1,9-m investment in capital equipment would demand careful investigation before commitment in any industry, and such was the case for the southern Cape’s largest quarrying operator.

Delivering 1 200 tonnes/day from six permanent quarries in the George, Knysna and Plettenberg Bay areas for road construction and other projects, the family owned quarrying business, Denron Quarries, has recently added two mobile plants to its fleet to help meet a major contract for the supply of 650 000t of crushed material for the reconditioning of 14 km of the N2 Route between Storms River and Witelsbos.

“Due to the strict quality requirements on the road contract, we needed a mobile machine that could produce a high quality, cubical shaped aggregate, and we found this in the tracked TwisterTrac AC210 vertical shaft impact crusher designed and manufactured by Pilot Crushtec,” said Mr Ronald Derbyshire, who added that he carried out a careful investigation before the purchase.

Mr Derbyshire is a director of Denron Quarries together with his brother, Mr Dennis Derbyshire. The business was started by their father in 1963.

He said the tracked TwisterTrac AC 210 Vertical Shaft Impact (VSI) crusher is currently busy with other mobile equipment in borrow pits where 1 500 tonnes/day of G1 and G2 base course materials, asphalt material and road surfacing chips are being produced.

“We bought the TwisterTrac AC 210 because it is fully mobile and a unique machine. It fits like a glove with our existing mobile equipment. It is a well-designed and a well-built machine. I am very happy with it,” he said.

“I did some research before we decided to buy it, and I believe it is better than some international brands. I have had a look at some mobile crushers that are yet to be introduced to the market, but the TwisterTrac AC 210 is far superior. The prices of other mobile machines still to be introduced are sky high,” he added.

“I am most impressed with the quality of the material being produced by the TwisterTrac, as well as with the fines that we get from this machine; we needed extra fines.”

Mr Derbyshire said Denron Quarries was now in a position to set up quarrying operations in almost any area using its mobile equipment.

Commenting, Mr Sandro Scherf, managing director of Pilot Crushtec, said the design and development of the TwisterTrac AC 210 VSI, with its 250 t/h capacity, was a first for Pilot Crushtec.

“We are the first in the world to go into production with a tracked, fully mobile VSI crusher,” he said. “Now we see sales taking off internationally.”

“The TwisterTrac AC 210, includes several improvements to the crusher, including a new 6 port rotor that provides increased feed size and up to 60% extra throughput capacity.

“One of the design criteria was to ensure easy portability and mobility and this was achieved in all respects. The unit fits easily onto standard lowbeds, and its 27tonne weight provides many transport advantages.

Pilot Crushtec’s TwisterTrac was recently awarded the disa Design Excellence Award by the Design Institute South Africa, a division of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS). Design Excellence Awards recognises the achievements of South African product designers, encouraging local product design and manufacture, as well as promoting international competitiveness of local products. Last year Pilot Crushtec became the overall winner of the first annual SA Pro/Awards Competition, which recognizes engineering design excellence, for the design of the TwisterTrac AC 210. The SA Pro/Awards competition was held by productONE, the sub-Saharan distributor for PTC’s product lifecycle management (PLM) software solutions – Pro/ENGINEER and Windchill.