Faced with some unbreakable rocks while re-sheeting a gravel road, Bland Shire Council, in NSW’s Central West region, decided make use of a rock crusher it had experienced some success with in the past.
Charlie Reid the council’s Acting Senior Foreman said many of the shire’s road surfaces had become “raw” and in need of a fresh layer of gravel.
The council decided to hire a Kirpy BPB250 Rock Crusher from dealership Broons, after using the equipment successfully in a similar application several years beforehand.
“It is going down beautifully, and you could nearly put tar straight on top of the finished surface,” said Reid.
“The Kirpy is doing a great job. We are getting a lot of positive comments about the finish – even from farmers and that’s almost unheard of.”
The crusher features 12 fixed and toughened carbide-tipped hammers, which can crush rock up to 300 millimetres in diameter into products less than 40 millimetres in diameter. It works at a rate up to 150 cubic metres an hour.
The unit also has three-point linkage, which the company said is easily connected to a 120-kilowatt tractor variable transmission or a creeper gear. It also has sealed bearings, a Lincoln automatic greasing system and a hydraulically adjustable anvil, featuring a hydro-pneumatic safety device.
The council has now extended its hire term to do additional work with the crusher.