Using the right impact bed helped Hilltop Stone keep its conveyor belts running smoothly.

by Chip Winiarski

On most days, Hilltop Stone, located about 20 miles south of Cincinnati in Butler, Ky., produces 14,000 tons of crushed limestone in a 16-hour period. At this rate, Hilltop Stone easily generates nearly $100,000 in daily revenue when production is at full operating capacity.

Hilltop Stone realizes the value of equipment it uses to move limestone and the role it plays in keeping production running at full speed, so when its conveyor system continued to interrupt production by breaking down due to the harsh working environment, it turned to Flexco DRX impact beds for more reliable service and improved efficiency.

Founded in 1941, Hilltop Basic Resources, Inc. produces a variety of aggregates for commercial, industrial, and government projects from its seven plants in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Identifying problems

Producing aggregates is a demanding job and can take a toll on equipment. This was the problem with Hilltop Stone’s previous conveyor system — it was simply unable to withstand rigorous quarry conditions. Depending on discharge point, limestone rocks as large as 18-inches in diameter fall onto the impact beds from a height of between 7 and 10 feet.

“The issue we were dealing with is that the impact beds would break right down the middle and, in some cases, the conveyor would break with them,” says Terry Figgins, quarry manager of Hilltop Stone’s Butler facility. “When they would break, we would have to fishplate the sides of the conveyor to keep them going. It was a very time-consuming repair.”

An average of five times a year, Figgins says the conveyor system could be down for maintenance for time periods ranging from just a few hours to an entire day or more. “When we’re producing 14,000 tons a day and the system is down completely, you can do the math on how much that’s costing us,” he adds.

Company officials ran the math and determined it was time to make a change, replacing its previous impact beds with three Flexco DRX3000 impact beds. Designed to meet the needs of impact areas requiring extreme energy absorption from large-size material or severe height, the impact beds can handle up to 3,000 pound-foot applications of impact energy.