A customer’s truck is filled at the Riverton, Wyo., pit.

Dale’s plant setup now includes the 3042 jaw crusher plant, a 7-foot by 20-foot three-deck horizontal screen with surge bin for the cone, the 400-horsepower cone crusher plant, a KPI-JCI Superstacker, and various other portable conveyors as needed. He also recently upgraded his loaders to include a 972 and 980 from Caterpillar.

At the Riverton pit, excavated raw material goes through the jaw to the rest of the plant. When Dale runs plant mix for asphalt production, consisting of 3/4-inch or 1/2-inch, 3/8-inch, and 3/16-inch products, he rents an additional 6-foot by 20-foot horizontal screen that pulls out minus-3/4-inch dirty material after the jaw, sending only clean rock to the 7-foot by 20-foot screen.

Brandt notes that he recommended the cone plant because of the quality of the manufacturer’s customer service. “But the biggest benefit for B&B Aggregates came almost immediately when Bert was able to double his production,” he adds. “Now, he literally gets in, crushes, and gets out.”

“I went from 300 horsepower with my old cone to 400 horsepower with this cone, but my production has almost doubled. I’ve basically cut my time on projects in half, which makes me more competitive with bids,” says Dale. “The bigger screen with the in-and-out setup helps, but that Raptor cone just eats rocks. And I haven’t sacrificed quality, either,” he adds. “You can see it makes a quality product — but the production is the key.” Dale says he gets as much as 500 to 640 tons per hour, depending on the project.

And Brandt adds that even when the closed-side setting is pulled down to 1/2-inch, Dale produces between 120 and 130 tons per hour without any outside equipment. “Before, when Bert needed a lot of 1/2-inch material, he would rent a second 300-horsepower cone, and, with the two cones running together, he would get about 120 tons per hour.” Now, Dale gets that with a single cone plant.

In addition, Brandt explains that, by changing cone liners on the XL400, Dale is able to produce any material his customers require. “With the option of changing to a shorthead liner, it opens a spectrum of versatility. You could use it as a standard primary, or change the liners to shorthead medium and use it as a finish crusher. It allows Bert to truly offer custom crushing,” he says.

“In the past year, my capabilities have grown. I can crush anything for highway jobs now,” Dale agrees.

Ease of use

Dale says the cone is simple to operate and simple to work on. Features that he especially appreciates include the clearing feature and the clamp cylinders. “It lifts and clears the chamber, then sets it right back down to the same closed-side setting. It beats having to shovel it out,” Dale notes. “And the upside-down clamp cylinders keep out dirt and dust.”

Dale also likes that the cone has provided easier liner changes than his previous cone crushers.

While the Riverton pit is open just nine months out of the year because the ground freezes in the winter months, B&B Aggregates operates year-round, traveling to project sites for custom crushing work. “The rock in Riverton isn’t really abrasive, but rock in other parts of the state can be abrasive,” Dale says. “So there has been a bit of a learning curve figuring its effect on the liners into my bids. However, overall I’ve gotten about seven months of crushing 45-hour, five-day weeks on one set of liners. And the plant is so open that changing them is easy.”

B&B Aggregates Equipment List:

• Caterpillar 972H wheel loader

• Caterpillar 980H wheel loader

• Caterpillar D8 bulldozer

• Caterpillar 330D excavator

• Terex Cedarapids 3042 jaw crusher plant

• Terex Cedarapids 7-foot x 20-foot three-deck horizontal screen

• FLSmidth Raptor XL400 cone crusher

• KPI-JCI SuperStacker conveyor

• Various conveyors

• Terex Cedarapids 6-foot x 20-foot three-deck horizontal screen (rental)