To say the Ace LB3860 is a large machine is a bit of an understatement. The LB3860, which weighs in at 275,000 lbs. (124,738 kg), can process more than 1,000 tons (907 t) of material an hour, according to the manufacturer. It can process rock up to 3-ft. (.9 m) in diameter.
The first of its kind for this market, this high performance primary mobile jaw crusher is designed for quarries doing high production and for contractors looking to do high-volume work. John Patton of Ace Equipment Sales, Willington, Conn., spearheaded the combination of the Telsmith Jaw and the Eurotrack mobile plant with these users in mind.
“In today’s competitive environment, quarry operators and large contractors need high production with a large crusher opening, ease of operation and minimal down-time. The Telsmith jaw’s time-tested use as a stationary primary crusher along with Eurotrack’s experience building track chassis gave us the ability to meet these needs in a stable mobile platform. Contractors need a crushing plant that they can operate with other equipment that is available like a 992 size loader or a 375 to 390 size excavator,” Patton said.
“For quarry operators, this mobility gives them the ability to crush shot rock at the quarry face and convey the processed material back to the secondary crushing operation with an overland conveyor saving time, money, fuel, haul trucks and people.”
The Telsmith J3858 jaw (38 by 60 in. [96.5 by 152 cm] jaw opening) weighs in at 110,000 lbs. (49,895 kg), is extra deep and wide and is mounted to a Eurotrack X9-2 chassis. The jaw is directly driven by a Cummins QSX15 engine and fed by a 60 in. by 20 ft. (152 cm by 6 m) feeder with 10 ft. (3 m) grizzly-bars and empties onto a 65 in. (165 cm) wide discharge conveyor. The jaws hydraulic relief toggle features overload relief as well as chamber clearing in the event of an unexpected shutdown — eliminating the risk, time and expense of “digging out.”
Not Your Typical Crusher
In most quarries there is a single massive initial crusher usually known as the primary crusher that makes the first mechanical breaking of the rock. This means that once a section of rock has been blasted, the pieces of rock, typically 3-ft. in diameter and smaller, are loaded onto a haul truck and taken to the primary crusher, which then breaks the rock down into smaller pieces. In a large quarry that means that those haul trucks, which must be loaded by a piece of equipment, are expensive to own and consume massive amounts of fuel. The runs also become longer and longer as the quarry face moves farther from the stationary crushing operation.
The idea behind the LB3860 is to move a conventional stationary jaw crusher to the rocks that need to be crushed instead of bringing the rocks to the crusher, according to Patton. Conveying rock is the more cost-effective form of transportation and is nearly impossible with shot rock. The cost of just one 60 ton (54 t) haul truck is well above a million dollars and an established quarry would typically need several trucks to maintain production.
This machine is built to handle quarry work, not to be confused with the far smaller machines that are used for onsite recycling operations. Dependability and longevity are desirable components of any equipment and the Telsmith J3858 hydraulic jaw has been operating around the world since 1998. Eurotrack did a complete finite element analysis of the chassis with real world data from operating 3858 crushers to ensure a track and carriage capable of handling the stresses of long-term crushing. The Cummins QSX15 500 hp (373 kW) engine is complemented with Kawasaki hydraulic VDP pumps, PT Tech hydraulic clutch and a triple power transmission (TPT) specially designed for crawler crusher use. This package is designed to work together to reduce fuel consumption to a minimum.
Go Big or Go Home
Why build such a mammoth machine?
“Along with being an equipment dealer and manufacturer, we operate a small quarry. We recognize the need to cut operating costs to remain competitive and profitable. While talking to another producer about the challenges we face in the industry, he indicated his desire to find a crusher large enough to handle his shot rock while being mobile enough to work around his quarry.” Patton said. “Being a Telsmith dealer, I was familiar with Telsmith’s J3858 jaw and we had been talking to one of the owners of Eurotrack Inc., who we have known for over 15 years, about putting larger crushers on track chassis. It just fit into place.
“The economics of a machine like this makes all the sense in the world. When you look at the potential of eliminating the operation of a cycle of three or four haul trucks and simply using an overland conveyor to handle the material, the Ace LB3860 starts paying for itself immediately. The cost of conveying material is dramatically and demonstrably lower cost than using haul trucks. The key was to have a jaw large enough to work in a quarry with an ability to easily feed it with existing equipment. With a 17 foot feed height, the option is there to use a loader or an excavator. With the capability of processing over 1,000 tons per hour, the quarry is lacking nothing in production levels.”
Notable Features
The Ace crusher has some features that increase the desirability of the machine, according to Patton.
“The jaw crusher is equipped with a hydraulic toggle, which relieves pressure on the crusher when it is facing uncrushable or unbreakable rock or pieces of steel. The toggle will also clear the chamber in the event of a shutdown. This feature alone is a benefit in terms of safety, downtime and performance. The crushing plant is also equipped with a remote control, which allows the entire crushing and loading operation to be controlled by one individual seated in the excavator or loader. Plant options include a breaker hammer, side discharge conveyor, a 5th wheel conveyor hookup to attach an 80 ft. hydraulic jump conveyor, and an electric-diesel drive combination.
“The jaw that we have used [the Telsmith 3858] was designed originally as a stationary jaw which has been time tested worldwide for 15 years and has proven itself to be tremendously reliable. It is a deep jaw for more crushing area and a better nip angle. The Cummins QSX-15 engine is set up for direct drive to the jaw instead of using a hydraulic motor resulting in less loss of horsepower between the engine and the crusher. It also allows the crusher to operate at lower rpm’s resulting in less fuel consumption. The track system is set up with a two-speed drive with enough torque to climb a 22 degree grade,” he said. “This, along with the plant’s balanced center of gravity, gives the machine an incredible ability to move about.”
Working Together
To make this machine, Patton combined the expertise of two proven manufacturers in the industry: Telsmith Inc. and Eurotrack Inc.
Telsmith Inc. of Mequon, Wisc., the jaw manufacturer, has a 100-year history in the manufacturing of aggregate equipment. Eurotrack Inc. of Northampton, UK, which manufactured the power plant and track system for this machine, has 20 years of experience as an OEM for various manufacturers of portable tracked aggregate equipment.
Ace Equipment, which is an affiliate of Becker Construction, has been in business for more than 40 years, took the technology from both Telsmith and Eurotrack and combined them to build the Ace LB 3860. Ace is currently working with Telsmith and Eurotrack to produce an entry-level size mobile jaw crusher, the DB3244, expected out in February 2013 featuring the Telsmith HydraJaw H3244 jaw and the Eurotrack X7 chassis.
For more information, call 860/429-2793 or visit www.acecrushers.com.
This story also appears on Aggregate Equipment Guide.
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