The Homrich family has been doing business with National Attachments for nearly 15 years, utilizing some of the most unique and specialized equipment in the industry.
The Homrich family has been doing business with National Attachments for nearly 15 years, utilizing some of the most unique and specialized equipment in the industry. So when their Nye concrete pulverizer was due to be replaced, there was only one company to turn to.
"We like the durability and how long the first pulverizer lasted, said Tim Homrich, vice president of the Michigan-based demolition, remediation and environmental contractor founded by his grandfather Ivan Homrich. "We also really like the customer service at National Attachments. In our industry things break, things fail just because we are rougher than the average Joe. Anytime we had to lean on National Attachments, they were on the ball and able to get us the parts overnight or within a few days to prevent downtime. That saves us money and keeps our machines running."
But this time Homrich, who heads up the industry-leading operation with his brother Scott and cousin Jason, asked National to work with them on customizing the equipment.
In the moveable upper jaw, they crafted the center tooth to be more pronounced so it acts like a cracking mechanism, cracking the concrete first, then pulverizing the concrete with the outside teeth. They tilted the nose plates on the bottom in a more downward position to increase the pulverizer usability.
"We don't sit on a pile and dig through," said Homrich. "We sit in front and bring it to us. We tipped the bottom nose plate so it was way more perpendicular and reached out more as opposed to having it tipped back in. That allows us to rake through the pile easier and grab onto the concrete.
"With the nose plate, we noticed they also made a change. They added the 'pinch' plate onto the nose and that's for pulling or removing wire or rebar. It grabs onto the rebar when you close the tool. That increases the ability to grab any size rebar. We found that to be fantastic. A post-tension parking structure was the first job we used this new design on. They used small cables in building these parking structures. We are able to grab the cables and pull them out of the pile, which is a big advantage for us to get the recyclable metal out of the pile," said Homrich.
They also added custom teeth to both the upper and lower nose plates so that they can easily interchange the teeth. The edge on a standard pulverizer tends to wear down with the contractor's steady use. That means after a time, the edge has to be welded and built back up. But with the new teeth, they can simply unpin one and replace it with another.
Lastly, Homrich had them modify the stiff arm bracket.
The company uses its machines with a multitude of attachments, including a hydraulic thumb, Homrich said. So they had the stiff arm bracket made wide enough to take the stiff arm and put a thumb cylinder on it. That makes the equipment more user-friendly. If they hadn't modified the bracket, they would have to cut off the stiff arm bracket to put the hydraulic thumb on. This way it is interchangeable for both attachments.
"We feel it the best Pac Man concrete pulverizer we have in our fleet," Homrich said. "It's the one that recovered the most rebar out of the concrete, and it has greater ability to fracture the bigger pieces of concrete. The steel rebar means more money. The ability to fracture the largest pieces of concrete means I can move a smaller machine on site. I don't have the mobilization charges for moving larger equipment on to the site. We are extremely satisfied."
Lori Tobias
Lori Tobias is a journalist of more years than she cares to count, most recently as a staff writer for The Oregonian and previously as a columnist and features writer for the Rocky Mountain News. She is the author of the memoir, Storm Beat - A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast, and the novel Wander, winner of the Nancy Pearl Literary Award in 2017. She has freelanced for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Denver Post, Alaska Airlines in-flight, Natural Home, Spotlight Germany, Vegetarian Times and the Miami Herald. She is an avid reader, enjoys kayaking, traveling and exploring the Oregon Coast where she lives with her husband Chan and rescue pups, Gus and Lily.
Read more from Lori Tobias here.
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