Construction World April 2021

How Pilot Crushtec can assist aggregate and sand producers

and in secondary stage this is taken down to a nominal 25 mm. In the tertiary stage the 25 mm is taken down to what the specs are for the sand. This is where the various technologies come into play, Pilot Crushtec’s primary technology being Vertical Shaft Impact crushing. “Our heritage is based on manufactured sand,” says Marais. “VSI & HSI is our heritage technology and we have improved our products over the last 30 years into something that we export extensively,” he adds. “We have launched the VS100 and 200 which is the third generation of VSI technology. We have increased safety on the machines and added what is called the cascade system – where you can stop material from passing through the rotor so production can be increased. These machines are particularly popular in Australia, Scotland and Switzerland where they are used by especially recyclers where the smaller size of the machine is more financially accessible compared to cone crushers,” he concludes. ▄

“Different crushers have different results. We do not just want to sell equipment, but provide solutions by understanding holistically what the project is about. If a customer wants to provide aggregate for general construction, then the machine used does not have to be as large or complex as machines that supply aggregate and sand to major projects that require high specification and requirements,” says Marais. “Our sales engineers, who spend as much time on site to get to know the local conditions, client requirements and regulations, assess what clients are doing, how they are doing it and what the end requirement will be. They then find a solution for this,” Marais says. “Traditionally for sand, we use a VSI (vertical shaft impact) crusher. Clients buy it because their client, quality of the material and the end product demands it,” Abelho explains. “It is more expensive to operate when compared to other crushers, but when used within parameters, it provides optimal results.” Pilot Crushtec has been building, repairing, refining and developing some of the world’s best VSIs for over 30 years. “These crushers are ideal to use as third or fourth stage crushers for, amongst others, infrastructure and construction applications,” says Marais. Pilot Crushtec was appointed as the Southern Africa distributor for Metso’s aggregates products and services in 2015. “Metso has a range of Jaws, Cones and HRC crushers – they reflect the evolution from compression crushers to what it is now. When mining was on the decline in the seventies, the focus of crushing moved to construction and as such away from particle crushers (where metal was used for crushing rock) to inter-particle crushing (where materials crush against itself, giving a cubicle product). Elongated crushed rock will break, allow water to seep in and a road (for instance) will deteriorate. A cubicle product uses less material, fits closer together and will result in less concrete and tar being used,” explains Abelho. Metso’s generation of crushers have taken this design change to a different level. “The force of the crushing in the chambers is 30 to 40% more intense, which means that one can crush a lot finer. When one crushes finer, concrete gets harder and more competent. The VSI crusher still gives one control over the final product though – by changing the speed, the product curve can be changed.” Pilot Crushtec’s heritage “I liken crushing to driving,” says Abelho. “You do not get to top speed in one gear. Most sand manufacturing is about three stages: in the primary stage 600 mm feed sizes is minimised to a nominal 100 mm,

The Pilot Crushtec Static Twister VS350 VSI crusher mounted on a skid frame producing shaped aggregates.

Left: Francois Marais, Director Sales and Marketing at Pilot Crushtec. Right: Fernando Abelho, Africa Sales Manager at Pilot Crushtec.

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD APRIL 2021