Sandvik jaw plates do the job for GF

A company in the United Kingdom has become one of the first to trial the new Superior tooth jaw plates designed and manufactured by Sandvik.

Scotland-based GF Job offers services ranging from earthmoving and civil engineering to recycling and contract crushing.

Sandvik said the firm has doubled the lifetime of its jaw plates, as well as experiencing other key benefits.

Employing 90 people, GF Job owns a range of Sandvik mobile crushing and screening equipment, including four tracked jaw crushers.

Predominantly the materials it crushes in its quarries are granite and glacial cobbles. One of the jaw crushers, a Sandvik QJ341 is employed in the same granite quarry for most of the year and this produces 500,000 t of 127 mm (5 in) crusher run to feed an aggregate processing plant.

GF Job has previously used a variety of different jaws to test the durability and performance. On this application both the heavy duty 20% style square tooth jaws and the conventional 14% corrugated jaws were used. A history of tonnages produced from each jaw has been recorded to give a true account of performance in relation to costs. For this reason it decided to trial the new Superior tooth jaw plates on this machine.

From talking and listening to customers Sandvik developed a new profile of jaw plate, designed to increase durability and productivity while decreasing operating costs and service time.

The new Superior tooth jaw plates have been designed around adding material where it matters most. The new profile allows for a higher percentage of the jaw to be worn which results in longer wear life and less manganese waste. The improved tooth profile also allows for better breakage and improved material flow. This results in a more cubical product and a higher quality product shape.

Sandvik said that following the trial at GF Job, the initial test data has been extremely encouraging. The average output increased from 200 to 250 t/hr and wear rates increased by more than 30%.

“In this particular granite application previous jaw plates have been ranging between 20,000-30,000 t of crushed material and that’s the life of the jaws,” said plant manager Graeme Watt.

”Since we went onto this new jaw we’re up 50,000-55,000 t for the life of the jaw. If you go into a limestone quarry, you’ll get double but this is a hard abrasive material.

“The new jaw plates are creating a better shape of product, but it’s also crushing far more economically for us as well. It’s reducing the load on the crusher, therefore you’re creating better fuel economy whilst also reducing the physical hardship on that machine” added Graeme.

The Superior tooth jaw plates will be part of Sandvik’s aftermarket offering on display at the Conexpo exhibition in Las Vegas, USA, in March.