Elfie’s Plant Hire owner David Alford has been contracted by BORAL for approximately 10 years for secondary breaking requirements at their Colac Quarry. Equipped with Indeco HP5000 and 9000 whisper breakers, they have proved to be very productive and successful.
With Indeco’s constant pursuit to improve performance and reliability, David has also been testing the new ABF ( anti-blank firing ) system and range of retaining axles specifically in secondary breaking applications. His testing over a period of nearly two years has now enabled Indeco to provide customers with a proven and far superior product.
“The introduction of the Indeco Anti blank firing (ABF) system has been a huge development” said Elfie. “I have always been happy with the productivity and power of my Indeco’s, but the ABF has without a doubt helped improve the reliability and wear and tear on my hammers. It has been fantastic and will certainly prolong the life of my equipment”.
The ABF system eliminates the necessity to install a dump valve on the return to tank oil line in certain applications. Without the ABF system, oil in the line can fire the Rock Breaker after it has broken through the rock, resulting in blank firing. If this happens regularly, it can have a detrimental effect on the life of the breaker.
Elfie has also found with the improved components and ABF fitted to the Indeco larger breakers, maintenance of his hammers has been significantly reduced. “The improvements in turn have actually increased my productivity and have enabled me to maximise the breaker to its full potential” said Elfie.
Indeco also believe that they have also developed the optimum retaining axle for increased longevity and reliability. Having the right combination of specially selected metal and heat treatments has significantly extended the working life of the retaining axles in a secondary breaking application. This has also reduced maintenance costs and possible downtime in a quarry application, again where blank firing has been a major concern.
Another improvement has seen Indeco equip automatic greasing units on their breaker fleet enabling them to be easily fitted to excavators that don’t have an existing greasing system. This has also been very successful, saving the operator from manually greasing the breaker, guaranteeing chisel lubrication as well as preventing premature wear on the top and bottom bush. “Anything that saves me time or can help with the maintenance of my hammer has to be a good thing” says Elfie. “and we couldn’t agree more.