Rapidmix allows for on-demand batching in a range of applications, enabling quarrying operations to broaden their horizons with a single investment.
Lincom Group is the exclusive distributor to 10 different brands in crushing, screening and materials handling. The family-owned business was founded in 1994 with its head office in Queensland and now offers a distribution network spanning Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.
One brand under the Lincom umbrella is Rapid, which specialises in mobile concrete batching plant/pugmills and has grown to cement its name in the Australian landscape for more than 10 years.
Lincom recently deployed a Rapidmix 400CW (continuous weigh) to a civil contractor in New South Wales and the business quickly found it had gained more value than it expected.
The business set up the 400CW in its own quarry to produce stabilised materials such as roadbase for local and main roads in their locality.
Lincom general sales manager Darren Smith (well known as Barney) said the customer’s intended use was just the beginning of their Rapidmix ownership.
“They were cautious of the Rapidmix for a period of time but now they’ve put it to work they understand there’s a lot of potential for further work with it including soil stabilisation and moisture addition,” Smith told Quarry.
“There’s a lot of uncharted stuff they haven’t dabbled into yet.”
Outside of this contractor, the 400CW has been used on a Brisbane Airport expansion, Cairns Airport, and major works to the Pacific, Hume, and Bruce highways.
The 400CW builds upon the previous Rapidmix models with greater accuracy, a timed gob hopper and an on-board metrics system for easier reporting.
“There used to be the Rapidmix 400 Volumetric which measured speed over time and volume, whereas the 400CW continuously weighs the material in real time,” Smith said.
“This provides more accuracy, plus you can see a percentage value of all of the materials being passed through the pugmill itself – that’s the feed material, the binder and the water.”
With the 400CW, operators aren’t only assured of accuracy, but volume and speed as well.
Having a silo capacity of 40 tonnes at 1.4t/m3, the mill can churn out material at a rate of up to 400 tonnes per hour depending on powder percentage, feed size and type.
A mix of three to four per cent binder for example, would allow the 400CW to run at 350 tonnes per hour.
After running through the machine’s 3.6m pugmill with 72 paddles at 110 revolutions per minute (rpm), the material is fed up the 1200mm conveyor belt into the gob hopper to load trucks, Smith explained.
“The other feature with this mill is the timed gob hopper. This is part of the RMS spec that you must have a timed gob hopper for loading trucks rather than a loader, as this will minimise segregation,” he said.
“With every feature considered by the Rapid team, customers can be confident that what goes into the back of the truck is 100 per cent what is intended.
“Customers are looking for accuracy in the binder because if you don’t have that accuracy, it can cost you a lot of money.”
The 400CW can get within 100kg of loading a truck to the correct weight. Of course, this is particularly impressive when loading a 25-tonne truck, for example.
This accuracy is certified by a user-friendly touchscreen on the 400CW with a simple calibration process for extra assurance.
The machine can be zeroed every day and can be set up on site in less than four hours before hooking up a water supply and churning out the desired material.
Aside from its various features, Smith said a big drawcard was in the Rapidmix 400CW’s easy maintenance requirements.
“A big feature of the design is the cleaning of the machine. You can clean everything from ground level as the top and sides of the pugmill drop down for easy access,” he said.
Just as the Rapidmix has its operators considered, so too does Lincom.
Smith said he and his team are always keen to get on site with customers for the commissioning of products like the 400CW.
“It generally takes around a week from first inquiry to final commissioning and the customer can get to work satisfying their own clients,” Smith said.
“If we can’t get out to site in a couple of hours, we can log into the machine remotely and walk the customer through any trouble shooting they might need.”