Crushing concrete

[6sunset6]

I need a crusher. I have hmm maybe 7 yards of concrete from a slab I picked up no wire in it but had fiber. Size ranges from 2" thick 6" x12" to 6" thick 2' x 4'
set over a couple of rails a sledge will crack them . I also have a small rotary jack hammer. I can use feathers and wedges or Dexpan ( better) to reduce the big ones .
I saw a great small crusher on you tube , the link started here . But It was 12k and needed a 16hp engine. Neither of which I have laying around. I do ,however have lots of time. I was thinking of a log spitter . The wedge is ok the pusher would need two projections the place the concrete piece in tension around the wedge. I tested the theory on a press with a pressure gage on it 4T to snap a 2" by 6" piece. With a bang I might add.
I have a small spitter around 9 tons. Thats the next step. I also have something in the 25 ton range but it has a box wedge on it and I would have to make a new wedge for it . Only if I have to. Will keep you posted. I bet a vertical machine would work great for this with projections on the base. And one could sit while doing it.

 

[Walkin Horse]

I have the same thing golng on. The hunt club I belong to has 2 dump truck loads of rubble someone brought in to fix the mudholes. Everybody was too lazy to do it right and was just chucking the sections in the mudholes. The trucks were getting hung up and pushing the pieces out of the holes. So the president told me I could have all I want. They are about a mile from my place so I go get a truckload. Come back toss it off and use a hammerdrill to bust it up. It takes me about two hour to bust a dually load. And it is more or less where I want it so I don't have to handle again. Let us know how the splitter works.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Around here crushed concrete sells for about $10/ton. Seven yards is about 10 tons, so you've got about $100 worth of finished product. I'd give the pieces of slab to the recycler and buy it back crushed.

 

[Bigfoot62]

Around here crushed concrete sells for about $10/ton. Seven yards is about 10 tons, so you've got about $100 worth of finished product. I'd give the pieces of slab to the recycler and buy it back crushed.

That's what I was thinking.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I would love to find someone with a portable crusher. I removed 6 slabs 18" wide x 40 feet long with average thickness about 12" thick for my daughter in law. The previous owner had a triple wide mobile home on it. It does have some rebar in it. We were thinking of using a rented jack hammer to bust it into some smaller pieces to use for rip-rap in creek wash areas but crushed concrete would be nice for the driveway.

 

[RDrancher]

That's what I was thinking.

Me too. I guess what I'm not understanding is why the OP would go to the trouble of building a purpose built machine to crush 7 yards. Bored?

 

[Brad_Blazer]

I made a 2" tamper head for my little 40lb electric hammer that seems to do a good job crushing rocks and concrete. Maybe a bushing tool would work well after you reduce it to manageable chunks with a chisel bit.
I haven't done any big jobs. Just crushed the occasional rock or cement from a post. Search Results for bushing tool at The Home Depot

 

[lt190b]

pick up big piece drop on small piece make smaller pieces

 

[6sunset6]

Amazing Log Splitter pops concrete easy. Easier with some projections on the pusher flat. Did not even go into low gear and the broken pieces did not fly around much. Then the projections broke off and I tried with the flat pusher. Maybe pump shifted , more energy in the split and the pieces flew a bit . It broke 2" thick standing up as well as 2" thick laying down with 4" the long way . I supose 2 x 4 is the same as 4 x 2 . I have to make a better way to keep the rebar verticals in there , Maybe a loop around the cross pin. I do have pictures but I can tell you guys want movies. I can do that but let me get the cage fixed first. ]
Now that I look at the picture I realize that I could just weld the rebar on the flat. it would still work as a splitter. Except I cannot get the splitter to the welder right now. Waiting for a guy to place 11cy concrete no show today.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Around here crushed concrete sells for about $10/ton. Seven yards is about 10 tons, so you've got about $100 worth of finished product. I'd give the pieces of slab to the recycler and buy it back crushed.

I agree. It's too cheap to mess with. Same with recycled asphalt.

Chris

 

[6sunset6]

yeah I know but retired and no truck and all this hydraulic mobile power around.

 

[Egon]

What have you got for rock breaking tools?

 

[6sunset6]

me the OP I have a small rotary/ hammer and 2 log splitters . I would really like to find a small jaw crusher. Use it and sell it. or rent a small trailer mounted one . I looked at United Rental Thy have nothing.

 

[Egon]

Okay, lots of slow heavy work to accomplish the job.

Consider a weight dropping and being lifted by a slip rope on drum.

 

[6sunset6]

While I am waiting for anyone to respond to my request to place 12 cy I have been looking at the pile of concrete . What I would really like to do is rent a small crusher on trailer for a day. But the only place that seems to be into that is the UK. I also found an interesting crusher made in the UK Attached picture.
Unfortunatly it is a.gif file and gets fuzzy when blown up. There is a movie of that running as well on their web site Concrete Crushers.
So I started thinking. I have a 12' Bucket from a MF TBL good size. If I bolted it to a skid steer plate ( 5/16 plate model already on order) and inserted a crusher base plate and crusher plate inside the bucket and used the upper pin holes in the bucket to anchor a cylinder I could sit in the seat and crush away.
I have a 3.5 " cylinder but it's too long . What I really want is a 4" with a 6" stroke. I have front hydraulics for a grapple on my bucket and the tractor has 7gpm. Thats plenty. Cycle time on the cylinder is plenty fast probably too fast 1/4" hoses would be good. I guess I should go take some pictures . Be right back
ok pictures pile of concrete waiting to be crushed, MF 12' bucket and the poor mans cad works for crushing jaws. . It not a real big jaw opening but I think it will work.
I don't want to alter the bucket so it cannot be used on the MF so everything will probably bolt on and there will just be some bolt holes in the bucket. I have enough steel around to cobble up something , The skid plate ,same bolt up so the only big ticket item is the cylinder. Found one for $230 4 x 6 3500 psi . .

 

[6sunset6]

Could a moderator move this to Build It Yourself Thanks

 

[6sunset6]

Upon further contemplation I decided the jaw opening was not big enough so more stroke on the cylinder. I have a 3.5 " diameter with a 10 inch stroke . Thats 24000 pounds at 2500 psi. Might work. If not I will build it so I can put in a 4 or 5 inch cylinder with not a lot of work, just pins . but the upper pin holes in the bucket are too close so I have to add some plates to move the upper cylinder anchor out . one of the problems with fooling around with stuff like this is the forces. A 5" cylinder is just about 50000 # of force. It is not easy for me to calculate buckling forces on webs, I usually just over build . In this case weight is not an issue.

 

[zing]

Instead of fabricating jaws to crush the concrete, could you just put the bucket on some flat steel and "rock it" back and forth over the concrete chunks to crush them? If it is not heavy enough you could fill it with rocks and increase the weight. Maybe a connecting rod to your log splitter would be enough to rock it back and forth.

 

[chim]

When I was a kid I worked in a quarry near here that provides crushed stone. they had two types of crushers. The main crusher took material that ranged from dust through refrigerator-sized rocks straight from the quarry pit and reduced it to stuff that would all pass through a screen of about 5" or so. Before getting to the main crusher jaws, some of the material that would pass through a 3/4" screen went to the 2A Modified bin so the fines and dirt produced a material that compacted well for certain applications.

The main crusher had massive jaws. One was stationary and the other moved in an orbital manner. When the moveable jaw approached the stationary jaw, it had some (down) horizontal movement so it chewed the rocks as it crushed them. As the moveable jaw came away from the stationary jaw, it also moved upward. A series of different sized screens would sift and sort the crushed stone and drop it into bins. The plant was set up to collect from dust to 5" ballast in bins. They always ran either 4" OR 5", but not both at the same time.

The 4" or 5" that wasn't being collected was redirected to the small crusher. This crusher operated differently. It consisted of what looked like a big heavy steel drum with lobes on it in an enclosure that had a thick steel "roof". Viewed from the right side, the fast-rotating drum turned clockwise. A conveyor fed the stone from the right and into the lobes on the drum. The drum impacted the incoming stone and blasted it against the roof. Every few months the thick steel roof had to be replaced. I think the steel roof was about 2" thick and would wear completely through in the center.

 

[6sunset6]

Step 2 of the poor mans cad program. A wood model. It's not that I don't have a cad program, I do . But I never use it enough to become proficient at it or to remember the commands 6 months from now. I keep thinking I will learn one in the winter but somehow that never happens. Oh well I have a lot of wood scrap around , a good table saw, a good cut off saw and a planner. So in 6-8 hour the crusher insert has appeared.
How come my pictures are so big? Next I have to model the cylinder I have a 3.5 diameter I am going to try. But design for a 5" If I need bigger. If I get some hoses and a couple of fittings I could run the model under hydraulic power. If I had planned ahead I could have run it on air but I tested the cylinder and now its full of oil. Now that I think about it it originally had ATF in it and I run the New holland stuff. I guess its flush time . What a pain through 1/4 mpt.