German Debut of Diamond Products’ Bump Grinder Exceeds Expectations
Published: 5/5, 2020
Last fall, German contractor silco tec Umweltschutzsysteme GmbH ground nearly 560,000 ft2 (52,000 m2) of concrete pavement off the country’s A8 motorway in less than six weeks. The key to this remarkable achievement was the self-propelled PC4504CE bump grinder developed by the American subsidiary of Diamond Products Ltd. In order to meet the legal requirements and directives of the European market, the American original was adapted in advance to the local conditions in close cooperation between Tyrolit and Lissmac Maschinenbau GmbH.
All grinding work was carried out at night, allowing the roadway to remain fully open during the day. The 29-ft (9m) long PC4504CE featured a 4-ft (1.27m) wide blade shaft specially equipped for the project with 245 BGX-C3 Premium diamond saw blades featuring TGD® technology. The 19-in (485mm) diameter blades delivered an optimal grinding pattern with clean cut edges. The slurry extraction system also worked flawlessly as well, eliminating the usual and time-consuming cleaning of the road surface using a sweeper.
The special highlight, however, was the traverse speed, which achieved up to 46 ft/min (14m/min) when the blade shaft was fully loaded, exceeding all expectations, despite the strength of the concrete surface. As a result, silco tec Umweltschutzsysteme GmbH not only made extremely rapid progress, but the project was actually completed even faster than originally planned.