Sale sight unseen

However this was not sufficient to discourage a North Queensland mine from placing an order for the machine that it planned to see at the expo. The first RTS is now being readied for transport to the mine at Precisionscreen’s Wacol (Brisbane) factory.

Precisionscreen has built wheel-mounted radial stackers for a number of years, and has also built track-mounted self-propelled equipment in the past, but the current RTS80 delivery is the first to combine tracks with a radial stacker. The track base allows the radial stacker to be mobile around a site rather than relying on another machine for towing. The tracks also simplify the positioning of the radial stacker on site.

The tracks replace the normal fixed base: both the tracked and wheeled radial stackers share the swivelling wheel sets under the conveyor. These facilitate towing in the straight ahead position and radial stacking in the turned position.

While radial stackers are more costly than fixed stackers, they allow much larger stockpiles to be built, theoretically only requiring sufficient gap in the stockpile to allow the stacker to be fed.
Precisionscreen quotes a stockpile capacity of 1,740 cubic metres for the RTS80 operating in a fixed position: in slewing mode this increases to 13,330 cubic metres.

Like all Precisionscreen products, the RTS80 was developed in Australia. However it will be manufactured in Precisionscreen’s UK factory as wage and component costs in Australia no longer make it economical to produce small equipment here for the domestic and export markets. In the Precisionscreen factory at the same time as the RTS80 is a Precoater 3000: a trailer-mounted screening and pre-coating plant.

The mobility means that coated aggregate can be produced as required close to where it will be used, rather than transporting coated aggregate some distance from a fixed plant. Coating as required also reduces waste. These units have proved particularly popular in Western Australia.
However the other major development item of interest is the SRD240X mobile sand washing plant. This incorporates a 2-deck screenbox and wash kit, dual bucket wheel, drying vibrating screenbox, linear weir overflow, submerged screw and cyclone.

This unit covers all options, allowing a contractor to hire it and work out what elements are required to extract sand in his location and then order a unit tailored with these features. He can continue to hire the SRD240X while his plant is being built, with this “try before you buy” option removing significant risk for the owner in specifying his plant.