Nordic contractors' rock

A joint Swecon (Volvo Construction Equipment's Swedish dealer) and Sandvik Mining and Construction customer event held in the first week of October attracted many of the leading contractors from the Nordic region.

Over 400 visitors from Sweden, Norway and Denmark attended the event and witnessed the entire road building process from drilling rock in a quarry prior to blasting through to compacting asphalt on a finished road. And all in a stunning 30 minute show preceding active hands-on equipment demonstrations and test drives.

Held at Volvo Construction Equipment's 25000 m2 customer centre and demonstration area in Eskilstuna, Sweden, the ‘Rock to Road' event highlighted the equipment and processes needed in a quarry for the blasting, movement and crushing of rock to make aggregate.

Beneath the quarry face, the full complement of Volvo road building equipment was then pressed into action to demonstrate how the aggregate is used to create a road.

Sales and marketing manager at Swecon, Christer Söderberg said: "To have the customer days together with Sandvik improved the attractiveness and value for the contractors that were invited. The feedback that we received after the event was extremely positive with attendees saying that the focus and value met their needs."

The quarry face featured a remote controlled Sandvik DX680R hydraulic, self-propelled, crawler based surface drilling rig designed for efficient top hammer drilling in difficult terrain. Alongside was a remote controlled DC302R hydraulic, self-propelled drilling unit with 4-wheel drive.

Supporting the drilling rigs were three Volvo crawler excavators in the shape of the EC240CL, EC460CL, and EC700CL with operating weights of 26 tonnes, 48.3 tonnes and 71.7 tonnes respectively. All three hydraulic excavators demonstrated their agility, productivity, safety and efficiency in handling blasted rock in difficult conditions, made all the more challenging by driving rain throughout the first day.

The Volvo EC460CL excavator was used primarily to load a Sandvik UJ440E jaw crusher which is capable of accepting rock sizes up to 760 mm and can crush up to 600 tonnes per hour. Powered by a Volvo 1241 TAD diesel engine, the 71 tonne UJ440E produced crushed rock, which was then transported for processing into various size aggregates using a Volvo L220F wheel loader equipped with Optishift for up to 15% improved fuel efficiency.

Final crushing and screening was demonstrated using Sandvik's UH421 cone crusher featuring a three deck screen and a UF320S semi mobile screen capable of screening 160 tonnes per hour into four different sized products.

Loading of the hoppers for both units was carried out using Volvo Wheel loaders, including the 21 tonne L120F and the 26 tonne L150F. Final product was then transported away from the crushing and screening plant using Volvo FM trucks.

Home ground
While the initial phase of the demonstration highlighted the combined capabilities of Volvo Construction Equipment and Sandvik in the quarry and aggregates sector, the focus then switched to road building, a segment in which Volvo provides a full service offering.

A 19.8 tonne Volvo G976 motor grader with a maximum blade down pressure of 9776 kg prepared the base, which was placed using an on-highway Volvo FMX articulated tipper. This was then compacted with a 12.8 tonne Volvo SD130D Single drum soil compactor featuring a drum width of 2.1 m, a vibration frequency of between 30.8 and 33.8 Hz and amplitude of between 1.17 and 1.9 mm.

Once the base was prepared, Volvo's range topping ABG6870 wheeled paver - with a maximum paving width of 9 m - rolled into action placing asphalt at up to 40 m per minute. The paver was immediately followed by a DD95 double drum compactor, the range topping 9.6 tonne asphalt compactor from Volvo that features a drum width of 1.68 m. With a vibration frequency of between 40 and 50 Hz and amplitude of 67 to 82 mm, the unit was also equipped with a CS750 chip spreader to enhance the surface finish.

Mr Söderberg said: "Machines are becoming increasingly similar, so it's crucial that we offer customers the right product as well as security and profitability through providing a reliable and stable support service. The ‘Rock to Road' event enabled us to demonstrate both the capabilities of our equipment and the support that contractors can expect."

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