Has anyone had any experience with one of these Packer Industries 750 construction waste grinders? See http://www.packer2000.com/residential.htm May have some work for one of these but would like some feedback regarding performance, reliability, good & bad points etc. If you know a better machine with similar capabilities at a comparable price let me know. Regards Dave
No direct experience here, but, you may want to compare the Packer with a similar product built by Duratech Industries of Jamestown, North Dakota.
Thanks Dirtman. I had a look at the Duratech products and unfortunately they don't have the capability to handle the same products at the Packer 750. The Packer handles both timber waste and masonry waste such as bricks, concrete blocks tiles etc. The Duratech products are mainly large tub grinders with multi 100hp motors and needs a large truck to tow whereas the more portable Packer runs a 95hp GM and needs just a reasonable sized pickup to tow it. Dave
Dave. I am out of the loop as far as what Duratech's machines will do. I did know that they do require some bigger vehicles to move most of them. Good luck on your search!
I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn, but I have watched the packer DVD, I am very interested in what you turn up. Please keep us posted.
I don't have any first hand experience but there was a clean-up contractor in Birmingham that had one of these. Basically doing what they advertise on the Packer website. Never saw it in operation but saw the "finished" product. They only seemed to grind the wood and drywall. It may have something to do with the wear rates on processing masonry? It really is a great idea for residential projects. The chips and gypsum can be incorporated back into the soil. The wood chips would also make an excellent mud control around houses under construction. What application do you have in mind for it?
Thanks CM1995. I would be mainly using the Packer for grinding drywall, timber, bricks & ceramic roof tiles on demolition jobs. Also grinding some green waste as well. I already have a small crusher for concrete crushing and if the Packer works as claimed it would enable me to process and recycle most most materials I would find. The machine looks pretty straight forward and portable but it would be good to hear how it actually performed and it's reliability from someone who used one rather than just claims on the Packer website. AusDave
dave I have used the packer750 and was trained in the uk to use one by ken the inventer of the packer 750. this kit comes compleat with all the power to eat all houses of brick block wood it eats it all in now time at all. i had truble keeping the hopper fall. and it can all be reused by the contractor or just sold on. l could bore you with the packer 750. best thing l have played with ever if you do need to use this 750 in your work you could not go rong for us in the uk not good becouse we do not like change and to use this in construction it would be a change (pomes) good luck with it all dave one thing l do know of this if you can weld pick things up top up oils and water you can use and run the packer 750
They have a video of it on youtube. Their recommendation is to have 2 laborers feeding the hopper and one operator to control the process. This can be reduced to two people if the operator gets off his butt and loads the hopper. For safety purposes, the hopper has a lid that closes when the machine is in operation. This prevents continuous production (as well as grizzly accidents). When they talk about the cost savings for not having to use dumpsters, they don´t give you the operational cost of the machine nor do they figure in the labor required to constantly feed and monitor it to make any sort of production. I´d like to see a time laps video of the machine in action where they run the contents of a 30 yard container full of demo debris through it. IMO that´s the only way to compare apples to apples what the net benefit to using this machine would be.
AIA Houston and another group (forgot who, maybe HARC?) did a side by side study in which the same builder built two 7000sf custom homes. One home he used a Packer and the other dumpsters (materials were source seperated, then recycled) . The dumpsters were by far cheaper, although here in Texas where we have A LOT of open land, tipping fees are much lower than in other parts of the country.
I have a Pakcer 750 for sale. It will do what they say. It will grind pallets, scrap wood, sheet rock, brick, cinder block, and shingles. It has a magnetic head and will separate the nails. Makes nice mulch out of the wood. Makes nice gravel from the brick and cinder blocks. Use the shingles to fill pot holes in the driveway. Use the sheet rock for fertilizer on the lawn. Saves trips to the land fill. contact me; trent@ teakwoodinc.com (540) 623-8804