I'm not sure where i should have put this thread, but since i was using an excavator today i figure i'd post these photos here. This is the story- Yesterday my friend calls me and asks me if i can screen topsoil for him, sure i told him. So 7am i get to his yard, and he's got 3 pieces of equipment for me to use, an older Komatsu 150 excavator (with 8034 hours on it),a 544G John deere loader and a read 90 screeener. There was a big pile of unscreened topsoil, and i would take scoops out from the pile, dump it in front of where the excavator was sitting, and then screen with the Komatsu. Due to the topsoil being a little damp, i rescreened the tailings about 3 times and still have a lot of dirt with them. After getting the bottom full of screened topsoil i would scoop it out with the loader and put it in a pile. Here's the setup at 7am. (loader was in back of me)
Here's the Komatsu 150 (35,000 lb machine)
I was dumping the tailings where the bucket of the excavator is. You can see where they fall off the screener into the hole.
Here's the John Deere 544G 2.5 yard or so loader. Where the loader is now was as big of a pile as is what's to the left of the loader. I screened that whole area.
This is the last photo. This is a photo from the seat inside the excavator. I screened around 2 tri-axle loads of topsoil today by myself. He asked me if i wanted to work again friday because a customer of his needs 4 tri-axle loads of topsoil. I might have one of my friends helping me, easier with 2 people. Hope you guys enjoyed the photos.
You could've probably screened three if you hadn't spent so much time taking pictures for us. It's nice to know you have your priorities straight though. (Good pics for us first, work second...) A friend of mine that runs a landscape supply yard has a *big* old Bucyrus Erie excavator. There's a problem with the travel that can't be fixed, at least not economically. He drug it up on top of the topsoil pile with a dozer and it just sits there and feeds the shredder all summer long.
I did not take any breaks today, i had my lunch when i left at 2pm. I worked non stop 7am-2pm. If the soil wasn't so damp i would have had 3 tri-axles loads screened. I screened the tailings 3-4 times and still have a ton of dirt left in them. Hopefully friday the pile won't be as wet.
It's funny that you posted pics of your screening work today. I've got about 60 yards of soil I need to screen, but I don't have a screen and don't really want to rent one. Sooooo, I'm going to embark on a winter project to build a small one that will work with my little tractor. I just got back from the Ritchie Bros site in Olympia after taking some pictures of some screens they had to get some ideas on how to build it. Unfortunately, I wanted pictures of a screen like you're using, but they didn't have any. Now that I know of someone that has a digital camera and a screen, is there any chance I could persuade you to take a few pics of the innards of the screen? I'd be extremely grateful if you could get some of the actual screens and the mechanism that moves them. Pretty please! I promise to provide pictures of my project as it develops. BTW - great pictures. I wish I could afford a Pete that looks like that.
I've seen a few people make their own screening. No sense in spending $90k or so for a Read screener like the one posted. Thomas Equipment sells their machines through auctions. They make a 300 and 400 series screeners. The 400 is around a read 40 size i believe. I was told that the screeners from Thomas go for around 8-10k new at auctions. I've seen a few people put like rebar or stock metal like 1/4" apart and hook up a vibrator to the screener and it seems to work well for them. One contractor in town doesn't even have a vibrator on theirs. I'm sure a homemade screener could be made for around $1-2k (maybe less) depends if one hooks a vibrator to it, metal costs, etc. Good luck with your project, i'll get a photo of the Read's screens for you next time i'm screening. Maybe you could find an used screen off a Read or a similar unit.
BKrois, Thanks for the ideas. I've got time and steel so now I just need to put a design together.
The Read Screen-all is a dual direction screener, which means the screen deck will hold the material on the deck longer to clean it completely, just reverse the lever for screen deck. :bash
I have used the Reed Screenall and it works great, but due to it's price I wound up with a royer schreader instead. it will do about 10 yd per hour loading with a 1 1/4 yd bucket bobcat or with my Takuchi TB070. and screens down to 3/8" minus
another angle.
That is an awesome looking Pete, I really love that truck.
Try to "fluff" the soil by mixing it a little, lifting bucket and dumping it down the pile. This exposes it to the air, thus drying it, as well as breaks up all those clumps that don't fall through to the fines area.
Funny--I think you might have set the record for responding to the oldest previous post.7 years old.Anyway, just funnin you but I'm glad you posted because I never saw this thread before and I also got to see probably the second oldest Royer model on the planet.I'm quite sure my model is the oldest but it makes a beautiful end product,just a tad slow.
A good trommel screening plant with a remote controlled grizzly and radial stacker is the most efficient way to screen topsoil. Our McCloskey 512RG will even screen muddy topsoil at a good rate and damp soil as fast as I can feed it with a 3yd loader. That machine gives me the ability to screen the soil when I want to,leave it in a stockpile off the belt to dry,swing the stacker to make another product,then either fluff the topsoil and load it out or move it out of the way if needed. Everytime I look at our Reed Screenall across the yard I stop and wonder how we ever made any money with that thing,considering all the extra time and effort it takes,but it does serve a purpose for small onsite jobs.
I once had a remote controlled grizzly also but she dayvorced me.
This is an old thread and the ROYER in the picture is still in use. Along with the 975 bobat and TB070.
Hi Dwan.What model Royer is that?Cornelius still hasn't been able to figure out what model I have believe it or not.Mine looks similar to yours but I don't have that guard on the left side.Mine is powered by a Wisconsin 4 cylinder air cooled engine.I use my 36'' backhoe bucket to feed my hopper as that works best because the grizzly bars need some cleaning off after the third bucket.I can get about 15 yds. an hour when dry.
Mine is about the same size as there 120. There is no grizzly on mine. I also can produce between 10 & 15 yds per hr. When dry. Only thing it is never dry here. LIL mine is powered by a 2 cyl Wisconsin.
Maybe I have the 120 model then.I believe my shredding belt is 36'' wide and I forgot to mention mine is mounted on a true trailer frame--4 tires--2 front and 2 rear,the front axle swivels just like a farm hay wagon.Any idea how old yours is?
Not sure of the age but I got it about 20 years ago and it was well used then. It fits in with all the rest of old equipment I have.
Have you guys ever costed out what it is costing you to screen material with those small screen plants??? Without a conveyor hauling the screened product out from under the screen deck it is even more costly because your loader is not just loading the screen deck its picking up the screened material from under the screen deck and hauling it away to a stock pile. That action takes away from the loading of the screen so the machine is running empty part of the time, which impacts the yardage you put through it in one hours time. Is not your time worth something?? For small volume its worth going to some ones stock pile and purchasing the small volume of screened material you need, vs. the very costly screened material you will get from screening your own material. Go time the production over a one hour period of some one operating their small screen see how little yardage it produces. Then put money to the time on an hourly bases. Screen cost, loader cost, material cost. You still have to truck it to where ever its needed. I figure you have to produce at lease just over 200 hundred yards in one batch with all set up costs of moving the screen and equipment to where you are screening to just break even if you are screening very close to where the screened material is needed to be trucked, and the purchased screened material is a lot farther away. Do you really need 200 yards of screened material??? Go to youtube and watch videos of home made screens and - time the process-, there is one with a case 580 case loader in gravel pit its 9 min long shows high quality image, its like averaging 169 seconds on average per case 580 loader bucket - that is over a time period - to load the screen from pit face, screen material, remove screened material to stock pile and haul away over sized rejected waste rock to stock pile. That 169 seconds is 2.816 mins. That means 21.38 buckets per hour. The John Deere 544G with say 2.5 yard bucket works out to 53 yards per hour, what production is that??? Look at the terrible production you got over those several hours you screened with the Reed screen in the posts above, that's production???, how can that be cost effective???, and that's with a $90,000 screen, cost that screen out by hours of usage. terrible!!! You have a JD 544G a Komatsu 150 excavator a Reed screen and your time; say all together very much low balling it at $200.00 per hour for production of 53 yards that's $3.77 per yard screened plus you have to load it into a truck and transport it. Might be lower cost to just purchase screened material from some one at less cost. If you have a lot of time and you are not doing something productive (generating revenue) I can see operating one of these little screens in your spare time; you know self employed people have to keep busy just can not set around doing notthing. Of course how the little screen operated every once in a while is supposed to pay for it self is another topic all to it self. Site on youtube is type in the search box the words screening gravel it should be first one; with an orange box screen and case 580 bucket showing.
Screened top soil, with ammendments added, is about $25/yd here. That's buying it from a guy who processes it through a big, semi-trailer sized, trommel screen. If it costs $4.00, or even $10, per yard that's a pretty good profit margin.
It is cost effective in my case. I can tow my Royer to a job Site with a 1 ton and have it set up in less then 5 min. Run the customers material for between $200 and $250 per hour including bobcat time and be done with most any residential job by the he end of the day. Also the market I am in only for about 1,000 yards a year. I have less then $10k invested. Adding additional equipment would not increase my market nor lower my overhead to pay for it self.
Very nice screened black dirt here is $10.00 per yard loaded into your dump truck in a suppliers yard. Above I am making reference to gravel screened in a gravel pit with my $ numbers, here one can purchase screened pit run for $3.50 per yard in a pile you load it; or $4.25 loaded into your dump truck these $'s includes pit royality. Really ! - $25.00 per yard for screened top soil, that's inconceivable here.
That price is FOB at there pit.
Cost effective and a serious money maker for my operation also Dwan.I keep my Royer at my shop making both a blended farm topsoil,composted horse manure, and dead sand mix and also mmy black gold--just the comp. Horse manure.This year I'm getting $27 per yd. picked up, $34 delivered.
The problem I am seeing in our area is the scarcity of topsoil, due to the lack of any major grading projects going on. Back during the good times, you could find topsoil rather easily, as there were many dirt projects going on and usually someone was in need of getting rid of it. Nowadays, topsoil is a scarce commodity with the demand for it slowly rising, as people are starting to need it. Anyone else experiencing this?:beatsme
Yes definitely it is getting scarce thus part of the high cost these days.
Pricing here varies any ware from $20 you pick up to $75 you pick up. Delivered is $85 extra for 3 yd or less and 3 to 10 yard add $150. I have even gotten $85 a yard for 60% peat 40% sand plus 10lb 8-32-16 fert. mixed. plus delivery. Those days are past for now as the other guys think they are making money selling screened dirt for $20 to $25 a yard and calling it topsoil. Most customers don't look at the product before they buy it they just pick the cheapest they can find. I have had to come in and scrape someone else's soil off a yard and haul it away and replace it with good stuff a few times in the last 30 years of doing business. I have seen in delivered soil whiskey bottles, car axle, oil, and rocks the size of a basket ball.
I reckon those boys should change out their screens more often then.BB's,really huh,wow.I used to get my supply of horse manure from this 1 horse farm that employed all Mexicans.I don't know and I really don't want to know what was going on in those stalls/paddocks,but as you well know a condom will slip by the fingers on a Royer.Yup,once or twice I saw a condom in my topsoil after I dumped it at the client's house.
Uhh..ya....sure. The Mexicans did it.
I came across a Lindig screener and it sure looks like your Royer? I've used the Thomas over the years, is the Lindig okay for smaller scale screening?
It was either the Mexicans or the horses and from the size of them my bet is on the Mexicans.
We have a Powerscreen Commander 408, a Powerscreen MK2, and a Powerscreen Powergrid 800 that we use for screening top soil, or black dirt. Sometimes we use the Powergrid to pre-screen before the crusher. I really like the quality of the powerscreen products, and we've had great luck with them for as long as we've had them.