Going the distance with HX900 wear segments

Founded in 1967, Hallstaviks Schakt is a family business with around 50 employees, based in northern Roslagen, Sweden. Its main activities include stationary and mobile stone crushing, excavation and demolition, foundation and road building, and equipment service.

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Naturally, shifting stone is a big part of the company's activities. This can be anything from aggregate products to construction rubble. It's tough work that causes extensive wear and tear on machines. "Stone is a demanding material by nature," says Rasmus Forsman at Hallstaviks Schakt. "The degree of wear depends on the type and hardness of stone you're dealing with. Other factors are the size and form of the material and the presence of other materials such as metal. Metallic ores in mining applications create some of the biggest demands on moving equipment."

Forsman adds that the ground at the site is another important aspect. "You get more wear when it's difficult to dig and you have to work harder to fill the bucket."

In June 2015, Hallstaviks Schakt began testing Sandvik HX900 wear segments. The buttons and bars are fitted on the bucket of a Caterpillar 365 excavator, which is being used to feed a jaw crusher in a stone quarry. The results have been extremely promising so far."Our machines are always on the go," Forsman says. "They take a constant battering. Minimizing wear is always an important goal when you operate machinery. But when it comes to moving stone, it can have a very big effect on your bottom line."

But Forsman emphasizes that it's not just about the cost of materials – time is an even bigger factor."Time is money!" he says. "Typically, we might need to rebuild a bucket every 3-4 months when exposed parts wear out. It's a job that can take 20-30 man hours. That's expensive downtime. And for a company with a lot of equipment, it can add up to a substantial annual cost."

The Sandvik HX900 wear segments are performing well compared to the hardened steel wear plates the company currently uses."We can clearly see that there is less wear on the bucket than we would expect for this amount of hours and tonnes shifted. The material is very hard and resilient. I anticipate these products will last much longer than our previous wear plates. It's also very quick and easy to change these stripes and buttons when needed."

Hallstaviks Schakt is a business founded on reliability and expertise. The company has a 35-year relationship with Sandvik and values the advice and support it receives."Sandvik has the quality we need," Forsman says. "But what's more, I know I can always call with questions. They're very engaged and service-minded – if they don't have the answer right away, they'll go the extra mile to help me get it.

The trial is still ongoing, but Forsman expects to adopt the Sandvik HX900 wear segments more widely in the future.