R&D Opportunity: Producer Tests New Kodiak Plus K500+ Cone Crusher in Exchange for Feedback on Performance

Most producers are never afforded the opportunity to work closely with a manufacturer to help research and develop a product. For J. L. Storedahl & Sons the opportunity to test KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens’ largest cone crusher was too intriguing to pass up.

The third-generation, family-owned sand and gravel aggregate operation was established by Jerry Storedahl in 1969. The company is currently managed and operated by brothers Kevin and Kimball Storedahl, with eight of their children also working in the company.

The company owns five operating quarries, one sand and gravel pit, and two sand pits that it operates on a year-round basis, said Kimball Storedahl, vice president. Working primarily with shot rock basalt material, the company produces a variety of finished products, ranging from 8-inch to 3/8-inch-minus.

Located in Washington state, just three hours from KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens’ Oregon manufacturing facility, J. L. Storedahl & Sons first considered a partnership with the manufacturer when it began scouting for a portable, heavy-duty, 500-hp cone crusher in 2013. After meeting with Astec AggReCon West, a KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens dealer, the company determined that it would test one of the new Kodiak Plus K500+ Cone Crushers in exchange for providing their feedback on the crusher’s performance.

Although initially the arrangement was intended to last four to five months, the partnership was so successful the company is still using the cone crushing plant two years later, and has installed a second Kodiak Plus K500+ Cone Crusher on site.

“It’s been a long learning experience and it’s been great – the factory has been wonderful to work with, very energetic, very conscientious, very engaged,” Kimball Storedahl said. “I don’t think we could have partnered with anybody that could have been more pleasurable to work with on a day-to-day basis.”

Collaboration

The company purchased its first screen from a KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens distributor in 1999 and currently utilizes four of the manufacturer’s screens – a 7-foot x 20-foot triple deck finish screen, a 6-foot x 16-foot triple-deck medium duty scalper, 6-foot x 16-foot double-deck medium-duty scalper and a 6-foot x 16-foot triple-deck finish screen. Satisfied with the performance of the equipment and relationship with the manufacturing facility, Storedahl said it was a logical move for the company to turn to the manufacturer again when it sought a high-production, portable cone crushing plant.

At that time, KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens was searching for a nearby producer to run additional testing on its new Kodiak Plus K500+ Cone Crusher, and with J. L. Storedahl & Sons’ assortment of portable sites processing a variety of material, the collaboration was a natural fit, said Jeff Schwarz, president of KPIJCI and Astec Mobile Screens’ Oregon manufacturing facility.

“With the Storedahl family being just three hours north of the manufacturing facility, we were able to interact with them quite a bit, understand their operation, and know that the K500+ was going to be successful in their portable setup,” Schwarz said. “It’s really been a unique situation where we’ve been able to interact with them on a day-to-day basis and be really involved with the Storedahl family that’s out in the plants running the machines every day. They’re truly exceptional operators and some of the best crushing people we know.”

Refining the crusher

The K500+ is the latest addition to the Kodiak Plus Cone Crusher family, which previously consisted of three models, the K200+, K300+ and K400+. The K500+ model features a precision roller bearing design and fills a demand for larger secondary and tertiary cone crushers that are used by high production aggregate producers and mining companies, Schwarz said.

Some of the refinements implemented into the product line include a new hybrid cast/fabricated base frame design, the ‘MILO’ automated control system, a new patented liner retention system, patented thread locking ring and anti-spin cone brake. Other features of the Kodiak Plus Cone Crusher product line include patented replaceable brass thread inserts, patented internal counterweights, a heavy-duty tramp iron system consisting of pressure relief valves in lieu of accumulators, and brass v-seat liners.

Storedahl has experience operating cone crushers that utilize the roller-bearing design as well as crushers that feature the bushing design, which provided him a unique perspective when operating and servicing the equipment.

“One thing we do like with the roller bearing design is that typically with a bushing crusher, you’re always putting money into it,” he said. “With the roller bearing crushers, we don’t pour that steady stream of money into the crusher.

“With bushing crushers, every time you go into that crusher, there’s something that you’ve got to put money back into, and it’s just a nickel and dime thing.”

Storedahl said that with the K500+, regular maintenance items like changing manganese liners is quick and easy, which saves the company time and money by reducing downtime.

“It’s very easy to work on and doesn’t consume any odd parts when you get in there,” he said. “We can go in and out of that crusher, change the manganese on it and have it back together, ready to run, typically in about three hours.”

A second R&D project

Since installing the K500+, the Storedahls have operated the crusher using liners varying from an extra coarse liner to an extra fine liner in both secondary and tertiary applications. The first K500+ cone crushing plant was installed in a tertiary application crushing primarily base aggregates of 1-inch and ¾-inchminus. The project was so successful that the Storedahls purchased the first unit and began a second R&D project with the K500+ in a secondary application.

Typical throughput from the units has varied from 2-¼-inch closed-side-setting running in excess of 750 tons per hour, down to as tight of a closed-side-setting as 3/16-inch, which reduces the throughput to approximately 250 tons per hour, Storedahl said.

“Our experience with the K500+ to date, as a secondary crusher, in a typical cone-type application, has been very impressive,” he said. “It’s a very aggressive cone crusher.”

Next generation

Looking forward to the future, the Storedahl brothers hope to continue to grow their operation and keep the business thriving for the next generation through their investment in quality equipment and strengthened partnerships with dealer and factory personnel.

“You always hear that most businesses don’t survive a third generation,” Storedahl said. “We’re hoping to change that. All of the kids seem to be very interested in the business, and though we tried to make higher education available to all of them, they wanted to get right to work in the rock pit and learn the family business. And, needless to say, they are getting an education on a daily basis that you probably couldn’t buy anywhere else other than right here on the ground.”