Handheld pneumatic breaker finds a new application in granite mines
Dimensional stone industries (Granite & Marble quarrying) is one of the primary segments in India. The unique formations and its magnificent properties make it valuable and popular in the global market.
Customers in these segments follow the surface mining method. In India it is mostly performed by drilling, using the handheld rock drills powered by portable air compressors. CP 0032 is one of the popular rock drills among the customers, preferred for its performance and reliability on even the hardest granites. Recently, we found a new opportunity for our Chicago Pneumatic breakers in the rock splitting application, which is very common in granite or marble mining. They used to get this job done in a traditional way: with the help of splitters or wedges. Usually they are Labour intensive or the mechanized splitters were too bulky, not making it an easy job. This is where the CP 1210 breaker comes in, used to finish the job faster and in a more efficient way.
The operations in the granite mines begin with drilling on the main rocks, using handheld rock drills or a line drill. Then cutting operations are performed on the sides, using a wire-saw or cutters. The drilled holes are then charged with controlled blasting to obtain a rough block of granite or marble. Once the rough block is flattened on the surface, holes are drilled on the blocks to further split it into smaller blocks to a desired shape for exports and for further processing in the factories. Operators usually use wedges and hammers to perform this rock splitting, in a traditional way. Sometimes, they use hydraulic splitters or controlled blasting to split.
That’s where we found an opportunity to use our CP 1210 handheld breaker to hammer the wedges in order to split the rocks. It turned out to be much easier to use, as it can be combined with the portable air compressors available on site. Thanks to the right power-to-weight ratio of the CP 1210 breaker and its reliability, the workers can now complete the job faster, more efficient, and most important, in a much safer way. This has improved the overall productivity of the customers.
In addition to the handheld pneumatic breakers finding a new application in the granite mines, it also enabled the re-use of the drill rods that were meant to be disposed after its drilling life cycle: these drill rods tools can be modified into a wedge shaped tool, in order to work as a splitter.
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