Ezitite Head Nut Solution to Age-Old Problem

Terex Jaques – Safety and Productivity Developments

A NEW solution to effectively tightening cone crusher mantle head nuts offers safety and productivity improvements over previous methods.

Leading quarrying and mining equipment specialist, Terex Jaques’ Ezitite mantle head nut delivers a safe, technical solution to the issue of tightening mantle head nuts on cone crushers.

Head nuts have for decades been tightened manually during crusher service or mantle liner change outs often using sledgehammers and requiring lug welding and removal in a process that can cause occupational health and safety concerns.

The Ezitite head nut system is a hydraulic clamping nut that is torqued to precise tensile load and featuring integrated mechanical locking rings and a sacrificial protective cover.

When fitted the Ezitite is only marginally larger than a traditional mantle head nut and does not interfere with material cascade or crusher throughput.

Terex Jaques’ senior engineer, Merv Tracey said the Ezitite was an ideal solution to an age old industry problem.

“From an OH&S point of view Terex Jaques believes it is only a matter of time before you will not be able to do the sort of work that is required to change old style mantle head nuts.

“Previously you have no control on the head nut torque and it took considerable manual effort to install and tighten the head nut in a situation that presented some danger to service personnel,” Mr Tracey said.

“The Ezitite removes injury risk altogether and does not require any physical force to install or tighten.”

The Ezitite is reusable and features an outer protective sacrificial sleeve designed to wear slower than the mantle lining manganese. Fitting to a clean shaft is expected to take approximately 30 minutes.

“Previously belting up a head nut was hard enough and loosening was generally harder,” Mr Tracey said. “As the manganese expanded with wear it often required oxy acetylene cutting to loosen it in a process that could take many hours for new head nut installation.”

The Ezitite has undergone testing in quarrying operations in Queensland and Victoria during development.

Danny Karreman of Karreman Quarries in Queensland was impressed with the Ezitite’s performance. “We’ve had it fitted in a crusher in normal operating conditions and haven’t nursed it or put it under undue stress and it has held up well.”

“(The Ezitite) is a huge benefit in regards to health and safety issues in the industry,” he said.

Mr Karremen said previous tightening methods were no longer tolerable. “Using sledgehammers is just no longer acceptable and is something that should have changed long ago.

“Being at the coalface I can see the benefits of the Ezitite and the pros far outweigh everything – there are no cons with this,” Mr Karreman said.

Maintenance times are expected to be reduced with Ezitite.

“From an OH&S point of view it is fantastic but from a time frame point of view Ezitite will cut the change out time in half and that means you can increase productivity,” Mr Karreman said.

“During operation it has not tightened up on the manganese and everything has proven up to expectation and is on track.” Terex Jaques’ Merv Tracey said time saving generated could be significant.

“For smaller operations the Ezitite will be very beneficial as they generally need to pull down cone crushers every six to eight weeks to replace the manganese – the Ezitite will deliver a considerable time saving during that process,” he said.

Currently available for Terex Jaques G35, G50 and J50 model cone crushers, other models are expected to be available shortly. The Ezitite system can also be used on other brand crushers if details of shaft thread size is provided.

Key Points:

• Fast, easy to fit operation reducing maintenance downtime and improving productivity.
• Minimises risk of personal injury and damage to equipment.
• Threaded locking rings counteract loosening forces of impact on rotating shafts.
• Enhances mantle shaft life.
• Maintains tensile load with repeatable tensioning accuracy to reduce variation.
• Sacrificial protective cover suitable to abrasive nature of material.

For further information regarding Ezitite, contact Terex Jaques. P: 03 8551 9300

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