Portec Model 1042 Tumble Grinder | Worldwide Recycling ...

Grinders, such as the Portec Model 1042 Tumble Grinder, are size-reduction machines used in the beginning stages of the recycling process. Grinders use abrasion and compression to pulverize materials to a reduced size, using a series of wheels, drums and plates to process the material. Use of a grinder to process raw materials and prepare them for reuse reduces landfill overflow and creates a variety of new products. These versatile pieces of equipment are used in a variety of industries, with construction/ demolition debris recycling, asphalt shingle recycling and wood waste recycling ranking among the top few.

Portec tumble grinders are used to grind bulky debris, especially wood waste, including stumps, railroad ties, branches and green waste. Prior to grinding, the wood waste is passed through a 200 square foot screening area to remove rocks, dirt, sand and other contaminants. The tumble tub is a screened cylinder inclined at a 30 degree angle. The cylinder rotates at the wood debris is passed through, knocking dirt and rocks loose and dropping them out through the screen openings, while the large wood pieces are maintained in the screen and passed into the grinder. Removing the abrasive material such as soil, gravel and metal fragments prior to grinding allows the wood waste to be efficiently shredded without effecting performance or damaging the grinding mechanisms. Traditional grinders do not have this pre-screening chamber, so often times this material wears down the grinding hammers, drastically reducing the equipment’s lifespan and production efficiency.

From the tumbler, the material is passed into the grinding chamber to be reduced to smaller shreds. The grinding tub is equipped with a hammermill with swinging hammers that do the grinding work. Hammermills are grinding machines used to shred or crush aggregate material into smaller pieces. Material is passed through a wide feed hopper, falling into the grinding chamber. The grinding chamber contains a rotating hammer rotor with swinging hammers that crush the material and drive it through a screen, thus using impact grinding to reduce the material into smaller scraps.

Portec tumble grinders are equipped with two different discharge conveyors, one for the screened product and one for the ground product. As their name implies, their primary purpose of a conveyor is to convey material from one area to another in a quick and easy manner. The use of a conveyor reduces manual labor, because the conveyor system does the moving work for you. The ground wood material travels up the conveyor and out through a shoot to be dumped directly onto a dump truck or trailer. The conveyors have the ability to raise, lower and extend.

The Portec Model 1042 Tumble Grinder is powered by a 410 hp, Cat 3408 8-cylinder diesel engine. The unit has a grinding capacity of 200 tons per hour. The grinder comes mounted on 6 wheels with air brakes and controls. This machine is quick to set up and easy to use, requiring only ten minutes to get ready and running. With only 589 hours of previous use, the tumble grinder is in great condition. With the range of recycled products made from wood waste spanning from shoreline erosion prevention products to fish and bird habitats to reusable mulch for trails, landscape, gardening and playgrounds, the wood recycling industry is on a lucrative rise, making the purchase of a grinder more cost-effective than ever.